And let's not forget how he treated Ian when he was in the gang(since you insiisting he did this to protect Ian from drugs or selling his body,) Ian, who got in the gang bc of Tj was had to see Tj flirting, sleeping with girls since that's what made gangsters powerful, he became increasingly isolated and was almost relapsing into his drug use and sleeping with others habits.
Regarding the prison issue, we saw scene of Ian was beaten up and begging to leave the organization, and even though they said they could easily drop the case against Ian with bail, TJ throws him in jail and ties him to debt (Ian was still trying to pay off this debt in the early episodes) so that Ian won't leave him and the gang. So there's no nonsense about TJ wanting to protect him, lmaoo. If he valued Ian so much, he would have set him free after he got out of jail. All of this I'm saying comes from TJ's mouth, nothing more, nothing less. He even admits after these flashbacks that he did it out of selfishness, not to protect Ian, saying, "I kept you around longer than I should have, now I'm setting you free," but that redemption arc didn't even last long and you're still infantilizing him. Ian will never be able to prioritize himself as long as he's with TJ, accept that.