RICHMOND, Va. — Sincere Allah doesn't hide from his imperfect past.
At 18 years old, Allah — now living in Richmond — faced a homicide charge following the death of a person after a gun deal that "went bad."
While Allah was not the person solely responsible for that person's death, he was sentenced to 45 years behind bars. He served 24 years before a 2022 pardon by former Gov. Ralph Northam.
“Good behavior was one, but I can’t stress how hard it is in prison when you’re told you’re 'irredeemable' or 'not useful', and not worth investing in. ‘We’re not offering you an opportunity for redemption, you’re here to do time,'" Allah said.
Allah is two days removed from his 2 year anniversary from imprisonment and has since turned his life toward advocacy and lobbying for criminal justice reforms like the push for "Second Look" legislation in Virginia.
"I looked around at the individuals I came in when I was a teenager, they be old and gray, and have 30 plus years left on their sentences," he told 13News Now.
What is a second look law?
Second look-type legislation allows an incarcerated individual to potentially amend or shorten their sentence if they can prove they are not a public threat to society.
According to the Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM), there are nine states plus Washington D.C. that have some kind of "second look" language on the books.
In Virginia, proposed bill HB 834 by Del. Rae Cousins would:
Provide [s] a process for a person serving a sentence for any conviction or a combination of any convictions who remains incarcerated in a state or local correctional facility or secure facility and meets certain criteria to petition the circuit court that entered the original judgment or order to (i) suspend the unserved portion of such sentence or run the unserved portion of such sentence concurrently with another sentence, (ii) place such person on probation for such time as the court shall determine, or (iii) otherwise modify the sentence imposed.
On Tuesday's "Second Look" Lobby Day, several criminal justice organizations like the Virginia ACLU and other formerly incarcerated Virginians lobbied in support of the bill.
"[Prisoners] should be able to be accessed for who they are now, and the works they’ve done on themselves for their 15- to 20- to 30-year incarceration. Who you are 15 to 20, even 5 years ago, should not be the individual you are today if you are truly dedicated to correcting yourself," Allah said.
Second look-type legislation passed the Virginia Senate in 2022 and 2023.