A Long Beach man who has been behind bars for more than two decades is hoping to have a hearing before the holidays.

Allan McIntosh is currently serving a 25-year to life sentence at San Quentin State Prison.

“We are praying they give him a date before Christmas,” says Allan’s wife, Daviena Dumont McIntosh.

In 1998, McIntosh was pulled over by two Long Beach police officers for not having a light on his bike and not using the crosswalk. In the documentary “Q Ball,” McIntosh says he was carrying a gun for protection because he lived in a gang-infested neighborhood, but notes he never intended to use it.

“Just because a person is in prison doesn’t mean they’re bad. There are plenty of good men in prison that have been done wrong by the system,” adds Dumont McIntosh.

Since McIntosh had been previously convicted of a robbery and armed robbery, he was subject to California’s three-strikes sentencing law. If McIntosh had been convicted for the same crime today, he’d face anywhere from 16 months to 3 years in prison.

Ceasar McDowell, who was McIntosh’s cellmate at San Quentin, is the CEO and co-founder of Unite the People Inc. The nonprofit helps families like McIntosh’s who don’t have access to proper legal representation.

“These guys end up having public defenders, people who had 300 people on their caseloads each month, and they just couldn’t give these guys good representation. So a lot of guys ended up with these really disproportionate sentences,” McDowell said.

McDowell started the nonprofit alongside his brother in 2016 while he was still in San Quentin. He explains how the organization is focused on promoting social justice and providing affordable legal services to underserved communities.

In McIntosh’s case, there hasn’t been much hope over the last two decades until recently.

“We’ve been trying help McIntosh for years now, and there’s just never been a way in but now that George Gascon changed the gang and gun enhancement laws here in Los Angeles County, Mr. McIntosh fits that criteria,” notes McDowell.

When Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón took office, he called to dismiss almost all three strikes as well as gun and gang sentencing enhancements.

“Everyone was ecstatic,” McDowell said. “We were able to go file his petition with the DA’s office here in the city of Long Beach.”

Dumont McIntosh noted that this means they may finally be able to spend Christmas together with their blended family.

“I’m really hopeful with the help of Unite the People and Gascon’s resentencing laws that he’ll get a date before Christmas,” she said.

McIntosh said it feels amazing to know he may finally be able to reconnect with his family.

“I am a real person, I am good person, and I am hardworking person,” he said. “All l need is that second chance to show and prove everything I just said.”

Once he’s released, McIntosh says he’d like to start a mentoring program for at-risk youth as well as a flooring business. He also looks forward to spending with his kids and grandkids who he’s never met.

McDowell explained that the letter for McIntosh’s hearing could arrive any day, and once he receives a date, McIntosh will either be released on the day of the hearing or three to five days after the resentencing.

In addition to filing a motion for McIntosh’s resentencing, Unite the People also started an online petition with nearly 37,000 signatures.