Young, dumb, and a long time in prison

 

From Dobby Chew

Yesterday, I went to Kajang prison with several colleagues to welcome the return of Amal, who had spent almost 24 years in prison.

I am certain his release was nothing short of a miracle for him and his family as they all shared the despairful expectation that he would die in prison.

Their fate changed for the better when Ramkarpal Singh, the then deputy law and institutional reform minister, pushed through the abolition of the mandatory death penalty and natural life sentences in 2023.

Following a resentencing hearing in October 2024, Amal was resentenced to a 35-year prison term. With remission factored in, he became a free man again yesterday.

Amal was arrested at the young age of 19. Much of his prime was wasted away in prison because our laws in 2001 consigned him to an indefinite natural life sentence.

While he waited for his end in prison, he heard of his father’s passing. He heard snippets of his family, their struggles and their lives outside, which often came laced with hope that he would be part of that story in the future.

I could not imagine the lost opportunities, lost friendships, and lost love that Amal experienced because of his sentence.

Prison naturally provides some opportunities to further one’s skills through skills training and work. Back then, I often wondered what the purpose of this skills training was if the eventual fate was for the person to waste away and die in prison.

Fortunately, this problem was erased with a single vote in Parliament in 2023.

People make mistakes, and that is just part of the human condition. Second chances and forgiveness are part of growing up and learning about the world around us.

While retribution and punitive punishment do have a role in delivering justice, I believe the prison and criminal justice system needs to embrace second chances and forgiveness, as they allow the human species to learn and grow.

Critics would likely have started panning me roughly three paragraphs ago and would point out that if Amal was sentenced to a natural life sentence, he must have been a violent and gruesome criminal at the age of 19.

On the face of it, Amal was charged under Section 4 of the Firearms (Increased Penalties) Act 1971. He was convicted of threatening a police officer with a pistol before escaping arrest.

The most depressing part of his story was that he came into this interaction because he was not wearing a helmet while riding his motorcycle in town.

In fear of being arrested, he struggled against the police officers, which led to a police pistol misfiring and him grabbing the firearm.

He used the pistol to keep the policemen away and escaped. He subsequently passed the gun to a family friend with a request for it to be returned to the police before he went back home, where he was arrested.

There was never any other element of crime associated with Amal, nor was there any prior criminal record.

From my point of view, he served 24 years in prison for being young and foolish.

The abolition of the mandatory death penalty gave him and his family a second chance, and they are forever grateful to those who made it possible, and on their behalf, thank you. - FMT

Dobby Chew is CEO of the human rights group Hayat.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.