Hong Kong student leader Joshua Wong is trying to put on a brave face behind bars, joking with a friend that he found it harder to sleep in a tent during the 2014 Occupy protests, for which he was jailed, than he does in his cell at Pik Uk Correctional Institution.

“The toughest thing is passing the time as he is a very hyperactive person who spends a lot of time on social media and being cut off from the outside world is a challenge,” says Jason Ng, who recently visited the 20-year-old democracy activist.

But while Wong’s sentencing has earned him supportive missives from international politicians such as Marco Rubio, Nancy Pelosi and Chris Patten, the Hong Kong government’s intensifying crackdown leaves the city’s once vibrant democracy movement with a bitter dilemma: continue to oppose Beijing and face ever tougher consequences, or back down and watch Hong Kong’s autonomy disappear at a faster pace.