When Joe Kwon was sentenced to nine years behind bars at the age of 21 for dealing huge quantities of MDMA he was resigned to becoming a career criminal.
But a chance encounter in the jail yard with a white-collar criminal who was rumoured to be a billionaire accountant changed the Sydney man’s life.
Joe, who now runs ConFit – a successful personal training business that employs former inmates, dropped out of school in Year 10 to become a full-time drug dealer.
He said he didn’t know any life other than crime.
‘I was motivated by money because I grew up with a single mum who was either working or studying and that gave me a lot of time to hang out with people who were part of the gang scene,’ the 33-year-old said.
‘I saw my first murder when I was in Year 6, so I guess for me coming from the environment I grew up in to crime was a natural progression.’
Joe Kwon, pictured during his time in jail. Joe said he was sure he was destined to become a drug lord and was keen to learn from hardened criminals when he was sent to jail
But halfway through his sentence he met a once-in-a-lifetime mentor and is now running ConFit – a successful personal training business that employs former inmates
Joe now visits both youth and adult correctional facilities to help teach inmates how to get ahead on the outside through his program called ConFit Pathways
Joe was half-way through his sentence when the ‘billionaire accountant’ became his cellmate and started teaching him about the importance of education, self-belief, and accounting – the language of business.
‘All of a sudden I had this positive role model – the first I had had in my life, and he was helping me just because he wanted me to succeed,’ Joe said.
He found he had a new purpose. He started believing that he could actually build a life outside of jail which focused on social equality and driving positive change.
‘We only shared a cell for six months but it was intense. He made me read books and then quizzed me on them for hours each night,’ Joe said.
‘He would say “don’t tell me what the book, tell me what it was about” – he pushed me into critical thinking.’
Six months after the chance meeting, Joe was moved to another prison but kept up his studies and received his higher school certificate.
He was in Wellington Jail near Dubbo in central NSW having ‘the worst time of his life’ when he got a letter accepting him to study at the University of New South Wales.
‘I just broke down in tears, no-one there understood what I had been through to get to that moment,’ he said.
‘A month after I got out of jail I was at university, taking a lecture on social change.’
Joe was just 21 when he was jailed for nine years. He dropped out of school when he was in Year 10 after deciding selling drugs was too lucrative to turn down
‘When I hit rock bottom or when I was on top of the world mum was always there words can’t express how great a mothers love is,’ Joe said. His mum was a single parent who worked and studied fulltime when he was young
Joe, who hires and teaches former inmates (except child abusers or sex offenders) to be fitness trainers, understands the challenges of being in lockdown more than most, and has shared a prison-style workout that anyone can do while stuck at home.
‘In jail exercise is the only escape,’ he said.
‘It’s an environment where you are herded around like animals, treated like animals and where so many people just become the environment.
‘My first day in jail I saw inmates crowded in the corner, shooting up. It was crazy but after a while you are desensitised and it feels normal.
‘Then you just wake up every day with a hollow, stuffy feeling of worthlessness. It is hard to bear.’
This is why exercise is such a welcome release for many inmates.
They put together routines to help them break up the monotony of the days, weeks and years of their sentences.
What’s Joe Kwon’s go-to prison yard inspired workout for lockdown?
Circuit workout
First round do all exercises x15 reps with no rest in between.
Rest 1min
Second round do all exercises x12reps
Rest 1min
Third round do all exercises x10 reps
Rest 1min
Fifth round do all exercises x8 reps
1. squats
2. push ups
3. crunches
4. leg raises
5. burpees
‘Training can bring freedom to people in lockdown,’ Joe said.
‘I trained in jail as it was a way for me to escape the realities of a negative environment. That’s why our slogan is ‘train to be free’.
‘There’s a huge connection between your body and your mind and one can affect the other, and now more than ever we need to train not just the physical but the mental.
‘I was in nine years of lockdown and was able to keep positive. Being free is a state of mind no matter where you are or in any environment.’
SOURCE: JOE KWON ConFit
Joe was still set on becoming a career criminal when this photo was taken. He had no work experience or education and didn’t think people would give him a chance – until he met a ‘billionaire accountant’ doing time in jail
Joe, who also helps young offenders through his program ConFit Pathways, explained how jail is known as ‘the university of crime’.
He said many expect to learn from hardened criminals so they can minimise their chances of being caught and maximise their success when they resume offending once they’re set free.
‘When people come out of jail they reoffend because they need money and too often that is the only way they know how to make it,’ he said.
‘But I am showing them they can have opportunities on the outside and showing people that former inmates can make valuable employees.’
Joe said his hard work studying on the inside has paid off and he is now running a business and giving back to the community
He has worked on a nine-week program for juvenile offenders, to help them understand there is more to life on the outside than a return to crime.
He visits youth centres and is proud to have the opportunity to work with them, despite still being on parole for his own offences.
‘For them to let someone on parole through the doors is huge,’ he said.
‘But these kids really value it because we are people who have been where they are. We know the life they are living because we lived it.’
Joe gives work opportunities to people who have been in jail but want to lead crime-free lives. He doesn’t hire ex-inmates who are convicted sex offenders or child abusers
Joe said the teenagers usually rank programs based on how much free food is on offer.
‘We don’t put on barbecues or anything with our program but the kids keep coming and say it’s the best program,’ he said.
Joe is now exploring a partnership with UNSW for his programs which will resume when lockdown ends.
In the meantime, he is still teaching fitness classes online and keeping in contact with the teens in his program to let them know they have his support.