A SERIAL CONVICT’S
ROAD TO REDEMPTION
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What do you do when your sister tries to kill herself – because you weren’t there when she needed you?
What do you do when your father finally gives up on you – because you blew chance after chance?
For 28-year-old Imran, the answer is clear and the motivation rock-solid:
Change.
Change - after a life of crime escalating from petty theft to gang involvement to a recurring drug habit.
Change - out of a downward spiral from boys’ home to detention barracks to 5 jail terms in 12 years.
It won’t be easy.
As he starts his latest jail term, the future seems bleak. A recurring thought:
"What’s the point of living?"
The thought of losing his loved ones starts to jolt Imran into realisation.
What happens next, however, brings him terrifyingly near to real, devastating grief.
“My little sister, they found her in a canal, legs smashed, substances in her urine and blood.
She was lucky to survive.
But she had been writing to me, saying she was lost without me.
I should have been there to save her … I felt like a failure as a brother.
That’s when I decided:
It’s time to step up as a brother and son.”
Imran is ready.
With gang ties renounced, family fissures healed and sister in recovery, he is optimistic.
"This is the very first time I’m feeling totally different compared to previous sentences."
"I’m looking forward to starting a new life awaiting me out there."
The month following Imran’s release is marked by ups and downs, with much more of the latter.
Most significantly, he loses his full-time job as a cook.
But even as he struggles to reintegrate into society, he remains grateful to be surrounded by loved ones who keep him going - and away from his old ways.
"They remind me of my purpose. I cannot let myself down. I’m not going back to prison."
Interactive coder: Calvin Chia
Journalist: Justin Ong
Visual journalist: Gaya Chandramohan
Illustrations, 360 video effects and layout: Kenneth Choy
Videos: Gaya Chandramohan and Howard Law
Editors: David Bottomley, Chung Lyn-Yi, Dawn Teo