Todd Chrisley First Prison Interview: 'Filthy,' 'Starving' Inmates, Black Mold, Dead Cat, Blackmail

Reality star Todd Chrisley slams "disgustingly filthy" prison conditions alleging inmates are "literally starving," served expired food, staff has tried to blackmail his family, "humble" him. Todd Chrisley is definitely not enjoying his time in Pensacola, Florida where he is serving out his sentence for tax evasion. In his first interview from the facility, the former reality star blasted everything from conditions to prison officials.

"It is so disgustingly filthy," said Chrisley of the prison's food in an interview from NewsNation's Cuomo with Chris Cuomo on Friday, per US Weekly, and he was just getting started. Chrisley's attorney Brian Entin relayed Cuomo's questions to him over the phone.

According to the Chrisley Knows Best alum, the prison is not providing inmates with sufficient food, and what food they are getting is "out of date by, at minimum, a year. It's a year past expiration."

"And they're literally starving these men to death here," Chrisley continued, claiming that prisoners are being fed approximately 1,000 calories a day. For himself, Chrisley said he only eats food he purchases from the commissary, but even that's purportedly compromised.

The way Chrisley explains it, a warden at the commissary is "trying to break me" by reducing and limiting his grocery purchases there.

"Before she came here, you could buy 12 packs of tuna a week," he explained. "She cut it down to six, and from six it went to three. She has not given a reason. When I asked her about it, she said commissary is a privilege, not a right."

It's apparently not a right either, per Chrisley, for that food to be uncompromised. "You’ve got rats, you’ve got squirrels in the storage facility where the food is," he said before detailing what he says was a recent effort to address black mold growing in that same room.

"They just covered [the food] up with plastic and then tore the ceiling out because of all the black mold and found a dead cat in the ceiling," he said. "And it dropped down on the top of the food."

Chrisley's lawyer Entin reached out to the prison regarding these claims, per ET, and was told "there are nutritious foods" available and they are up to date and fine." Chrisley further claims the prison won't allow his attorney in, claiming "it's a breach of security or whatever," but he believes "they don't want you in here where you can see what's really going on."

Issues with the commissary apparently aren't Chrisley's only problems with the workers at the prison, either. The reality star accused the staff of attempting to "humble" and blackmail him.

In regard to the first one, he said they suggested putting "him in diesel therapy and put him in shackles and let him ride around the country for a time and then bring him back and that will humble him," saying the staff believe "the thinks he’s in one of his mansions that he’s used to living in, but this is the f–king [Bureau of Prisons]."

As for the blackmail, Chrisley alleged that staff took a photograph of him while sleeping one night. He then claims the photo "was sent to my daughter, asking for $2,600 a month for my protection."

The reality star's description of his living conditions at the prison would seem to echo those of his son Chase, who said on his podcast Chasin' Birdies back in May that his father's prison had black mold, "and my mom's place is even worse." He said that her prison in Lexington, Kentucky has no air conditioning and is more like "a camp."

In this first interview, Todd Chrisley said that he's staying strong, or at least trying. "God has a greater purpose," he said. "I know he's got a greater plan and I'm not going to let the federal government break my faith."

After their convictions for tax evasion, conspiracy, and bank fraud, the Chrisley Knows Best parents reported to prison in January. Todd was sentenced to 12 years while Julie was facing seven. However, both have since seen their sentences reduced by approximately two years each.

Don’t know about the prisons but the county jail down here serves rice and pasta, neither of which really go out of date. Most cannot eat it all And pass it to those who are still hungry. And peanut butter is made on site, which also doesn’t really go out of date, and they pass out large amounts of that. Occasionally there is a leathery fried chicken breast and a gigantic peppery sausage that the whores in jail call “The Homewrecker.”
And there is a cookie in every tray. Definitely not as bad as the Hanoi Hilton treatment.
Prison grown green beans, and other veg in season, but these are often spoiled when they serve leftover ones from not being property refrigerated.
If you are lucky there might be a little piece of celery or a piece of pepper with the rice or pasta, which is served plain and dry without sauce, salt or black pepper of any kind.
Bread is donated day old white bread, again, no condiments.
Sometimes cheap cornflakes for breakfast, not with milk but with some mildly cloying, slightly sweet, transparent substance in a baggie that looks like the contents of a snow globe and tastes faintly like some kind of school glue.
No fruit that I know of, no cheese, no butter, no catfish, no lunchmeat or bologna sandwiches- Sheriff Arpaio’s fried bologna tent cities out west sound like a gourmet joint.
The idea is to keep the cost of a meal below $1.28, and simple enough for the dumbest prisoner to help prepare, as I recall. No shortage of rice and bread, you won’t go hungry or starve but normal older folks might consider killing someone to get their hands on an apple or orange or lettuce. Younger prisoners seem to yearn for ramen noodles and candy from the commissary rather than fresh fruit, probably because most come from broken homes where the food, if they had any, was processed crap just as bad.
About the only thing that can be described as palatable besides the peanut butter is the jailhouse chili made with sausage that is sometimes also served leftover like gravy for breakfast.
If you aren’t diabetic when you go in you probably will be by the time you get out.
The food is kept dull on purpose as that incentivizes the prisoners to call all their friends and family for help finance the purchase of items from the commissary, which are way overpriced. People cannot bring things from outside so prisoners become very attached to their commissary privileges, and that in turn gives the system leverage over them if they misbehave because the privileges can be withdrawn.
The state prisons are probably better as far as food goes than local county jails, but I hear some of the State prisons do not have AC and have outdoor dorms like camps. The jails at least are chilly with AC on full blast and there are no bugs or mice, but everything is concrete and hard on the legs and knees if you are older and on these surfaces 100% of the time.
They are always trying to hire staff to cook there, I see the ads a lot, but the pay is low, which along with the tight food supply budget, and prisoners assigned to assist, may explain the inept serving of spoiled food.
That said, the guy should be glad he isn’t a J6 prisoner...it would be much worse.

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