Ex-felon John Joseph knows exactly what it’s like to be in prison.

He grew up around violence and substance abuse and spent two years ‘in the worst juvenile prisons’ as a youngster.

Now, approaching 54 years old, he is in the best shape ever, living a life of peace and compassion, which he credits to adopting a vegan lifestyle.


He is hoping to pass on his hard-earned wisdom to the kids awaiting prison at Ella McQueen Correctional Facility in BedStuy, NYC.

‘If you told me in 1980 I would be continuing a plant-based diet 35 years later and killing it in Ironman triathlons, I would have laughed right in your face,’ he tells Metro.co.uk.



MORE: Vegan rockstar and athlete John Joseph on why ‘meat is for pussies’

‘My background was the toughest of the tough, growing up in New York City.

‘I came from a violent, alcoholic home and in 1969 I was placed into a succession of orphanages and abusive foster homes.

‘I was homeless on the streets at 14, got shot, stabbed… shit, I even did two years in the worst juvenile prisons and had an addiction to alcohol, bad food and every drug under the sun.

‘What changed first and foremost was my diet, then attitude followed.’

Cro-Mags frontman John learned about PMA (Positive Mental Attitude) in 1981 and swore off eating animals, processed food, drugs and the rest.

‘That was the catalyst for change in my life because when I started to give a damn about what I was ingesting all other positive change followed.’

Now he wants to inspire young offenders in his city through a mentoring and vegan education programme.

The punk musician works with an organisation called the Healthy School Lunch Programme (HSLP) in NYC.

‘We go around and educate kids in the schools, and parents too, on healthy school food.’

John says it has been instrumental in getting alternative menus in a lot of schools in the city such as Queens elementary, the first vegetarian school in the USA.

But it’s not just schools

It grew when chef Noah Sheetz got in touch with John about his planned youth offenders project.

‘I got an email from him and he told me about his own journey,’ says John.

‘He’s been seeing how he has shifted more and he read my book [Meat Is For Pussies].

‘He’s getting more into plant-based and so he said “Hey man, I got this programme going in the city” – it was his idea and we presented it to the facility two weeks ago.’

The Ella McQueen correctional facility in question is a holding place for 14-18-year-olds where they go after they’ve been sentenced and before they go to prison.

‘It’s a quick turnover of residents, maybe two to three weeks. Every time I go there it will get a whole new group of 14 to 18-year-olds.’

MORE: Vegan sushi: Where to get the best plant-based Japanese food in the UK



It will involve classes of 10 kids taking part in a three-hour session with John every week, and Noah overseeing things.

John will prepare and cook an organic vegan meal from scratch and educate the youngsters on healthy eating, as well as mentor them and share his story of incarceration and metamorphosis.

His aim is to inspire peace and compassion among them and mentor them on how to get past what they’re going through.

A 2011 experiment in California put prisoners on a programme involving veganism, bible studies, occupational training, and anger management.

The State had a recidivism (relapse into criminal behaviour) rate of 95%. Participants’ recidivism rate was less than 2%.

John believes that it is the veganism that has helped lower the re-offending rate.

Some research has suggested vegetarians and vegans are more empathic towards not just animals but humans also, compared to omnivores.

John vouches for this personally, and suggests cortisol (stress hormone) present in a slaughtered animal’s flesh breeds anger on the person eating it.

‘You feel those effects from plant-based yourself. Within weeks of getting off all the meat my anger subsided and peace came over me.

‘I can only speak from personal experience and the experience of dozens of people who have told me the same thing happened to them.’

‘I’ve been at this same point in my life so I look forward to helping these kids.’

For clarity, research on the effects of eating meat is limited, with meats often reported as a good way to lower cortisol levels.

John says the correctional facility knows that what they are doing currently to try rehabilitate the young offenders doesn’t work.


‘Now they are trying yoga and seeing that among the kids who take part, the fights have gone down.

‘If you don’t replace positivity in these kids’ lives they’ll go right back to what they were doing just like I did at the beginning.

MORE: 15 vegan bodybuilders proving that you can be meat-free and strong

‘In this programme with the kids, the plant-based eating element is very important. It was was the catalyst for change in my life.

‘I became so much more compassionate towards people and all beings and I believe these kids can too. The compassion trickled down into all areas including for the planet.’

John hopes to extend the test programme for three months after the initial upcoming trial.

There’s no contact allowed afterwards so John hopes to plant the seed, water it a little bit and hope they continue once they go on their way.

‘Are they gonna get served organic in prison? I’m 99.9% sure not, but they’re allowed vegan food and to get food delivered – packages etc – so I’m sure they can ask people to send them food.’

‘I’ll be doing something different every third time I’m there. At the most I’d see the same child twice.’

John is donating his wages from the government to the Children’s Tumour Foundation.

‘At the end of the day, if a plant-based diet can work for a screw up like me, it can work for anybody.’

Advertisement Advertisement