Todd Chrisley tells NewsNation prison staff said he ‘needs to be humbled’

The Chrisleys’ privileged world came crashing down in 2022. Todd and Julie were indicted for federal tax evasion and bank fraud and went to jail. They actually went to prison in January of this year, serving a combined 19-year prison sentence. Todd is in Pensacola, Florida, and Julie is in Lexington, Kentucky.

Until now, Chrisley hasn’t spoken to the media since the sentence began, but NewsNation’s senior national correspondent, Brian Entin, got it done and secured an exclusive with Todd from prison.

Host: It is good to have you. I am not surprised by your success, but I’m glad that you worked on this because this is somebody the audience wants to hear from. What do you got?

Brian: Yeah, it was difficult, Chris. I was interested because I follow his daughter Savannah on social media, and she was posting at the time about the awful, awful prison conditions at the federal prison camp in Pensacola, where Todd is. Also, the court just granted an oral argument in their appeal, which I thought was interesting, so I started looking into it. I talked to the lawyer.

We actually got permission from the lawyer to go interview him in prison. You know, you fill out all this paperwork with your social security number, but they denied us access, saying it was a security risk. It didn’t make much sense. I mean, I don’t know how it was a security risk, but you get denied. It makes you want to push even harder.

We weren’t able to get in, but through the lawyer, we were able to relay questions to Todd. We didn’t reach out directly to Todd because I didn’t want to get him in trouble. I want to make that clear. The lawyer would ask him questions, and then relay them back to us. Todd is very upset about the conditions in the prison, and he’s putting himself at risk by exposing what he says is going on.

Host: What did he say?

Brian: Here’s a little of what Todd had to say:

Todd: “Do I feel like I’m being treated fairly by the guards and prison staff? No. There’s a lot going on that shouldn’t be happening. The prison is not maintained well, and there have been serious issues with food safety.”

Brian: Savannah has been vocal about the food conditions. Todd shared that the food is often out-of-date, sometimes by a year, and he struggles to eat it.

Host: What is Todd eating if the food is so bad?

Todd: “I mostly eat tuna from the commissary. That’s pretty much all I can eat because the food is unsafe. We’ve also had issues with black mold in the prison. It was found in the storage facility, and it has even dripped down into areas where we are. It’s really bad.”

Brian: We reached out to the prison for comment, and they stated that the facilities provide nutritious, up-to-date food. However, Savannah has pictures that suggest otherwise.