Pennsylvania ex-con, 27, who's been jailed three times turns over a new leaf to ... trends now

A Pennsylvania man, who had been jailed three times, turned over a new leaf to become the state's youngest judge at the age of 27.

Hanif Johnson, a student at Penn State University in 2012, once walked into a courtroom in shackles and handcuffs for a hearing on charges of simple assault, conspiracy, and harassment.

Twelve years later, Johnson found himself sitting on the bench as the youngest judge ever elected in the state of Pennsylvania.

In 2017, he defeated Republican candidate Claude Phillips with 73 percent of the vote to win the election for the Dauphin Magisterial District.

Reflecting on his troubled teenage years, he wrote on social media, 'The chance of losing my freedom and also all the work I did to stay out of trouble... That's a huge reason I have an open mind and a different perspective.'

Born and raised in Harrisburg, Johnson had a difficult childhood before he discovered his passion in track and field. 

'My mother was an addict, my dad was an addict, my grandmother was an addict, my aunt was an addict, my uncle was an addict, my grandfather was an addict, my entire immediate family was all addicts,' 

'We had 8 people sleeping in a 2 bedroom at one point of time my mom had the biggest heart and took other family's kids in all the time,' he wrote. 

At Harrisburg High School, he decided to try out for the track team, a decision that forever changed his life. 

'One day, I decided this ain't the way I want to live my life, so I started running track. Track actually saved my life,' he told Huffpost in a 2018 interview. 

He won the 2007 PIAA Triple Jump State Champion before he became the Track and Field Team Captain at Penn State

read more from dailymail.....