The road to reform of the boss who once asked to stay in... prison

(Baonghean.vn) - Despite being released from prison early, Thang wrote a request to stay longer to... prepare himself mentally. It was his determination to reform that helped the young man quickly become a boss and pay off his debt to life.

Please stay in prison

For nearly 4 years now, the seafood restaurant, conference center, and wedding venue in Son Hai commune (Quynh Luu district) has been a familiar address for many guests inside and outside the district. But few people know that the restaurant owner had a not-so-glorious past.

Nearly ten years ago, Hoang Van Thang, nicknamed “Thang Ken,” was a young vagabond. Although born into a poor family, Thang did not work hard, but instead often gathered with friends, organized drinking parties, and played around. With a personality that liked to show off his “heroic” nature, Thang was repeatedly fined by local authorities for administrative violations.

His tireless efforts have helped him build a career that many people dream of. Photo: Tran Vu

In December 2010, after returning from a wedding, while drunk, Thang cursed and used a weapon to injure a neighbor. Not only that, Thang also destroyed the family’s property. With two charges of “Intentionally causing injury” and “Intentionally destroying property”, Thang was sentenced by the People’s Court of Quynh Luu district to 42 months in prison, and ordered to compensate the victim’s family 60 million VND.

At first, Thang showed an attitude of opposition to the prison officers. But that thought was soon eliminated thanks to the timely encouragement of his young wife. “Every time I saw my wife carrying things in her arms and under her arms when she came to visit, I couldn’t hold back my tears. It was her words of encouragement that helped me to be more determined to reform so that I could soon reunite with my wife and children,” he recalled.

Thanks to the timely encouragement of the prison guards and his relatives, Thang changed his mind and reformed well. Not long after, he was elected as the leader of the sanitation team, "managing" 45 soldiers. After 2 reviews, Thang's sentence was reduced to 9 months.

But what surprised the prison officers was that Thang had written a request to postpone his release date by nearly a month. “I did that because I wanted to give the amnesty to another prisoner, but mainly I wanted more time to mentally prepare for my release date,” Thang shared.

Help people in the same situation

Thang said that before he got into trouble with the law, he and his family opened a large carpentry workshop with more than 50 workers. But after operating for less than a year, he encountered problems and the family's finances went downhill.

Thinking of doing a new job and avoiding the old problems, he discussed with his relatives about changing his business direction and opening a roller skating rink. “We invested nearly 100 million VND in equipment and the roller skating rink, but after nearly 3 months of operation, my wife and I had to close it down due to business losses. After that failure, I decided to change direction,” Thang confided.

Mr. Thang shares about his past mistakes and his journey to rebuild his life. Photo: Tran Vu

With more than 600 million VND borrowed from relatives, Mr. Thang invested in opening a restaurant. At first, the couple's restaurant specialized in selling wild food. Grasping customer trends, they switched to seafood and hot pot dishes. Not only that, Mr. Thang also boldly invested in facilities to organize wedding parties and conferences.

Among the staff who used to work for Mr. Thang, there were quite a few people who had made mistakes in the past, and were his fellow prisoners. The special thing was that those people were all “invited” by him, even though they had no professional expertise.

Up to now, the young boss has taken in and helped 4 people who had made mistakes in the past. Some were apprenticed to work as kitchen assistants, waiters, and others were supported with capital to develop their businesses. Thang confided: “I cannot help them for the rest of their lives, but sharing work in difficult times is the best way. Even though those people have now found new paths for the future, we still maintain our friendship and support each other in life.”

Sharing his future plans, Mr. Thang said he will open a second restaurant to develop his business. It is both a passion and an opportunity to help people in similar situations.

Tran Vu