EXPO Wisconsin
Life Correction: The Marlin Dixon Story
April 27, 2022
By, James E. Causey Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
At 11:32 a.m., on a sunny, 47-degree Tuesday, Marlin Dixon walked out from behind the barbed wire gate at the John C. Burke Correctional Center in Waupun and into the arms of his mother.
“I told you to stay strong and you would one day be free,” said Doris Williams, sobbing on his shoulder.
It was Sept. 22, 2020.
Shouts, applause and laughter enveloped Dixon like a second layer of clothing over his yellow and black Nike tracksuit. A dozen people took turns giving him hugs, then stepping back to record the scene.
Dixon’s daughter, Kamariya, watched hesitantly. Five months old when he was arrested, 7 years old when her mother finally let her visit him in prison, she had never known her father as a free man. Now, she was 18 and he was 32.
Dixon stretched his arms out and said, “Come here, I missed you.” He wrapped her in a long hug, the kind that prison rules never permitted.