Sunbury man turns life around after prison stint

Jan. 27—SUNBURY — Leon "Adrian" Harrington spent his youth selling drugs on the streets of Sunbury but a five-year prison sentence motivated him to turn his life around.

"When I walked out of there I had no intention of going back," the 35-year-old said of his release from State Correctional Institution at Rockview in 2014.

A majority of Pennsylvania offenders commit another crime within three years of release from incarceration, according to a 2022 state Department of Corrections recidivism report.

The overall recidivism rate in Pennsylvania is 64.7 percent within three years of release — compared to 76 percent nationwide — with more than half of parolees being sent back to prison within that time frame due to a technical parole violation, the report said.

Harrington found himself in that cycle of incarceration early in life. He never abused hard drugs. Instead, he was drawn to the money earned selling cocaine and crack during his senior year of high school.

"I always liked money," he said. Harrington was good with numbers, excelled at math and was even on the honor roll.

But he couldn't escape the rough crowd he was hanging with and in his last year of school, Harrington was stabbed during a fight and suffered an injury so severe he spent a week in the ICU.

When he was released from the hospital, his mother, Denise Harrington-Bittle, enrolled him in GED classes.

"My children could not live in my house and not get a high school diploma," said the mother of four in a telephone interview from her North Carolina home.

"That's the kind of mother I had," said Harrington who did obtain his GED while continuing his life of crime.

Education is an important tool in reducing recidivism and helping offenders succeed in society. Inmates who obtain a high school equivalent degree while in prison increase their earnings by about 25 percent within the first year of release and inmates who participate in educational programs are 13 percent less likely to commit another crime, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

Another key to keeping offenders on the straight and narrow is support from family, friends, the courts and community, said Union-Snyder Judge Michael Piecuch.

Particularly for young offenders who only know a life of crime.

"Can they visualize an unknown world? It's such a leap of faith to visualize anything else," Piecuch said. That's where support from reformed convicts is important to demonstrate a life lived within the rules of society is possible and worthwhile.

"The criminal justice system can be a blunt force tool at times, but I think we're doing a better job," he said. "Treatment courts are one of the best innovations in 20 years."

Courts in the Valley have been offering military veterans and people with drug and alcohol addictions and mental health issues who have been convicted of nonviolent offenses an opportunity to get help and avoid jail while being supervised in treatment.

Piecuch would like to see programs such as the Law Enforcement Treatment Initiative (LETI) take on more of a role in keeping addicts out of the criminal justice system and into treatment sooner.

In 2006, at age 18, Harrington was presented another opportunity to get out of the cycle through the legal system when he was sent to boot camp following a marijuana possession conviction.

Upon his release, his mother once again stepped in to steer him in another direction and had him sign up for business courses at McCann.

Drug tests he was required to take while on probation led him to withdraw from school.

Having no educational prospects or a way to earn more than minimum wage, Harrington continued to sell drugs on the streets and eventually was arrested several times for felony drug possession in 2009.

That year he received a state prison sentence of 6 1/2 to 17 years after pleading guilty to eight felony charges.

Harrington celebrated his 21st birthday in county jail before being transferred to state prison at Rockview.

"It wasn't the same as juvie. It's a whole different world inside prison," said Harrington who was released in April 2014 after five years.

Despite spending much of his 20s in prison, Harrington had no plan for his future when he returned home.

"I just wanted to go grocery shopping," he said of a mundane task he missed during incarceration.

A judicial mistake a few months later that briefly sent him to county jail shook Harrington up.

"I couldn't do no more jail time. I wanted to get back into the world," he said.

Harrington got a job at a local hotel and trained in all aspects of the industry, building a team and setting himself up for a management position.

He enrolled in college, initially planning to get a certificate before deciding to pursue a bachelor's degree.

Another brief detention for an unpaid fine caused Harrington to take another introspective look at his life and decide he "wasn't supposed to work for someone else in a hotel."

He quit his job and began selling cars with a friend. "I knew I was good at selling products," Harrington said.

Since the pandemic, Harrington has struck out on his own starting a clothing line, Evolution, available on Instagram at 20evolution20 and using money he saved and received from the government during the COVID-19 pandemic to purchase a four-unit house in Sunbury.

By 2023, he had purchased a fourth, multi-unit property in the city.

Now a landlord and father of three children, Harrington said he wants to contribute to his community in a positive way. He's given away 30 of his Evolution brand hoodies to Haven Ministry.

Harrington's partner and the mother of his children, Chantele Sanchez, said his uplifting attitude motivated her to pursue her own career interests and become certified as a curly hair specialist.

"He has such ambition but also a humbleness," said Sanchez. "He wants to help the community, have his family, be in a nice home. Simple things."

Harrington-Bittle is proud of her son.

"I brag about him for the way he's turned his life around," she said.

For Harrington, the past nearly 20 years have helped him realize what's important. "I may not be rich, but I feel I'm successful," he said.

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