Savannah Chrisley‘s attempts to raise awareness about the alleged living conditions in prison has come at a price for her parents Todd Chrisley and Julie Chrisley.
“It’s been really tough [my parents] since I started speaking out about everything,” Savannah, 26, told Entertainment Tonight on Friday, November 10. “That’s been the toughest part. More so for Dad. There’s been a lot of retaliation, so we have to worry [about him].”
Savannah claimed guards are targeting her father, adding, “Right now they’re trying to move him from the facility he’s at now, because of the latest things that I’ve posted [where I referred to the prison as a death trap]. And that’s the tough part — the moment you start speaking out, you have to pay for it.”
She further alleged that Todd, 54, has been prevented from contacting his legal team.
“Which is a huge thing because it’s a non-recorded phone call to where you can speak about the things that are happening to you to your lawyer, [and] they’re not letting him do that,” she continued. “He and I have had the discussion [and] his exact words were, ‘If I have to be uncomfortable in order to hopefully implement and force change, then I’m willing to do it.’”
Julie, 50, is struggling for different reasons, according to Savannah. “[However, her living conditions are terrible,” Savannah noted. “And some of the male guards, they definitely speak down on the women [in jail]. They make them feel like garbage.”
Todd and Julie were first indicted in 2019 on charges of tax evasion, bank and wire fraud and conspiracy. After being found guilty in June 2022, the real estate mogul was sentenced to 12 years in prison while his wife received a seven-year sentence. The couple has maintained their innocence.
“I think that that’s why I’m in a better place with it, because I know that this is not my final destination,” Todd said during a prerecorded January episode of “Chrisley Confessions” podcast, which was posted after he arrived in prison. “I know that this may be my future for a minute, but I also have faith that the judicial system is going to turn it around. I also have faith that the appellate court is going to see this for what it is.”
That same month, Todd turned himself in at the FPC Pensacola minimum security facility in Florida, while Julie reported to Federal Medical Center in Lexington, Kentucky.
Savannah was quick to begin her advocacy, slamming the justice system for the lengthy prison sentence. “Why do we continue to fail people? It tears families apart,” she said on her “Unlocked” podcast in November 2022. “Look at everything that we’re going through. How is that just? It’s not when you’ve got rapists and murderers and traffickers and all these people out here but yet, what? They just get a slap on the wrist.”
She continued: “It all goes down to us being in the public eye and someone wanting to prove a point. And it’s honestly sad. At this point, I feel like, for me, I’ve kinda become numb to it but that numbness has turned to anger, to where now, it’s just like I’m not giving up. There’s no other option.”
Her brother Chase Chrisley has also discussed the “heartbreaking” struggles their parents currently face in prison.
“Savannah will go see my dad, I’ll go see my mom. We’ll rotate, and Savannah will normally take the kids [Grayson and Chloe] down with her,” he explained on the “Chasin’ Birdies” podcast in May. “But it’s tough, man. I mean, our family loves really, really hard, so when you love somebody as much as we love each other, it’s definitely very difficult to see your loved ones in a situation like that.”
According to Chase, 27, he and Savannah “never miss a weekend” visiting Todd and Julie. He went on to call out the conditions at their individual prisons.
“Their conditions are just so s—tty, too. Like, everybody acts like my dad is in some country club and that’s not the case at all,” he noted at the time. “I mean, they got like black mold [where my dad is], and my mom’s place is even worse. I mean, she doesn’t even have air conditioning. They’re in a camp. It’s better than, like, being behind a wall.”
