Inside Ali Abulaban’s Prison Life — Actually Worse Than Death
September 6th, 2024. The courtroom erupted in cheers as Judge Jeffrey Fraser finished reading the sentence. Ali Abulaban, the Tik Tok star known as Jin Kid with nearly a million followers, stood motionless as reality sank in. The judge left no room for doubt. Abilin would die in prison. He would never be a free man.
But what most people watching that courtroom drama don’t realize is that the real punishment was just beginning. The cameras captured his sentencing, but they can’t follow him into the nightmare that awaits behind those prison walls. Ali Abilin received the harshest sentence possible for the brutal murders of his wife, Anna Abilin, and her friend, Raburn Baron.
Two consecutive life sentences without parole, plus 50 years to life. The bottom line here is he will die in prison. He will never be a free man. He will take his last breath there. [applause] Initi in [applause] please please please. The judge called him a very selfish person and stated he believed Abulabin was only sorry about going to prison, not sorry for killing two innocent human beings.
But here is what makes this sentence particularly brutal. Many people think life in prison is somehow merciful compared to the death penalty. By the end of this video, I will show you exactly why Ali Abulin’s existence behind bars might actually be worse than death row. Tell me in the comments whether you think he deserves this fate or if justice has been served after his sentencing.
Abulabin was transferred from San Diego County Jail to California State Prison, Los Angeles County. This maximum security facility sits in Lancaster, California, in the Mojave Desert, where summer temperatures regularly exceed 100°. The prison is overcrowded, dangerous, and designed to break men exactly like him.
The facility operates at over 137% of its design capacity. Imagine living in a space designed for 2,300 inmates but housing over 3,000. The overcrowding creates constant tension. Resources are stretched thin. Violence becomes inevitable. And into this powder keg walked one of California’s most notorious killers.
Prison officials had to determine where to house him and how to keep him safe from other inmates who might see him as a target. But unlike county jail where he spent nearly 3 years awaiting trial, state prison operates under entirely different rules. The stakes are higher, the violence is more organized, and his celebrity status, which once brought him fame and fortune, now marks him for something far worse.
Let me walk you through what Ali Abulin faces every single day. He wakes up in a cell barely larger than a bathroom stall. The concrete walls are covered in decades of grime. The air is thick and stale. There is no air conditioning despite the desert heat that turns cells into ovens during summer months. Sleep becomes impossible during July and August when temperatures inside the cell block can reach 120°.
Every morning starts with the same harsh buzzer at 5:00 a.m. The fluorescent lights flicker on. Within minutes, the entire cell block erupts into noise. Inmates yelling, metal doors clanging, guards shouting orders. There is no gentle awakening. There is no privacy. There is no escape from the chaos that defines prison life.
Abulaban must line up for count multiple times per day. He stands facing the wall while guards verify every inmate is accounted for. Any movement during count results in disciplinary action. The routine is designed to strip away individuality and reduce inmates to numbers.
He is no longer Jin Kid the Tik Tok star with nearly a million followers. He is simply inmate Abulaban serving two life sentences. Meals are served in a cafeteria where violence can erupt at any moment. Abulabin must navigate the complex social hierarchy of prison dining. Where he sits matters. Who he talks to matters.
Even eye contact can be interpreted as disrespect or challenge. One wrong move and he could find himself surrounded by inmates looking for any excuse to make a name for themselves by attacking someone famous. The food itself is barely edible. Processed mystery meat, overcooked vegetables, stale bread, watered down juice.
Everything tastes the same. Everything looks gray. Here is what makes Ali Abulaban’s situation particularly dangerous. In county jail, he was separated from general population for his own safety. But state prison operates differently. Unless an inmate is in administrative segregation, they must mix with the general population.
And Ali Abilin is exactly the kind of inmate that other prisoners target. He killed his wife. In prison culture that carries weight. Domestic violence killers occupy a strange space in the hierarchy. They are not universally despised like child killers, but they are not respected either. Other inmates see them as weak.
And weakness in prison is blood in the water. But what makes Abulabin an even bigger target is his fame. Everyone knows who he is. Everyone has seen his Tik Tok videos. Everyone knows about the trial and the sensational details that played out on national television. Some inmates will approach him out of curiosity.
Others will see him as an opportunity to build their own reputation by taking down someone with notoriety. Prison violence follows unwritten rules. An inmate looking to move up in the hierarchy can make a name for themselves by attacking someone like Abulabin. And unlike the outside world, prison violence often happens in blind spots where guards cannot see.
In the showers, in the wrecky yard corners, during controlled movements when dozens of inmates are transitioning between areas, according to reports, Abulabin has already faced threats. Other inmates have made it clear they know who he is and what he did. And here is the terrifying reality.
In a facility housing thousands of violent offenders, someone eventually will act on those threats. It might be tomorrow. It might be years from now. But the threat never disappears. It hangs over him every single day. The irony of Abulabin’s situation cannot be overstated. He spent years building his brand as Jin Kid.
He perfected his Scarface impression. He accumulated nearly a million followers. He tasted fame and success. And now that same fame has become his curse. Other inmates know his videos. They have seen him perform. Some of them were fans before he committed murder. Imagine that psychological torture.
People who once admired his talent now watch him shuffle through the prison yard in chains. People who laughed at his impressions now laugh at his predicament. Inmates mock him. They quote his videos back to him with cruel twists. They ask him to do his Scarface voice while standing in line for meals. They treat him like a performing monkey.
And if he refuses or shows any attitude, that becomes grounds for confrontation. He cannot win. Playing along makes him a joke. Refusing makes him a target. But here is what makes it even worse. While he sits in prison, his old videos are still online. New people discover them every day.
They watch him perform his impressions. Then they learn what he did. They see the trial footage. They watch him try to manipulate the jury with his tears and his claims of mental illness. The contrast between the performer and the killer becomes undeniable. The judge even commented on this during sentencing. He called Abulabin a very talented actor and noted how he seemed to embody the Scarface persona when committing his crimes.
Cold-blooded killing without remorse. Abilin became the character he portrayed. He let the violence and machismo of Tony Montana seep into his real life. And now he pays the price every single day. In state prison, inmates are required to work unless they have medical exemptions. Abulabin will be assigned prison jobs that pay between 8 cents and 37 cents per hour. Let that sink in.
After taxes and mandatory deductions, he might take home $5 for an entire month of full-time work. The jobs available are grueling and demeaning. He might work in the prison laundry. He might be assigned to the kitchen preparing terrible food. He might work as a porter, mopping floors and cleaning bathrooms that wreak of bleach and human waste.
These are not jobs anyone would choose. They exist only to keep inmates occupied and to generate cheap labor for the state. But refusing to work brings consequences. Inmates who do not work lose privileges. They cannot use the phone as often. They cannot access the recreation yard. They can be placed in administrative segregation, which is essentially solitary confinement.
So, Abulin has no choice but to accept whatever assignment he receives. He can attend drug counseling for his cocaine addiction. He can participate in anger management classes. He can take educational courses if space is available. But none of these programs change his sentence. None of them offer hope of release.
They are simply ways to fill time in a schedule that stretches endlessly into the future. And here is the crushing reality. Most inmates cling to programs as a way to work toward parole. But Abulabin has no parole eligibility. He will never stand before a parole board. His sentence is absolute. So every program he completes is meaningless.
Every certificate he earns is worthless. He is simply going through motions in an existence that has no destination except death. What most people do not understand about life without parole is the psychological destruction it causes. Human beings need hope to survive. We need goals. We need something to work toward.
Take that away and the mind begins to deteriorate. Ali Abulabin must live with the knowledge that nothing will ever change. He will never hold his daughter again. He will never taste freedom. He will never experience the simple pleasures that people on the outside take for granted. No restaurants, no movies, no privacy, no intimacy, no control over even the smallest aspects of his life.
Every birthday is a reminder of time wasted. Every holiday is a reminder of the family he destroyed. Every milestone his daughter reaches happens without him. She will grow up. She will graduate. She will fall in love. And he will experience none of it except through occasional phone calls and letters. The isolation is suffocating.
Yes, he is surrounded by thousands of other inmates, but he cannot trust any of them. In prison, everyone is looking for an angle. He cannot let his guard down. He must maintain constant vigilance against threats, both physical and psychological. Sleep becomes a luxury. The noise in the cell block continues 24 hours a day.
Inmates scream, they fight. Guards conduct searches at random hours. The lights never fully go out. Many long-term prisoners develop severe sleep disorders that further deteriorate mental health. Depression becomes inevitable. Studies show that prisoners serving life without parole experience depression rates three times higher than general population inmates.
The suicide rate among lifers is significantly elevated because at some point the burden of endless suffering becomes too much to bear. And here is what makes Abulabin’s situation particularly brutal. He created this reality himself. Every night when he lies on that thin mattress staring at the concrete ceiling, he must confront what he did.
He must remember Anna and Rabburn. He must think about his daughter growing up without a mother because of his actions. While most prisoners fade into obscurity, Ali Abulaban remains in the public eye. His case generated a Peacock documentary called Tik Tok Star Murders. News outlets continue to cover developments.
His name appears in articles about domestic violence and celebrity crime. He cannot escape his infamy. For Abulaban himself, the attention is torture. Every article reminds him of what he lost. Every documentary recreates the worst moments of his life. Every comment section fills with people calling him a monster. He cannot move on. He cannot rebuild.
His identity is frozen forever as the Tik Tok star who murdered his wife. The victim’s families continue to suffer as well. Anna’s sister, Hermes, gave an emotional victim impact statement at sentencing. She screamed at Abilin asking what Anna had done to deserve death. She revealed that Anna only started talking to other men after Abilaban had cheated first.
The truth of his hypocrisy was laid bare in that courtroom. Ray Baron’s family also spoke about their loss. Rayurn was simply Anna’s friend. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was murdered because a jealous man could not handle the idea of his aranged wife moving on. His death was senseless and completely preventable.
Abilin’s defense attorney has indicated they will file appeals. They will argue prosecutorial misconduct. They will claim the jury was tainted. But the reality is that his appeals face nearly insurmountable obstacles. The evidence against him was overwhelming. He installed spywear on his daughter’s iPad to monitor Anna.
He obtained a key to enter the apartment without permission. He armed himself with a gun. He fatally shot both victims. Then he picked up his daughter from school and told her he hurt mommy. The premeditation was undeniable. Appeals courts rarely overturn murder convictions when the evidence is this strong.
And in Abilin’s case, the mountain of evidence makes it nearly impossible to argue that any error changed the result. So he will file his appeals and they will be denied. He will wait years for decisions that ultimately change nothing. And with each denial, the reality of his situation becomes more concrete.
Here is the central truth about Ali Abulaban’s sentence. If he had received the death penalty, there would eventually be an end point. After exhausting appeals, he would face execution. The suffering would be prolonged, but it would end. Instead, he faces 50 to 60 more years of the existence I have described.
50 years in that desert prison, 50 years of 120° heat in summer and freezing cold in winter. 50 years of terrible food and constant violence. 50 years of grinding poverty earning pennies per hour. 50 years without hope. 50 years without purpose. 50 years of absolutely nothing to look forward to except aging and eventual death behind bars.
That crushing absence of hope is its own form of execution. It just happens in slow motion over decades instead of in minutes in an execution chamber. Every morning he wakes up is another day of punishment. Every night he survives is another night closer to dying in prison. He told the judge that being sent to prison forever feels like being sent to hell.
And in a very real sense, he was right. The death penalty at least offers a form of peace, an end to suffering. But life without parole offers no such mercy. It is death by a thousand cuts. It is the slow erosion of everything that makes us human. It is watching yourself decay while the world outside continues without you.
Some would argue this is exactly what he deserves. He showed no mercy to Anna or Raburn. He ended their lives without hesitation. He robbed the child of her mother. Why should he receive mercy when he gave none? Ali Abulabin is now 32 years old. Based on average life expectancy, he could spend another 50 years in California State Prison.
That is five decades of the existence I have described. Five decades in that concrete cell. Five decades of threats and violence. Five decades of complete hopelessness. Judge Fraser made it clear when he said Abilin will die in prison. He will never be a free man. He will take his last breath behind those walls. That is not just a sentence. That is a prophecy.
And unlike the characters Abilin portrayed on Tik Tok, there is no script to follow. There is no director to yell cut. This is his reality and it will never change. Anna Abulabin was 28 years old when she was murdered. Rurn Baron was 29. They both had their entire lives ahead of them. They had dreams and plans and people who loved them.
All of that was stolen in moments of jealous rage by a man who could not accept that his marriage was over. Their families will carry that grief forever. Anna’s father said he wants Abilabin to rot in prison. Her sister said the absence left a hole in her heart that can never be filled. These are wounds that do not heal.
And while Abulaban sits in his cell year after year, those families must continue living with the void he created. This is the reality of life in prison for the Tik Tok star who became a killer. This is what worse than death looks like. 50 years of waking up in hell. 50 years of knowing there is no escape.
50 years of facing the consequences of choices made in minutes of rage. Do you think he deserves this fate? Or should the sentence have been different? Leave your thoughts in the comments below. Because in the end, justice for some means a lifetime of suffering for others.
