Todd Chrisley Gives First Interview From Prison

NewsNation / YouTube

Reality television star, Todd Chrisley, has been incarcerated for nearly one year.       

In November 2022, Todd and Julie Chrisley, stars of the reality television show Chrisley Knows Best, were convicted and sentenced for a variety of charges relating to federal tax evasion and bank fraud. They went to prison in January of this year serving a combined 19-year sentence. Todd is in Pensacola, Florida, and Julie is in Lexington, Kentucky. 

In the first-ever interview since his incarceration, Todd Chrisley spoke to reporter Brian Entin from Chris Cuomo’s NewsNation show Cuomo. 

Todd Chrisley talks about “filthy” prison conditions.          

In his phone conversation with Entin, Chrisley talks about the conditions of the federal prison camp in Pensacola. He shares: 

“It is so disgustingly filthy. The food is literally, I’m not exaggerating — the food is dated and it’s out of date by, at minimum, a year. It’s a year past expiration. And they are literally starving these men to death here. These men are getting — I don’t know that they are getting a thousand calories a day.” 

When asked what he has been eating, Chrisley revealed that he has been able to use his own money to purchase food from the commissary including tuna, peanut butter, and pasta. However, he says that this has been limited by the warden as a way to “break him.” He adds: 

“Before she [the warden] came here, you could buy 12 packs of tuna a week. She cut it down to six, and from six it went to three. She had not given a reason. When I asked her about it, she said commissary is a privilege, not a right.”  

However, even the food he has been able to purchase is not guaranteed safe or clean according to Chrisley. He alleges that there are animals (dead and alive) that could be in contact with the food. 

“You’ve got rats, you’ve got squirrels in the storage facility where the food is. They just covered it up with plastic and then tore the ceiling out because of all the black mold and found a dead cat in the ceiling, and it dropped down on the top of the food.” 

Todd Chrisley claims he has been blackmailed and that prison staff want to “humble him.”

When asked if he feels that he is being treated fairly by prison staff, the answer is a resounding “no.” 

“There was a photograph taken of me while I was sleeping and sent to my daughter, asking for $2,600 a month for my protection,” alleged Chrisley. He continues: 

“There are recordings of staff members here talking about, ‘He needs to be humbled. What we need to do is we need to put him in shackles and let him ride around the country for a time… He thinks he’s in one of his mansions that he’s used to living in.’”

When contacted by reporters from Cuomo, the prison responded that there is nutritious food and that the facilities are up-to-date.  

Todd and Julie Chrisley have both already appealed their sentences, and in late November, the courts agreed to hear oral arguments for the appeal. 

Watch the video below to hear Todd Chrisley’s interview with Brian Entin.