Julie Chrisley’s First Days in Prison Were ‘Overwhelming’: ‘Scared of the Unknown’

Reality TV vet Julie Chrisley traded mansions and luxury cars for cell blocks and razor wire when she went to prison in 2023. 

More than two years ago, the former Chrisley Knows Best star reported to FMC Lexington to begin serving her seven-year sentence on fraud and tax evasion charges. The conditions in the prison were like nothing she’d ever experienced before, she said on the July 1 episode of her daughter Savannah Chrisley’s Unlocked podcast. 

Inmate told Julie Chrisley she would ‘hate’ prison 

Julie, 52, had no idea what to expect when she surrendered herself to custody in January 2023. 

“Was I scared? Absolutely,” she said. “I was scared of the unknown. Because I didn’t known what it was going to be like.”

While Julie was not in a high-security part of the prison, the facility in Kentucky where she served her time housed inmates of all custody levels.  

“I was in an extension of a real prison … I was [in] a satellite camp off of a federal medical center, which housed all custody levels,” she explained of the facility. “So, there was the fence and the razor wire and the security there. Where I was in particular there wasn’t, but it was right next door to it.”

The first inmate Julie met when she entered the prison had a blunt warning for her, the recently pardoned Julie recalled. 

“You’re gonna hate it,” the woman told Julie. “It’s a piece of crap. It’s hot. It’s cold. You’re gonna hate it. It’s horrible.”

Conditions were tough in the ‘Chrisley Knows Best’ star’s prison 

The first few days of her sentence were a blur, Julie said, as she tried to adjust to her new life behind bars. 

“It was very overwhelming because people kept coming in, and because I was new, and people knew who I was. It was really overwhelming for the first few days for me,” she recalled. 

The Georgia mom quickly discovered that the inmate was not exaggerating when it came to conditions in the facility. 

“I was in a building that was 100 years old. That had no air conditioning. It had radiator heat,” she said. During the summer, the temperature on the upper floors of the building could reach between 110 and 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Fights weren’t unusual between inmates, with Julie saying there were “a lot of arguments.” (In a 2023 episode of her podcast, Savannah also claimed that FMC Lexington had “black mold, asbestos, lead-based paint, [and] snakes.”]

Julie’s prison experience was more intense than her husband’s. Todd Chrisley, who’d been sentenced to 12 years, served his time at a FPC Pensacola, which he described as a “busted, broke little summer camp.” While the conditions were far from luxurious, the inmates were generally friendly and there was no violence, he stressed. However, he did admit that he clashed with one of the masterminds of the Operation Varsity Blues scandal, who was also housed at FPC Pensacola. 

Still, Todd had his difficult moments in prison. His first night behind bars was particularly difficult, he said. 

“The hard part of that day, it didn’t set in with me until that evening that I realized that I wasn’t going to see you again,” he said, looking at Julie. “I was going to see our kids. I was going to see my mom. But I would not be seeing you. So that was hard, that first night.”

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