Todd Chrisley Opens Up About Blackmail Attempt & Life Behind Bars in Shocking Prison Interview

Locked-up reality star Todd Chrisley has given his first public interview since he was convicted of bank and tax fraud last year and has opened up about an attempt to blackmail his family, plus the shocking conditions he and other inmates are allegedly living in.

The interview was conducted with NewsNation over the phone with the help of Todd’s lawyer, Jay Surgent, who has previously spoken out about the “inhumane” prison conditions. In the interview, which aired Friday (December 8) on CUOMO, Todd claimed he’s heard recorded conversations of guards saying he needs to be “humbled.”

“(They said), ‘What we need to do is we need to put 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,'” the Chrisley Knows Best alum shared. “‘He thinks he’s in one of his mansions that he’s used to living in, but this is the f****** BOP (Bureau of Prisons).'”

He also claimed a photograph was taken of him while he was sleeping and sent to his daughter, Savannah Chrisley, “asking for $2,600 a month for my protection” in an attempt to blackmail his family.

Todd and his wife Julie were found guilty of bank and tax fraud last year and sentenced to a combined 19 years in federal prison, though the sentences were recently reduced. Todd’s 12-year sentence at FPC Pensacola in Florida has been reduced to 10, while Julie’s seven-year sentence at FMC Lexington, Kentucky, has been cut to over five years.

“It is so disgustingly filthy, the food is literally, I’m not exaggerating, the food is out of date by, at minimum, a year… it’s a year past expiration,” Todd continued in his recent interview. “They are literally starving these men to death here. These men… I’m not sure they’re even getting a thousand calories a day.”

He also claimed a staff member told him that one of the ways the warden is trying to “break him” is by cutting down what he can purchase from the commissary.

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

NewsNation’s Brian Entin, who conducted the interview, said he couldn’t speak to Todd inside the prison due to  “security concerns,” but the ex-reality star said that was just an excuse.

“So they’re not letting you in here because it’s a breach of security or whatever. They don’t want you in here where you can see what’s really going on,” Todd stated.

Entin noted that he’d reached out to the prison, which said that there was “nutritious food” and that the facilities were up to date.