The last we heard of Amos Yee in 2022, he was languishing in prison in the United States (US).
He was serving a six-year sentence after being convicted of grooming and possessing child pornography.
However, the Singaporean has now been released early on parole after serving only about half of his sentence.
Though he’s out, he will have to carry his offence with him for a lifetime — his name must be listed on the Sex Offender Registry.
Yee’s impending release was disclosed by Michigan journalist Wali Khan in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter) on Friday (6 Oct).
He said he’d received an alert from the Illinois Victim Notification Service that he would be released the next day.
Khan also shared a mugshot of Yee obtained from the Illinois River Correctional Center in Canton, Illinois, where he’d been imprisoned.
The 24-year-old looked macho with his Vin Diesel-inspired shaved head.
Source: Wali Khan on X
On Saturday (7 Oct), Mr Khan posted a screenshot of an email saying that Yee had been released from the Illinois Department of Corrections and was no longer in their custody.
Source: Wali Khan on X
Yee has been placed on parole or mandatory supervised release status.
Prisoners granted parole after a hearing are released from prison ahead of their scheduled release. Those on mandatory supervision must be under constant supervision of a parole officer.
If he commits any offence during this time or fails to check in with his parole officer, he may be rearrested and sent back to prison.
Mr Khan also received a text message saying that he was released on Saturday (7 Oct), though the email said it was the day before.
Whatever the actual date of Yee’s release, it’s way earlier than it could have been.
Those who followed his case would’ve known that he was sentenced to a total of six years’ jail for his offences.
As his sentence was backdated to his arrest in October 2020, that meant he was supposed to be released only in October 2026.
However, his projected parole date was 6 Oct 2023, and it seems he has indeed managed to be paroled three years early.
That means he served only about half of his sentence.
Perhaps as a parting gift, the prison also updated Yee’s mugshots, which see him looking more like himself, i.e. with hair and a youthful appearance.
Source: Wali Khan on X
One thing hasn’t changed, though — his file still clearly says, “Sex Offender Registry Required”.
In the US, this is a national database for the public to be able to find the identity and location of registered sex offenders near them.
That means Yee must carry the mark of a sex offender even after release, and will be easily identified by others as such.
Notably, both offences Yee pleaded guilty to were sex offences.
The first is child pornography – a class-one felony and second-most serious type of offence under Illinois criminal law. For that, he was given five years’ jail.
For his second offence of grooming – he used WhatsApp to get the victim, a 14-year-old girl from Texas, to pose for lewd photos – he got a one-year prison term.
It’s uncertain whether his asylum status in the US will still be in effect following his release and if he will be deported to Singapore.
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Featured image adapted from Wali Khan on X and X.
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