Pro basketball player Jarred Shaw sentenced in Indonesia

Seven months after his arrest for possession of THC-infused gummies in Indonesia, longtime international basketball player Jarred Shaw was sentenced Tuesday to 26 months in prison for drug possession.

Shaw, 35, an Indonesia Basketball League (IBL) All-Star the season before his arrest, must serve the remainder of his sentence in a country known for prisons plagued by corruption and overcrowding. It’s also a country with some of the world’s strictest drug laws, including the death penalty

Donte West, a criminal justice advocate for Shaw over the summer, views the sentence as a victory. While Shaw was found guilty for drug possession, the judge didn’t apply trafficking enhancements, which carried the more serious sentences of the death penalty or life in prison.

“He was facing a possible death sentence and was in a dark place, so now having an out date means so much to him,” West said. “This verdict gives him a chance to get home and be reunited with his mother and his family.”

Shaw was arrested in the lobby of his luxury apartment on May 7, just hours after leading the Tangerang Hawks to a home victory with 28 points and 12 rebounds. Shaw had gone to the lobby to pick up a package that he had shipped to him when he was swarmed by a group of undercover police officers. The package contained the THC-infused gummies.

It was shipped from Thailand, where cannabis is legal. Shaw told Andscape the edibles were intended to help alleviate complications from Crohn’s disease, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease that affects the digestive tract. Shaw was initially diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in 2010 while playing in college for Oklahoma State.

“I didn’t think I was doing anything wrong,” Shaw, a 6-foot-10 center-forward, told Andscape in a phone call from prison in October. “I had no idea about the laws here.”

Shaw didn’t make his first court appearance until four months after his arrest. A week later, he met with West, who took an interest in Shaw’s case. West flew to Indonesia in October to assist Shaw and remained involved in the case after he returned to the United States.

“We still have a lot more work to do,” said West, whose help with Shaw was independent of his work with the Last Prisoner Project. “With Crohn’s disease, we just want to make sure that he doesn’t have any life-threatening complications while in prison.  While it’s a relief to Jarred that he was sentenced to 26 months, we’re still hopeful we can get him home next year so he can have access to the best doctors.”

Shaw’s situation is similar to that of Brittney Griner, a 10-time WNBA All-Star who was arrested in 2022 on smuggling charges. Customs officers in Russia discovered cartridges in her luggage that contained hash oil.

Griner eventually pled guilty and received a nine-year prison sentence. After nearly 300 days of captivity, Griner was released in a prisoner exchange for a Russian arms dealer.

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