PENNSYLVANIA, USA — Behind every person seeking change is the heartbeat behind their cause.
For Emmanuel Bayah Thomas, who was incarcerated for 25 years in six different penitentiaries, his imprisonment paints a clear picture as to why he wants to help inmates before they get out.
“I evolved into the love of life when I was in solitary confinement,” Thomas said.
While still serving his sentence, he took pen to paper to write a book about his experience.
“He has so much passion, so much fire in him to get this book published,” Yesenia Thomas said, who started working with Emmanuel and managing his social media.
In 2019, they moved on to create an organization that gives reentrants essential needs like food, clothing, employment, housing assistance and more.
“The love of life is not committed to just one thing, the love of life is so many different entities,” Yesenia Thomas explained.
While working with inmates, the duo provided resources and emotional support, as well as a lot of important paperwork. Most first offenders don’t know how to write a letter to parole or advocate for their release, according to the pair.
“I created GoFundMe pages, online petitions and paper petitions so that we could bring them forth to the Supreme Court or whatever court we needed to bring these people home or to get their sentence changed,” Yesenia said.
Emmanuel was still behind bars when they began mentoring reentrants.
“If we're inside and all we're doing is playing cards, playing ball and talking about what we used to do, but we're aspiring to never come back to prison, we're going to go back to those same people, places, and things and we're going to end back in prison,” he explained.
Emmanuel reached out to Dr. Kevin Dolphin, the founder of Breaking the Chainz, another Harrisburg-based organization that also provides resources to incarcerated people.
“When he returned home from prison, he enrolled in the Breaking the Chains Community Resource Center Reentry Program,” Dr. Dolphin said.
“That was through seeking a home plan that has transitional housing,” Thomas said. “That’s how I got out of the halfway house.”
Dr. Dolphin also spent time in prison. He started his resource center in the same neighborhood he used to commit crimes in as a young man. His motivation, in part, stems from the loss of his mother, who died while she was in prison.
“She would never want any man or woman to go through what she had been through,” Dr. Dolphin said.
And while Kevin was incarcerated, he realized there was no way out without education.
“While I was in prison, I saw so many individuals who go home and return because they don't have the life skills and the tools for them to become productive citizens,” Dr. Dolphin said. “We go into the prisons and we teach cognitive development programs and help them change their mindset to get away from criminal activity.”
Breaking the Chainz came to life in 2015 and Dr. Dolphin has found plenty of ways to help people who are still on the inside embrace the opportunity for a second chance.
“We offer mentorship. We offer counseling. We offer employment opportunities. We offer, in some cases, transportation. Whatever they're looking for, whatever they may need, we try to help them,” Dr. Dolphin said.
Both Dolphin and Emmanuel consider themselves redemption seekers, a title that helps reclaim their rough pasts.
They believe redemption is the best path to reducing recidivism rates.
“I can't ask anyone to forgive me, because that's me asking the victim to give me something. So it's for me, and all my brothers and sisters, to earn our right to be forgiven. That's how we seek redemption,” Thomas said.