SINGAPORE: Singaporean Amos Yee’s projected discharge date has been brought forward by more than a year.
According to prison records on Tuesday (Dec 12), Yee’s new projected discharge date is Apr 24, 2025. His previous projected discharge date was Oct 8, 2026.
A message from the victim notification network on Tuesday showed Yee was transferred to Danville Correctional Center – a medium-security prison – from Stateville Correctional Center, a maximum-security prison.
CNA has contacted the Illinois Department of Corrections to ask why Yee’s projected discharge date was moved forward by more than a year, and why he was transferred to Danville.
In November, the 25-year-old was taken back into custody after violating the conditions of his parole – about a month after he was initially released on Oct 7.
He had been about halfway through his six-year jail term for grooming a teenage girl online and asking her for naked pictures of herself.
Yee was sentenced in December 2021 after pleading guilty to charges of grooming and possessing child pornography.
Sixteen other charges were dismissed as part of a plea deal that Yee agreed to. The jail term was backdated to his arrest in October 2020.
The court previously heard that Yee had befriended the victim, then a 14-year-old girl, in February 2019. He was 20 at that time.
He met the victim online and Yee repeatedly asked her to send him naked photos of herself. On several occasions, Yee asked her to engage in roleplay and “sexual fantasies”, the prosecution said.
This was despite Yee knowing that the girl was 14 years old.
US Marshalls arrested him in October 2020 at his apartment in Chicago and he was on remand until his sentencing.
It has been more than six years since Yee was granted asylum by a US immigration court, despite opposition from the Department of Homeland Security.
In 2015, Yee was jailed in Singapore for wounding religious feelings by making remarks about Christians. About a year later, Yee was jailed again and fined on a similar charge, this time for making remarks about Christians and Muslims.