Professional hooper Jarred Shaw made a mistake in Indonesia. He’s paying with his freedom.

For Jarred Shaw, a longtime international basketball player, May 7 was turning out to be a day to remember.

In his first season with the Tangerang Hawks, Shaw was facing his former team, Satria Muda, which he had led to the 2024 Indonesian Basketball League finals. Shaw’s play in that home victory was spectacular: 28 points (he made all 10 of his shots) and 12 rebounds.

Mobbed by his teammates after the game, Shaw left the court high-fiving the adoring fans who celebrated the first-ever win over Satria Muda for Tangerang, which joined the IBL in 2022. Looking directly into the camera as he walked off the court, Shaw said confidently: “On to the next one.”

Unfortunately for Shaw, there would be no next one. 

That day, May 7, was indeed memorable for Shaw, but for reasons other than basketball.

Hours after the game, Shaw walked to the lobby of the luxury apartment building where he lived to pick up a package. As he left the receptionist desk, Shaw was swarmed by a group of undercover police — he said there were as many as 15 — and screamed for help as he attempted to pull away.

A week later, Soekarno-Hatta International Airport Police announced Shaw was arrested for having a package of THC-infused gummies sent from Thailand (where the Dallas native has lived in the offseason since joining the IBL in 2023) to his home in Indonesia with the intent for distribution.

Drug laws in Indonesia are among the strictest in the world. Possible sentences there for trafficking include the death penalty or life imprisonment.

On Tuesday, Shaw made his first court appearance, five months after his arrest. On Wednesday, Shaw met for the first time Donte West, his American criminal justice advocate, who flew to Indonesia on Monday. West sat down Wednesday morning with Indonesian prosecutors to discuss the case.

“I though the meeting went well,” West said. “Jarred has another court case next week. I don’t know how long I’m allowed to be here, but I’ll try to stay as long as I can to help.”

Why was Shaw picking up a package of THC-infused gummies at his apartment in Tangerang, which is just outside the Indonesian capital of Jakarta?

Shaw, in a call last week from prison to Andscape, said he had a friend mail the gummies from Thailand — where cannabis is legal — to Indonesia to provide him relief from Crohn’s disease, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease that affects the digestive tract. Shaw was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease during the summer of 2010, between his freshman and sophomore seasons at Oklahoma State.

“I was having a rough patch during the [2025 IBL] season, and I had the package sent,” Shaw said. “I didn’t think I was doing anything wrong. I had no idea about the laws here.

“I understand I made a mistake, and I’m sorry. I just want to get out of here. I want to go home.”

Up until the day he was arrested five months ago, he was adored by basketball fans throughout Indonesia. In the 2022-23 season, his first year, Shaw led Prawira Bandung to the IBL title. In 2023-24, he was named an IBL All-Star while leading Satria Muda Pertamina to the league finals. And in 2024-25, he was averaging 18.7 points and 10.2 rebounds while trying to help Tangerang reach the playoffs for the first time.

As one of the tallest players in the IBL at 6-foot-11, Shaw did his damage in the low post, where he was constantly double-teamed. Just as he did in his two years at Utah State (after transferring from Oklahoma State), where he averaged 14.2 points and 8.3 rebounds (he was second-team All-WAC as a junior), Shaw punished the smaller players in the IBL to the delight of fans. The Tangerang public address announcer’s shout of “Shawtime” rang out to the delight of fans each time he scored.

Despite playing on three teams in Indonesia in three seasons, the IBL was the longest consecutive stretch in one league in Shaw’s 11-year professional career that includes stops in Japan, Argentina, Uruguay and Venezuela.

“I’m not trying to be cocky, but [the IBL] was my league,” Shaw said, “They signed me in Tangerang to take that team to the Promised Land. It would have been a hell of a story if I hadn’t gotten into this situation.”

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

Griner eventually pled guilty and received a nine-year prison sentence. Her basketball status generated support. Basketball personalities LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Dawn Staley and Nneka Ogwumike were among the many people who used their platforms to speak out about her detainment. WNBA players wore “We Are BG” shirts, and decals inscribed with “BG42” appeared on the courts of all 12 WNBA teams. After nearly 300 days of captivity, Griner was eventually released in a prisoner exchange for a Russian arms dealer.

Shaw, in comparison, is a virtual unknown in basketball circles (he played the 2015-16 season with the Santa Cruz Warriors in the NBA Development League). Thus, his story has generated little buzz.

After being rushed by police in the lobby of his apartment building (the package delivered had been flagged as suspicious by airport police), Shaw said he was coerced to reveal the passcode to his phone, giving police access to his text messages.

A week after Shaw was arrested, local media were summoned to a news conference where he was paraded out and forced to face a wall with his back to the reporters and photographers. Joko Sulistiono, an official with the Soekarno-Hatta Airport police department, told reporters that Shaw intended to share the 869 grams of edibles with his teammates.

“Our investigation indicates the suspect attempted to smuggle narcotics into Indonesia and planned to bring in more packages if the first delivery was successful,” Joko said. “Thankfully, we intercepted the initial shipment.” 

A Tangerang Hawks official visited Shaw in jail after his arrest.

“I really thought they were coming to bail me out,” Shaw said. 

Instead, that official came with a document stating that Shaw’s contract with the team was being terminated — which was publicly announced by the IBL the day of the May 14 news conference.

“We take this matter very seriously and deeply regret Jarred Shaw’s violation of the law,” Tikky Suwantikno, team manager of the Tangerang Hawks, said in the IBL release.

The announcement from the IBL and the team left Shaw in isolation.

“I heard from some players that they were going to visit me, but after I was terminated —nothing,” Shaw said. “I have an assistant that comes to see me. The [U.S.] Embassy people come by once a month, but that’s just to basically make sure I’m healthy and I’m eating.

A spokesperson for the State Department told Andscape, via email, that they are in contact with Shaw and are monitoring his case.

“We take seriously our commitment to assist American citizens abroad and the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta is providing consular assistance to Jarred Shaw,” the statement read.

Five months in prison, and Shaw still hasn’t seen any of the arrest documents outlining the case against him and has no clue when he’ll go to trial. He finally has a local attorney he can trust, but Shaw said that’s only after three attorneys made promises, accepted his money, and did nothing.

“I’ve already paid $30,000 in attorney fees, but they’ve frozen my accounts,” said Shaw, who has started a site to help raise legal fees. “At times, I really feel helpless. There are times where I feel that, basically, I’m all alone.”

Two days after his arrest, Shaw made the toughest phone call of his life.

He had to tell his mother, Johnetta Perry.

“That was hard for me,” Shaw admitted. “She has four kids. I’m the second oldest and I always tried to lead by example. I made a mistake, and I had to call to tell her what I did.”

Shaw tried to call via FaceTime, but Perry was driving to her niece’s graduation, which kept her from connecting the video feed.

“I heard edibles, and it was two days before Mother’s Day, and I thought he was calling to say he was sending me an edible arrangement,” Perry said. “He said, ‘Mama, I can’t see you. I need to FaceTime you.’ ”

What Perry saw hit hard. The worried look on her son’s face in surroundings that did not look familiar. “Mom, I’m sorry,” Shaw told her. “I’ve been arrested. I’m sorry to disappoint you.”

With those words, Shaw and his mother both broke down crying.

That call has led to five months of anguish for Perry, who worries about what her son’s isolation in a foreign place is doing to him mentally.

She worries about her son’s safety. What he’s eating. The fact that he has no visitors.

“I’ve written letters to the White House, to the Embassy and I’m doing all I can do to try to help my son,” Perry said. “I’m a cancer survivor. I have chronic illnesses and get around with a walker. 

“This hurts because that’s my son, and he’s all alone. My prayer is that I’ll get to see and touch my son before I leave this world.”

For Shaw, the first four months of incarceration were the toughest. Prisons in Indonesia are horrific. According to the Antil-Corrruption Resource Center, they are grossly overcrowded (the prison population was 273,495 in 2024, which was double the capacity) and corrupt, as prisoners are vulnerable to excessive pre-trail detention and bribery.

Shaw was a victim of that extended pre-trial detention, spending four months in a jail where he was locked down in a windowless cell for all but 10 minutes a day

“We had 15 people in a room with no beds,” Shaw said. “You found a place on the floor and used what looks like a yoga mat to sleep on. No TV, no entertainment, no nothing.”

In September, he was transferred to Tangerang Prison — a site where, in 2021, a fire in an overcrowded cell block (built to hold 38, but which held 122 at the time of the fire) left 49 inmates dead.

At Tangerang Prison, Shaw has more freedoms. While still overcrowded, he has a bed and access to a weight room and a gym (cell doors open at 7 a.m., and close at 7 p.m.).

With no desire to eat the prison food of fish, meal and rice, Shaw pays to have food delivered daily from either Burger King, McDonald’s or KFC. 

“I pay double the price,” Shaw said. “Probably not the best thing to eat with Crohn’s disease, but it’s better than what they serve inside.”

Shaw now has boots on the ground to help him in West, the criminal justice advocate, who arrived in Jakarta on Tuesday. West is somewhat familiar with Shaw’s dilemma: In 2017, he was sentenced to eight years for possession of marijuana. His sentence was vacated and his conviction was eventually overturned in 2021, mostly due to the research West did on his own case.

In 2021, the Last Prisoner Project hired West as an advocacy associate to help release cannabis prisoners across the United States. He took on Shaw’s case independently of the Last Prisoner Project, which only works with people imprisoned in the United States.

“This is my first international case,” West said Wednesday following his meeting with the prosecutor in Jakarta. “I thought the meeting was useful, and I found that the officials here really aren’t familiar with Crohn’s disease. We’re going to try to fly a doctor in from the United States to make a presentation so that the prosecutors and judges here can better understand Jarred’s situation.”

West is hopeful that celebrities who support the Last Prisoner Project (NBA Hall of Famer Carmelo Anthony and Pro Football Hall of Famer Calvin Johnson were among the celebrities at the organization’s gala in New York last week) might be able to amplify Shaw’s situation to garner support in the United States.

“Maybe we can reach some people in the NBA that have ties to cannabis, to help raise awareness,” West said. “I’m going to do everything I can to help. I have a goal, and that’s to get Jarred home before Christmas.”

That would be music to the ears of Shaw, who still can’t shake hearing about possibly facing death by firing squad when he was first arrested. Eight people were executed by Indonesia by a 13-member firing squad in 2015 for drug smuggling: two Australians, four Nigerians, a Brazilian and an Indonesian.

While he feels he has paid enough money to avoid the death penalty, he still doesn’t know how he’ll fare in the Indonesia judicial system. It has been reported that more than 500 people are on death row — most of them for drug-related crimes.

“I made a mistake, and I went from sleeping in my nice comfortable bed to sleeping on the floor,” Shaw said. “I want to get out of this place. I want to see my family again, my mother.

“I pray that I get to go home.”

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