SINGAPORE: On the day he was transferred from prison to a halfway house, Graceson Ang felt as if his heart was going to “jump out” of his chest.
He was going to meet his family in the flesh, without any glass barrier or only on a screen, for the first time in nearly four years.
“The most anxious part is waiting for my family to come,” he told CNA producer Liu Ziqing on May 25 after arriving at The Helping Hand, where he would spend nearly six months as part of a Singapore Prison Service community-based programme for inmates serving the tail-end of their sentences.
“I’m hoping that my whole family will come but from what I know, my eldest daughter is having a school camp so I don’t know whether she can make it or not.”
She couldn’t, but Graceson’s wife and two younger children did. The kids had been “really excited the whole day”, his wife told him.
Besides precious time with his family, Graceson, 37, also revelled in being able to reach out his hand to feel drops of rain, as well as the sun on his skin. These were things he did not get to experience in prison.
But the extra freedom came with many rules to observe.
For instance: He would not be able to go on home leave during the first month at the halfway house. He would have to undergo urine testing as well as tests to ensure he did not smoke or consume alcohol. Failing the smokerlyser or breathalyser test would mean not being able to go on home leave for four times; testing positive for a third time would land him back in prison.
He would sleep in a 12-man room, with lights off at 10.30pm.
