'I Royally Screwed Up:' Jared Fogle Speaks From Prison

Jared Fogle, the former spokesperson for Subway restaurant-turned-convict, is admitting that he “royally screwed up” his life.

“I really royally screwed up to wind up where I am,” Fogle, 44, wrote in a November letter to the New York Post. “I was selfish and entitled.”

The former spokesman, who became famous in 2000 after he credited Subway for losing a significant amount of weight, pleaded guilty in 2015 to having sex with minors and for the distribution of child pornography. He is currently serving more than 15 years at the Federal Correctional Institution in Englewood, Colorado.

His letter to the Post marks his first time talking about his routine behind bars.

Fogle told the outlet that he was inspired by a line from the movie “The Shawshank Redemption.”

“Something like, ‘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.”

He wrote that he thinks constantly “about all the people I’ve let down every single day, especially my family.” 

Fogle has two children, now aged 11 and 9, with his ex-wife, who divorced him shortly after his arrest. In his 2015 federal plea, he admitted to traveling to engage in sex acts with a minor. Investigators also pointed to text messages in which he allegedly discussed sexually abusing children, possibly as young as 6, according to National Public Radio. Many of his most disturbing texts were littered with emojis and phrases like "LOL."

Fogle also let the Post in on his diet and exercise routine, which does not appear to involve Subway.

“I snack on granola bars and protein bars,” he wrote. “I feel really good physically and mentally.”

He also said he runs between four to five miles every day, proclaiming that he is the healthiest he’s 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,” Fogle wrote. “I currently weigh 180 pounds.”

He weighed 425 pounds at his heaviest in the late 1990s before claiming to lose more than 200 pounds, mostly through eating Subway.

In his letter, Fogle said he is looking towards the future.

“All I can do is learn from my mistakes to be a better man when I get released in a few years,” Fogle told the Post.

He tried to get an early release in 2018, claiming his plea was unlawful, but failed. Earlier that year, he attempted to fight his prison sentence by claiming that the judge in his case was biased because she has teenage daughters, according to The Indy Star. In actuality, the judge had one adult daughter. Fogle has filed dozens of unsuccessful motions to either get his sentence thrown out or reduced.

The earliest he can be released is 2029 and he will have to register as a sex offender.