Marsha Curry-Nixon
Marsha Curry-Nixon was once incarcerated herself, before she started helping others.
Her experience in the system made her able to relate to other people now in those shoes, she says.
Curry-Nixon was released from prison in 1996 and moved to Harrisburg. It was a fresh start, but it wasn’t easy. She was recovering from drug addiction, looking for a place to live, and preparing to reclaim custody of her children. On top of that, she would soon start college at HACC.
She faced so many challenges during re-entry into society, but still, she couldn’t imagine adding one more thing on top of that—the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This is the very crisis that could cause somebody to go back to prison,” she said.
At Curry-Nixon’s nonprofit, Amiracle4sure, her team has been busy trying to keep that from happening. Over the years, their programs have had much success deterring recidivism, but 2020 brought unprecedented challenges.
She pulled out her phone to tell me how she’s downloaded apps for Instacart, a grocery delivery service, and Uber.
“I need to get people to work and to doctors’ appointments,” she said. “I’ll do everything I can do in my power until I have the last penny in my bank account.”
Funds at Amiracle4sure have been slim. Curry-Nixon joked that she needed a very rich person to donate a lot of money. But case managers have continued to help clients get jobs, housing and food during a time when resources are scarce.
The goal, every day, is do not go to jail,” she said. “That’s the ultimate goal—what do we need to do to stop this person from getting to a place of desperation that they commit another crime and end up back in prison.”
New Start
Kerry Sawyers was released from prison to Harrisburg about three months ago. He was released to a world still grappling with the pandemic, but Sawyers was quite familiar with the effects the virus could have, even inside the prison walls.
Fifteen people died from COVID-19 in his section alone, he said. Sawyers secluded himself as best he could. He didn’t play cards with the other men, but just stayed in his cell.
When he was released, he couldn’t believe it when he saw people walking around without masks on, talking to friends and shaking hands.
“It’s like they don’t care,” he said.
Sawyers got connected with Dr. Kevin Dolphin, founder of Breaking The Chainz, Inc., a nonprofit that assists with re-entry, and moved into one of the organization’s halfway houses. The environment at the house is stable, Sawyers said. Dolphin has strict rules to keep people safe and out of trouble, he explained.
Sawyers will likely stay at the halfway house for six months or whenever he’s saved enough money to move out.
Finding a job was a whole other beast. Coming out of prison, he had no I.D. besides a state prison card that often drew squinted eyes from employers and unanswered promises that they would follow up with him.
“No one wants a prisoner working for them,” Sawyers said.
For formerly incarcerated people, finding a job is hard. It’s even harder during a pandemic.
“Half the businesses that were there before I went to prison are gone now,” he said. “They’ve dried up.”
It took him seven weeks of searching every day to find a job. It was horrible, he said. But now that his life is looking a little more stable, he had a sense of hope, even if it was just a small glimmer.
“Things can only get better from here,” he said, attributing where he is now to the help he received from Dolphin.
Finding Home
AliceAnne Frost
AliceAnne Frost is the CEO of “The Program, It’s About Change,” which has offices in Harrisburg and York.
They offer family reunification, workforce development, mentoring and other services, but Frost said that housing is the fundamental need. The pandemic has only amplified that, she said. Frost explained that, while landlords are sometimes reluctant to rent to formerly incarcerated people, they’ve been even more resistant during COVID.
In an effort to keep people in their homes, the Centers for Disease Control enacted a federal ban on evictions and, locally, Harrisburg created a moratorium. While those have kept people in their homes for months, Frost and Curry-Nixon have also seen it keep people out of homes.
If a landlord decides to rent to someone who they believe may not have the means to continuously pay rent, the moratoriums would likely keep them from being able to evict that person. Curry-Nixon explained how she has seen this keep landlords from renting to ex-felons.
“As someone coming home from incarceration, your number-one thing is you have to have a home plan,” Frost said. “You want stability in your life.”
One way The Program helps fill that need is through a service they provide in York for formerly incarcerated homeless people. Through a grant from York County, they’ve been able to assist clients with paying rent, making it easier for them to find housing, Frost said.
“When where you’re going to lay your head at night is an unknown, that just leads to their stress of how they’re going to succeed,” she said.
Not Hard, Difficult
Kevin Dolphin
In addition to Dolphin leading Breaking The Chainz, he’s also a writer. He recently published a book, “If These Prison Walls Could Talk,” which tells his story and the story of other men and women who were imprisoned.
He knows a thing or two about words, most importantly that they hold power.
“I don’t like to use the word ‘hard,’” he said. “‘Hard’ is not a part of my vocabulary. If I think something is hard then it’s going to be hard.”
Dolphin said that, instead, he uses the word “difficult.” He thinks it sounds like something that he could overcome, like a challenge.
This year has been difficult for Dolphin and for the men he serves. He hasn’t been able to visit prisons and teach his classes to convicts. The waiting list to get in is backed up by over a year now. Many of his programs for those re-entering society have moved to a virtual format, making it harder to stay in contact, he said.
But, for Dolphin, it’s all something he can overcome. He has to. People like Sawyers’ futures are on the line. Plus, he did time in prison himself. He knows how essential these services are.
“My heart is in it,” he said. “The passion that I have is so strong.”
Curry-Nixon feels the same way. If anything positive came out of the pandemic, it was how she was able to help her clients through an uncertain time, she said.
She told me about a client who died from COVID and how she talks to his widow and her children every day. Curry-Nixon teared up as she said how blessed she felt to comfort the woman through her grief.
“For her to trust me, that is what makes this so bearable,” she said. “She can depend on us, and that’s the key to coming out of prison. You need someone to depend on.”
Amiracle4sure is located at 1735 State St., Harrisburg. For more information, visit www.amiracle4sure.com.
To learn more about Breaking The Chainz, Inc., visit www.breakingthechainz.webs.com.
“The Program, It’s About Change” has offices at 1515 Derry St., Harrisburg and 506 S. George St., York. For more information, visit www.theprogramitsaboutchange.org.
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