Julie Chrisley has been locked up in a Kentucky prison for just over a month for her part in the $30 million tax fraud scheme she ran with her husband, Todd Chrisley, and their daughter, Savannah Chrisley, believes Julie is being treated unfairly. “My mom’s in a facility that has no air, but yet there are service dogs for the prison that are in a heated and cooled building because it’s inhumane for them not to have air,” the 25-year-old former Growing Up Chrisley star shared on the Feb. 14 episode of her Unlocked podcast. “I read an executive order that Biden signed that said all federal inmates must be housed in environmentally friendly facilities and I’m like, ‘OK, well, this is completely opposite of that.'”
Julie, 50, is being held at the Federal Medical Center Lexington, Ky., which is described as an “administrative security federal medical center with an adjacent minimum security satellite camp” on the prison’s website. She reported there on Jan. 17. The Federal Bureau of Prisons, however, said the conditions of the facility meet federal requirements, disputing Savannah’s claims.
“For privacy, safety, and security reasons, we do not release information on the conditions of confinement for any inmate or group of inmates,” the organization said in a statement, per the Daily Mail. “However, we can share, the Bureau of Prisons’ institutions are accredited by the American Correctional Association. ACA Standards cover environmental conditions, including temperature and air quality… [and] discusses temperatures in indoor living and work areas appropriate for summer and winter.”
Julie’s husband, Todd, 53, began serving his time at Florida’s FPC Pensacola, a minimum security prison, on Jan. 17 as well. Savannah did not mention anything negative about the state of Todd’s facility, but noticed one shocking discovery: Her father’s hair has turned grey from his usual blonde. “I will say it’s really weird seeing him with gray hair,” she noted. “Like, really weird. He’s definitely used some color over the years, and now seeing him with gray hair. I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh!'”
Both Julie and Todd were sentenced to a combined 19-year prison sentence in Nov. 2022. Julie will serve seven and Todd is expected to serve 12. In addition, they will both be required to serve 16 months of probation after completing their sentences.
Savannah expressed her sorrow over her family’s situation on the Jan. 24 episode of her Unlocked podcast — the first episode following her parents’ imprisonment. “So for those of you that are familiar with my family and have followed our lives and have also followed my podcast, you know that last week was an extremely difficult week for my family as a whole and for each of us individually. We kind of had to say goodbye to my parents for a little bit of time, for the foreseeable future. And that was really, really, really tough,” she stated. She later added that she felt like her life was “falling apart”.
However, on the Feb. 14 episode of her podcast, Savannah seemed a bit more positive after seeing her former Chrisley Know Best star father. “I never felt the presence of Jesus more than I have in that visiting room,” she explained. “Even visiting my dad, like, I know I have so much hope and so much restored strength that I’m like, ‘This isn’t the end.’ And I know that they’re going through what they’re going through for us to make a difference, for us to make a change. Because whether this appeal works or not, they’re still coming out with a story.”