Prison is no fun.

A 19-year-old Beeville woman knows that firsthand, and she pleaded with a judge last week to give her a second chance at leading a productive life.

District Court Judge Janna Whatley agreed to release Mae-li Ong from prison and allow her to spend the next 10 years on probation.

“I appreciate you sending me to prison, your honor, it has really opened my eyes to my behavior,” Ong said during a brief trial in front of Whatley’s bench. “I am so ashamed of what I have done.”

Ong was convicted in July of three counts of delivery of a controlled substance — two of them involving one gram of cocaine and one count involving between 1 gram and 4 grams of cocaine – in a drug free zone, each one a third degree felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. She was also convicted on one charge of possession of a controlled substance — between 4 grams and 200 grams of cocaine – with possession to distribute in a drug free zone, a first degree felony offense punishable by up to life in prison.

She is accused of selling the cocaine to an undercover informant on Sept. 10, 2007, out of her mother’s home on Avenue D, located within 1,000 feet of Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church’s playground. Ong is also accused of selling drugs within 1,000 feet of A.C. Jones High School.

Ong accepted a plea bargain agreement in May 2008 that called for her to waive her rights to a trial by jury. In a bench hearing before Whatley in June, Ong was found guilty and sentenced to 10 years in prison. However, Whatley said she would consider offering Ong “shock” probation if she behaved herself in prison. Shock probation is typically offered to first-time offenders to give them a short look at prison life in hopes they will be shocked enough to change their behavior.

Bee County District Attorney Martha Warner opposed the request for shock probation, reminding Whatley that Ong had only recently sold drugs in the very community she now wants to return.

Whatley said she was also concerned about releasing Ong back into the community, but wanted to give her a second chance of leading a productive life because of her age.

Ong said she will live with her aunt.

Ong’s mother, San Juanita Garcia Ong, 52, also was arrested, charged and convicted on one count of possession of a controlled substance — between 4 grams and 200 grams of cocaine — with intent to distribute, a first degree felony offense.

She was sentenced to 10 years in prison in July.

Beeville police investigators found a plastic bag in the elder Ong’s lingerie drawer that contained 37 individually wrapped bags of cocaine, according to court records.