Todd Chrisley is speaking from behind bars with claims that his current facility is riddled with rats, squirrels and attempted extortion.
The “Chrisley Knows Best” reality star answered questions regarding his current facility through his lawyer, Brian Entin, for an interview on Chris Cuomo’s News Nation show “Cuomo.”
“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 the food is dated, and it’s out of date by, at minimum, a year,” Chrisley said via phone interview. “It’s a year past expiration. And they are literally starving these men to death here. These men are getting, I don’t know, they are getting a thousand calories a day.”
Chrisley is serving a prison sentence for fraud and tax evasion at Federal Prison Camp in Pensacola, Florida. Chrisley’s wife, Julie Chrisley, who was convicted of the same charges, reported to Federal Medical Center in Lexington, Kentucky, in January 2023.
Federal Prison Camp, Pensacola, did not immediately respond to TODAY.com’s calls or email requests for comment, though NewsNation reported officials told them the food served was nutritious and the facility was up to date.
“You’ve got rats, you’ve got squirrels in the storage facility where the food is,” Chrisley continued to allege. “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.”
The reality star claimed that for some time, he was able to avoid the meals provided by the prison by using his own money to purchase food items at the prison’s commissary.
“I eat tuna, I eat peanut butter — that’s where I get protein. I eat, like, a pasta salad that I make (from) pasta that I get in commissary. And then I start over again doing the same thing the next week.”
However, Chrisley claims that staff members at his current facility are now attempting to “break” and “humble” him by withholding his commissary privileges.
“I’ve been told this by a staff member: one of the ways she’s trying to break me is by cutting down what you can buy in commissary,” Chrisley claimed. “So, before she 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.”
“There are recordings of staff members here talking about, ‘He needs to be humbled,’” he said, “‘He thinks he’s in one of his mansions that he’s used to living in. But this is the f---ing (Bureau of Prisons).’”
The reality star also touched on how his treatment has affected one of his daughters.
“There was a photograph taken of me while I was sleeping and sent to my daughter, asking for $2,600 dollars a month for my protection,” he claimed.
The reality star has two daughters, 26-year-old Savannah Chrisley and 34-year-old Lindsie Chrisley. After her parents were sent to prison, Savannah gained custody of her younger brother, 17-year-old Grayson and her 10-year-old niece, Chloe.
Savannah has spoken frequently about her parents’ current conditions at their respective prisons in her “Unlocked” podcast series.
In January, Savannah described her father’s conditions at the facility as productive. According to the younger reality star, her father was making use of his time behind bars by working in the prison’s chapel with other prisoners.
“Dad, he’s doing pretty good,” she said in part. “There’s days that are tough. There are struggles. We talk to him. We email him... we get to see him. So for that, I am forever grateful...”
By July, Savannah's take on her father's living conditions had changed. During an episode of her podcast, she alleged that her parents' facilities had “black mold, asbestos, lead-based paint, snakes.”
“We’re not going to sit here and act like it should be the Four Seasons,” she said. “When your loved one’s sitting there, literally having a heat stroke and ending up in a hospital or not being fed properly (it pisses you off).”
