"I really miss the small things like walking barefoot on carpet, sleeping on a nice comfy mattress, eating with real silverware..."
Jared Fogle isn't enjoying the "unwanted experience" of living in prison.
The former Subway pitchman and convicted pedophile is staying fit and positive, despite his 15 year sentence for possessing child porn and paying for sex with underage girls, a letter he wrote from Englewood Federal Correctional Institution reveals.
The handwritten note, obtained by the New York Post, is dated November 7 2021, although the addressee has been redacted.
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View Story"Thank you for taking the time to reach out and write me," he begins. "At this time, I am not doing any interviews."
He immediately sets the record straight: he is not studying culinary arts in prison, despite suggestions online, as Covid protocols prevent him doing so.
He then describes his "rigorous fitness regiment", claiming he runs 4-5 miles every day, and that he is "the most healthy and in shape I've ever been."
"We don't have a lot of control over our daily lives in prison but working out is one of the things I can control," he claims, adding that he currently weighs 180lbs, boasting that he avoids too much junk food and likes to snack on granola bars, nuts and protein bars.
"I feel really good physically and mentally," he goes on, revealing he passes the time by watching college and NFL football "which makes the weekends fly by", reading the New York Times daily, and all kinds of books, especially historical fiction.
"I still love to laugh and smile," he says, finally getting off the subject of his weight. "I realize I royally screwed up to wind up where I am. I was selfish and entitled."
"I think about all the people I've let down every single day, especially my family. All I can do is learn from my stupid mistakes to be a better man when I get released in a few years."
"I very much look forward to re-starting my life and enjoying every moment with my family who have stood by and supported me. I'm so lucky to have them."
He acknowledges however that because there is no parole in the federal prison system, he must complete 85 percent of his 15 year and 8 month sentence — meaning the earliest he will walk is 2029.
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View Story"I really don't know what I'll do in the future," he muses. "It is sort of an open book I guess."
"Prison takes away so much but I really miss the small things like walking barefoot on carpet, sleeping on a nice comfy mattress, eating with real silverware, having access to a microwave."
He concludes by quoting a line from prison film The Shawshank Redemption: "'You can either get busy living or get busy dying' when you are sent to prison."
"I've done everything I can to get busy living and make the most of this unwanted experience."
As part of a plea deal, Fogle was sentenced in 2015 having pled guilty to one count of distribution and receipt of child pornography, and one count of traveling to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor.
Once worth an estimated $15m thanks to his sponsorship deal with Subway, he also had to pay $1.4 million in restitution to 14 minor victims — $100,000 each.
Suspicion around Fogle began all the way back in 2007, when journalist and radio host Rochelle Herman-Walrond told the FBI that Fogle had revealed to her during a speaking tour he was attracted to middle school-age girls.
Under direction of federal investigators, Herman-Walrond said she struck up a friendship and began recording sickening conversations about minors over the course of four years. She believes prosecution took so long because of the lack of substantive evidence, and that Fogle was ultimately not the prime target of the investigation.