Life Is A Highway (feat. Jay DeMarcus)

Summary

Chrisley Confessions 2.0: "Life Is A Highway" (feat. Jay DeMarcus)

Release Date: January 28, 2026
Host: Todd Chrisley
Guest: Jay DeMarcus (Rascal Flatts, Red Street Records)

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Episode Overview

In this revealing and humor-laden episode, Todd Chrisley welcomes his longtime friend and country music star Jay DeMarcus for a deeply personal, unsparingly candid conversation. The two dive into the aftermath of Todd’s incarceration, their enduring friendship, the changing landscape of the entertainment industry, family dynamics, Jay’s pivot into the music business’s executive side, and their mutual brush with political controversy. The episode is rich with stories, laughs, and poignant moments, illustrating the strength of resilience, friendship, and faith as both men navigate new chapters in their lives.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Friendship Survives Everything

• Todd opens with humor and honesty about rumors of fallout with Jay, joking about their unbreakable bond.
  • Quote: "I would love to tell you that Jay is not the piece of shit that so many people told me he was gonna end up being. I'd love to tell you that. But actually, this piece of shit is here right now." (00:57, Todd)
• Both reflect on the simplicity and low-maintenance nature of their friendship, underscoring the importance of keeping a trusted circle small and drama-free.
  • Quote: "If you let too many people in ... it just gives more room for drama." (07:03, Jay)
• Jay admits to feeling left out when Todd was released and didn’t call right away, quickly returned with humor and affection.
  • Quote: "I was pissed when you got out, though, and you didn’t text me right away. I was a little, you know, butthurt." (07:29, Jay)

2. Career & Personal Evolution Post-Setback

• Jay discusses the abrupt end to Rascal Flatts' tour due to COVID and how the break, though unplanned, gave him greater appreciation for performing and his fans.
  • Quote: "Now we don’t have to call it a farewell tour. We can just do shows ... as we want to." (03:25, Jay)
• Todd describes turning down TV offers but ultimately returning to multiple projects with renewed gratitude.
  • Quote: "It was a humbling experience ... When you don’t appreciate what you have until you don’t have it." (04:43, Todd)
• Both men talk about being able to choose what they love more intentionally, rather than being forced by necessity or public expectation.

3. Family Updates & Parenting Reflections

• Jay gives updates on his son Dylan’s viral musical moment and agrees to bring him on the podcast, Todd gushes with pride.
  • Quote: "He’s just been on top of the world." (02:44, Jay)
• Todd shares gratitude for family resilience: Chase’s eight months sobriety, Grayson thriving at Alabama in the honors society, and Savannah’s supportive, protective nature.
• Emotional transparency about the challenge and pain of losing time with children and the nuances of parenting adult kids.
  • Quote: "That was the hardest part for me because ... not being able to parent." (17:41, Todd)
• Jay and Todd both relate to watching their kids become independent, an experience both joyous and bittersweet.

4. Struggles, Faith, and Healing

• Todd recounts his anxiety during the legal saga, crediting faith and prayer (especially with Julie) for getting through.
  • Quote: "I was on my knees every night ... praying and asking God to ... give us the strength to keep moving forward." (11:39, Todd)
• Jay reflects on his own anxieties and acknowledges Todd’s resilience under pressure.
• Both agree adversity has made them and their marriages stronger.

5. Caregiving and Loss

• Jay discusses his mother’s rapidly progressing Alzheimer’s—her memory loss, his grief, and the emotional complexity of long-term caregiving.
  • Quote: "There’s not really much of the woman that I remember as my mother left." (26:34, Jay)
• The two men empathize about losing their fathers and maintaining tangible memories through voicemails and letters.
  • Quote: "Sometimes I’ll sit by myself in the study and listen to voicemails and just get a good cry out..." (29:59, Jay)

6. Industry Talk: Red Street Records and Mentorship

• Jay shares his new focus—running Red Street Records, signing new talent, and finding fulfillment in mentoring artists.
  • Quote: "It’s been fun for me to be on the other side of the business for a little bit..." (13:15, Jay)
• He recounts guiding Chase and the challenge of getting younger people (including his own children) to heed advice.

7. Cultural Shifts, Social Media, and Political Divides

• Both express frustration over the intensifying polarization on social media and in society.
  • Quote: "If we disagree on something, you’re automatically an enemy." (33:10, Jay)
• Todd details media and public reactions post-pardon, noting the surprising source of most criticism.
  • Quote: "Any negativity we’ve gotten has mostly come from white females. White, conservative females." (42:59, Todd)
• They debate the impact of technology on civility and the waning ability for healthy debate and disagreement.

8. Inside Stories: Life in Prison and Systemic Injustice

• Todd gives a behind-the-scenes account of his prison experience—revealing the inhumane conditions, mismanagement, and his role in advocating for inmates.
  • Humorous misunderstandings: "He said he used to 'sling bricks'—I thought he was talking construction!" (47:18, Todd)
  • Abuse of power and lack of accountability among staff, wasteful spending, and systemic incompetence.
  • Quote: "Me and two other guys was helping the case managers do the calculations to get the men out of there because the case managers didn’t know how to do it." (76:20, Todd)
• Todd describes helping secure the early release of over 100 wrongly held inmates and his ongoing advocacy for penal reform.
  • Quote: "Since May 28, I've gotten 116 out." (79:04, Todd)
• They discuss recent improvements under new BOP leadership and the First Step Act, but acknowledge ongoing failures and the challenge of meaningful reform.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Humor & Resilience:
  • Todd: "I got one little word on my penis. It says little, but when I get excited, it says Little Rock, Arkansas." (82:21)
• On Loyalty:
  • Jay: "Buddy, I love you, and I’m so happy that you’re back. I missed you. While you were gone, life was not the same." (82:05)
• On Criticism and Moving Forward:
  • Todd: "I was so bitter when it happened, but I don’t have bitterness in my heart anymore. I don’t have anger. I don’t have resentment." (24:15)
• On Political Discourse:
  • Todd: "If you identify as a fucking tree, be the best damn tree you can be ... but don’t expect me to fertilize you." (38:10)
• On Systemic Abuse:
  • Todd: "It’s not slipping through. It’s intentional ... For someone to be sitting there, away from their children for another 11 months because the case manager is refusing to do their job." (79:18)

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Key Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment/Topic | |-----------|-----------------------------------------------| | 00:24 | Opening banter and humor about Jay’s “betrayal”| | 02:32 | Dylan’s viral music moment | | 03:25 | Touring, COVID’s impact, new career attitude | | 04:43 | Todd’s break from TV, new perspective | | 07:03 | On keeping the friends circle small | | 11:39 | Prayer, faith, and enduring adversity | | 13:15 | Jay on Red Street Records, new roles | | 15:12 | Parents balancing independence, kids leaving | | 17:41 | Reflections on parenting while incarcerated | | 24:15 | Letting go of bitterness | | 26:34 | Jay’s mother’s Alzheimer’s journey | | 29:59 | Keeping audio memories of late parents | | 33:10 | Social media toxicity & polarization | | 41:56 | Todd on unexpected critics post-pardon | | 50:25 | Todd describes daily life inside prison | | 65:01 | BOP corruption, budget misuse, closure of facility| | 71:13 | Systemic indifference in federal government | | 79:01 | Todd securing early releases for inmates | | 82:05 | Jay: “Life wasn’t the same when you were gone”| | 82:21 | Todd’s “Little Rock, Arkansas” joke |

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Tone and Style

Conversation tone is deeply candid, raw, sometimes irreverent, often playful and self-deprecating—equally capable of roasting one another as they are reflecting on real wounds. They pivot from laughter to gravity with ease, delivering unfiltered insights that blend streetwise humor, faith, Southern family lore, and hard-won wisdom.

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Summary for New Listeners

This episode embodies everything fans love about Chrisley Confessions: tear-inducing laughs, honest talk about big issues (family, failure, politics, forgiveness), and an unfiltered glimpse into both celebrity and real life. Jay and Todd’s friendship is a model of low-drama, high-loyalty connection. For those who missed the Chrisleys' voices during their absence, this is an episode packed with revelations, behind-the-scenes stories, and heartfelt encouragement to face adversity with faith and humor.

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Transcript

[Podcast Host / Advertiser]

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[Todd Chrisley]

Welcome to Christly Confessions 2.0. You know, I've had so many people, you guys asking me, like, about friendship questions, you know. Todd, are you still friends with a lot of the same people that you were friends with before your unfortunate summer camp shit show? And I have not said anything about anything, but a lot of you have been fixated on where do I stand with the DeMarcus family? And I would love to come here and tell you that things are like they used to be. I would love to tell you that Jay did not disappoint me. I would love to tell you that Jay is not the piece of shit that so many people told me that he was gonna end up being. I'd love to tell you that. But actually, this piece of shit is here right now, so.

[Jay Chrisley]

What an introduction.

[Todd Chrisley]

What an introduction, my friend.

[Jay Chrisley]

I love you too.

[Todd Chrisley]

How are you today?

[Jay Chrisley]

I'm doing great. It's so good to see you.

[Todd Chrisley]

It's good to see you.

[Jay Chrisley]

I can't believe I haven't seen you since you've been back.

[Todd Chrisley]

I know, I know. We've been. We talk on the phone, we message where we Instagram stuff to each other. But you're back on the road again.

[Jay Chrisley]

And live less than a mile from each other.

[Todd Chrisley]

Exactly. We live literally less than a mile from each other. But you're back to touring.

[Jay Chrisley]

Yeah.

[Todd Chrisley]

And you're actually leaving to Tonight. Tomorrow.

[Jay Chrisley]

Yeah.

[Todd Chrisley]

And you're going.

[Jay Chrisley]

Gosh, where? Minneapolis and then St. Paul and Omaha, Nebraska.

[Todd Chrisley]

You know, Jay, when I was, I don't know, you know this, but I had, you know, I had a long sabbatical of about 28 months.

[Jay Chrisley]

That's what I understand.

[Todd Chrisley]

And I would literally be there working out, and I would hear life is a highway.

[Jay Chrisley]

Really?

[Todd Chrisley]

These guys were constantly had. Rascal Flats on loop.

[Jay Chrisley]

That's so awesome.

[Todd Chrisley]

And I would just shake my head and laugh and I'd look up and I'd say, God, you have a twisted sense of humor today.

[Jay Chrisley]

You can't. You can't. You can't outrun me.

[Todd Chrisley]

That's exactly right. Nor did I want to, but, you know, so I know that the kids are good and my Dylan is now stepping out and doing his own thing with singing.

[Jay Chrisley]

I know you always told me that he would be a star. And he had a viral moment. Gary was kind enough to post a video of us somewhere taping the New Year's Eve special, and it had like 6 million views in five days. And so we went in and cut the song. And he's just been on top of the world.

[Todd Chrisley]

It's so good at. You know, I was watching it and I messaged you and I said, well, where's this clip? I need this clip to post. And I'm so proud of him. I mean, everyone in the house was like, I'm getting text message. Did you see Dylan singing? And you know, Savannah is a huge fan of his anyway. She's the sweetest kid in the world. And so I'm so proud of him and I want to have him. I'm going to ask you now. I want him to come on our podcast.

[Jay Chrisley]

Absolutely.

[Todd Chrisley]

Because I feel like that he is the next big thing and you're going to end up having to manage him.

[Jay Chrisley]

Yeah, any excuse to get him out of school. He'd be happy to do whatever you want him to do.

[Todd Chrisley]

So how's it been going for you?

[Jay Chrisley]

It's been great. You know, it was a little bit of a jolt to the system when our tour was canceled in 2020. You know, Covid came along and sort of ripped everything out from underneath of us. We had these plans to do a farewell tour, which, looking back now, ended up being a blessing in disguise because now we don't have to call it a farewell tour. We can just do shows as they come up and as we want to do it and work as much as we want to. So it's been. It's been kind of a really nice welcome change of, change of pace. Love being back out in front of the fans. And, man, it really. I think I have a greater appreciation for it now than I ever did before. A lot for granted.

[Todd Chrisley]

Listen, that's ironic because I've been asked that question so many times. I was just asked last week. I'd been presented a show offer to be a host on a show, and I sat with it for like three weeks. And I never really thought about it for those three weeks, even though I kept saying, I'll get back to you. I'll get back to you. And I just did not feel like that that's what I wanted to do anymore. And I was talking to Savannah and to Julie, and Julie, Savannah said, dad, you have to go Back on television. I mean, you can't just do your.

[Jay Chrisley]

Podcast, but you wouldn't know what to do without a camera in front of your face.

[Todd Chrisley]

I'll tell you something. In the 28 months it caught, it was a humbling experience. And when you talk about, you know, you didn't appreciate it enough, when you don't appreciate what you have until you don't have it. And I never really missed it for those 28 months. It was almost like a reprieve. It was almost like, I'm going to be wearing the same thing every day. I don't have to worry about who's taking a picture. I don't have to make an excuse for why I look this way or whatever. And so I felt good about it. But now, you know, because we are coming back on television this year, and Judy's got her cooking show coming up. So, I mean, all of a sudden, I went from I'm not doing it anymore to I'm doing five different shows now. And so I'm grateful for that. And it's just like you said, I have a greater appreciation for it. Yeah. And I'm also. And I'm also in a much better place emotionally to where I can take the time and pick what I'm gonna do and. And love what I'm going to do. Not that I'm forced to do it.

[Jay Chrisley]

It would seem to me like that time spent by yourself would give you and afford you the opportunity to weed out a lot of things that weren't really that important to begin.

[Todd Chrisley]

Absolutely. Absolutely. And, you know, so many people, as I said in the introduction for you, you know, you know how small our group is anyway.

[Jay Chrisley]

Yeah.

[Todd Chrisley]

And I mean, I never had this huge, vast group of people that I ever hung out with. I mean, it was you and Allison and then a couple others, and that was Jason and Brit and a couple others, and that was it. All of my core group is still there. I mean, I still message and talk, and I get invitations to go to lunch or go to dinner or whatever, you know yourself. I don't go to lunch. I don't go to dinner. You and I, if I was going to lunch, you were around the corner, I'd call and say, you free for lunch? Let's go.

[Jay Chrisley]

When you got Julie over there cooking the way she does, why would you ever leave the house?

[Todd Chrisley]

That's exactly right. And so it does cause you to reflect on where you are in life and those that are in your life that are there for a reason or a season. And I'M so fortunate that I just never had to go through that. I didn't have to worry about who am I cutting out, who didn't show up, any of that. I don't have to do that because my circle was never that big anyway, so I'm still good.

[Jay Chrisley]

And I always thought that was really smart of you, too, because I think if you let too many people in, too many people on the inside, it just gives more room for drama to be created, more room for bullsh.

[Todd Chrisley]

That's exactly right.

[Jay Chrisley]

Who has time for that?

[Todd Chrisley]

I don't. And I mean, you know, I enjoy our friendship. You know, I love you dearly. Our friendship is very low maintenance.

[Jay Chrisley]

Oh, yeah.

[Todd Chrisley]

There's nothing expected on the only kind.

[Jay Chrisley]

Of friendship I like.

[Todd Chrisley]

That's right. It's low maintenance.

[Jay Chrisley]

I'm not gonna sit around and pout if you don't text me back.

[Todd Chrisley]

One night.

[Jay Chrisley]

I was pissed when you got out, though, and you didn't text me right away. I was a little, you know, butthurt.

[Todd Chrisley]

Over Chase said, daddy, have you not messaged Jay?

[Jay Chrisley]

I know.

[Todd Chrisley]

And I said, no. I said, I need to do that. And then because I had so many damn things going, and Jay, I just really was in, like, in a vegetative state. I can't even imagine of just trying to get back to what is my schedule going to look like, what is expected of me? When do I need to be here? What am I going to be doing? And then just kind of, you know, taking back over that role of being in control of everything. And, you know, Savannah had had control of everything, and now here she was like, okay, I did my part. You're home. I'm going to Europe. And, you know, so it was just trying to get acclimated, but, you know, it never had anything to do with you and how much I love you. It was all me.

[Jay Chrisley]

No, I totally get it. I totally get it. I just kind of miss my friend. No, I was. I was so thrilled for you guys when you got out.

[Todd Chrisley]

I.

[Jay Chrisley]

You know, I knew that you would find a way. Of all people, you would find a way to get out of prison. It just didn't shock me at all. By the way, I knew you didn't kill those people to start with.

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[Todd Chrisley]

I'm in a much better place today than I was before I went. Because now it's over. Yeah, now. And you know, because you were with me, you were with us the whole time of all that stuff going on and it was every day. I couldn't even film without another, you know, another attorney calling or something's coming up or whatever.

[Jay Chrisley]

We were going through the trial. It was amazing to me because I don't even know how you slept.

[Todd Chrisley]

Exactly.

[Jay Chrisley]

That had to be a mountain of stress and anxiety that nobody can imagine.

[Todd Chrisley]

Absolutely.

[Jay Chrisley]

Unless they've lived through it.

[Todd Chrisley]

Absolutely.

[Jay Chrisley]

So it was amazing to me to watch you work and continue to do and take care of your responsibilities during that time while you had all of that other crap going on around you. I don't know how you did.

[Todd Chrisley]

Was by the grace of God. It was by the grace of God because I literally. I was on my knees every night. Not in the way some people think, but, you know, I was on my knees every night with Julie, praying and, you know, asking God to place a protective hedge around us and keep a healing hand on us and to give us the strength to keep moving forward. And then I would talk to you, and that's really who I talk to about it. And Lord, I'm such a worrier.

[Jay Chrisley]

I'd have laid there all night long.

[Todd Chrisley]

We know. Because what some people may not know about my friend is that Jay is a hypochondriac. I mean, if there is a pimple, do you think I have chickenpox? Is it possible that I could have chicken pox?

[Jay Chrisley]

Shingles. It shingles.

[Todd Chrisley]

It shingles. It shingles. He worries about everything I do.

[Jay Chrisley]

I've got my doctor on speed dial.

[Todd Chrisley]

We have the same doctor, so. I'm aware. I'm aware. But I had a. I had a.

[Jay Chrisley]

Place on my shoulder one time, and I went in the bathroom, started taking pictures and sending them to him. He was like, I'm at dinner with my family. Can you please stop sending me pictures of moles while I'm trying to eat with my kids?

[Todd Chrisley]

We are blessed to have Dr. Page. We are blessed to have Dr. Page. So then you are. What else are you doing now other than just touring with the. With the band?

[Jay Chrisley]

Well, that's my main focus right now. And I opened up Red Street Records. You know all about that.

[Todd Chrisley]

And that's doing well. Because you had a gospel guide that's on there now. Yeah, that I really like.

[Jay Chrisley]

We just signed Danny Gokey about a month ago now, which. Thrilled to have him. Chris Lane, who is also on tour with us, is on the countryside of Ridge Street. So we're. We're.

[Todd Chrisley]

Chris was over there with you?

[Jay Chrisley]

Yeah, yeah.

[Todd Chrisley]

I love that. He just had. They just had a little girl.

[Jay Chrisley]

They did, they did. And he's. Man, I love Chris so much. He just released a new single called Friend. So we've been over there. I just came from there, in fact, and we got a staff of 18 people. It's been. It's been fun to be. For me to be on the other side of the business for a little bit and kind of use a different skill set, you know, it's been it's been nice.

[Todd Chrisley]

You know, it's, it's. I'm glad that you said that because, you know, you have been out front with Rascal Flats for how many years now?

[Jay Chrisley]

25.

[Todd Chrisley]

25 years. And for you to find comfort and joy in being behind the scenes now, it's different, isn't it?

[Jay Chrisley]

Yeah. I think whenever you have a chance to pass on any knowledge you may have or experience you may have to the next generation of artists and may help them in some ways avoid some pitfalls that you encountered. I think that that's always a blessing to be able to pay it forward.

[Todd Chrisley]

Absolutely.

[Jay Chrisley]

Some of them don't listen. You know, some of them are very, very stubborn.

[Todd Chrisley]

Yeah. I mean, most of them are connected to me via DNA, so. And I get it. I do get it.

[Jay Chrisley]

Well, believe me, I know. Chase and I had. While you were away for your little summer camp activities, I tried really hard to tell Chase some things and he does not listen.

[Todd Chrisley]

He does not listen to anyone. And. But you got to see Chase today and see how well he looks and how well he'.

[Jay Chrisley]

Fantastic.

[Todd Chrisley]

And you know, he's now going on the Chase. What are you, six months or seven months sober? Eight months. Eight months sober. No alcohol, nothing.

[Jay Chrisley]

Oh, I love it.

[Todd Chrisley]

And he's so clear headed, doing so well. And so I'm grateful to God for that.

[Jay Chrisley]

I'm so proud of him. He. Well, he listened.

[Todd Chrisley]

He just didn't do.

[Jay Chrisley]

Just didn't do anything.

[Todd Chrisley]

He heard you. He just didn't adhere to it.

[Jay Chrisley]

I took him out to eat with pastors, tried to take him to church.

[Todd Chrisley]

Everything, and he just did not adhere to it. And so tell me about my friend Allison.

[Jay Chrisley]

She's doing great. She's working really hard with the Miss Volunteer America pageant that she started from the ground up. And it's grown into this massive thing now that's just amazing. And it's amazing to watch her do.

[Todd Chrisley]

And remember when she started that. Yeah, you were like, I wish she just leave this stuff alone.

[Jay Chrisley]

Well, she kind of, you know, she did this thing to where she was like, I think it's going to be my last year. And then we did the last year and did a big blow up. And then the next year I started seeing boxes show up at the house and I was like, what's happening? She goes, well, I was going to tell you, but I've started a new pageant. So she started this new pageant without consulting with me, which is kind of.

[Todd Chrisley]

Normal for my friend. She does not ask for permission, nor does she seek forgiveness.

[Jay Chrisley]

No, no, that's very, very well said. And so I've been the proud financier of a brand new pageant.

[Todd Chrisley]

Which henceforth is why my friend is going to die with a microphone in his hand or a guitar strapped to his back.

[Jay Chrisley]

I want to be singing what hurts the most when I'm 80.

[Todd Chrisley]

And how's my Maddie doing?

[Jay Chrisley]

Maddie's great. She's 15 now.

[Todd Chrisley]

Yes.

[Jay Chrisley]

And she's doing really well in school. She's plays basketball and she's just, you know.

[Todd Chrisley]

Is she dating?

[Jay Chrisley]

She's. I think she's hanging out with a buddy. They're not like dating dating, but she's been to like, what are they homecomin with a friend and now she's going to winter formal with the same guy. So, you know, this definitely started down that road, which is really weird.

[Todd Chrisley]

Yeah. Okay.

[Jay Chrisley]

And it's really weird to watch your kids grow up and turn into real people and have thoughts and opinions and we're in a whole different season of life now. That's so strange. You know, and it dawned on me the other day that I've really got only three years left with Maddie.

[Todd Chrisley]

That's right. That's right.

[Jay Chrisley]

And I don't want them living in my house like yours ended up living with you. They got to get out and get some jobs.

[Todd Chrisley]

I. Yeah. I'll something right now. Sorry.

[Jay Chrisley]

Chase.

[Todd Chrisley]

I love. I know for me, I mean, it's not good for Chase, you know, because I mean, he doesn't want to be with us, but you know, with our new. Our new move that's coming up, you know, he'll be moving, unfortunately, he'll be leaving my house and going into his own and. But we're not very far apart. You know, I can still. I can still if I want to. I can still walk to him.

[Jay Chrisley]

I was just kidding. It's going to kill me when my.

[Todd Chrisley]

It is the. And again, that's another 28 miles thing that I had. That was the hardest part for me because you know how involved I am with my kids lives. And that was the hardest part, not being able to parent.

[Jay Chrisley]

Yeah.

[Todd Chrisley]

And to see them, you know, you spend this their whole life saying, I only have nine more years. Nine more years and they're going to college. And it is so crazy how fast I know those nine years go by.

[Jay Chrisley]

I know.

[Todd Chrisley]

And like with Grayson, you know, being at Alabama, he loves his school. He's doing so great. We just got a thing in the mail about him being in the honor society and he's doing so well. But you know, he's three and a half hours away now. I talk to him 50 times a day and I facetime with him at night, but it's not the same as him being in your house.

[Jay Chrisley]

Totally get it. I totally understand. You know, I can't imagine what it was like because I know how much your family means to you and your kids mean to you and being around them. And I was around Chase quite a bit while you were away watching. The effect that it had on them and how lost they were without you was heartbreaking. Well, you know, it had to be for you, too.

[Todd Chrisley]

Well, you know, you and I talked on the phone one day. I was down. June and I were in Alabama getting Grayson moved in.

[Jay Chrisley]

Well, I was dropping Chick fil a off to you in prison.

[Todd Chrisley]

I wish. I wish you could have been my courier, but I had a good courier. But. And we talked about that, you know, at how each of them process things so differently. Chase processed it because you. As you know, I've always said Chase is the most tender hearted one that I have.

[Jay Chrisley]

And he.

[Todd Chrisley]

Everything he does is through his heart. Savannah, it takes her a while and she's. Savannah's tougher and she's harder in her positions on things.

[Jay Chrisley]

She might cut some money 100%.

[Todd Chrisley]

There's no doubt in my mind that if that needed to happen, it would happen. And she's getting ready to leave to go do a show with Julie overseas in March. And Judah's got a lot of anxiety about going overseas and. And sure. And Savannah's like, mom, do you not realize that if anyone were to say something to you, I would literally destroy them in the. In. In two seconds?

[Jay Chrisley]

100%.

[Todd Chrisley]

And I told you, I said, why are you so nervous about being around these people and in a cast of other people? I said, and you need as many times if I have as she has heard me say, fuck off.

[Jay Chrisley]

Yeah.

[Todd Chrisley]

It's very liberating.

[Jay Chrisley]

Yeah.

[Todd Chrisley]

Use it. But you know her. You know her. She's never going to do that.

[Jay Chrisley]

Yeah.

[Todd Chrisley]

And so Savannah jumped in. She's mom, I got this. And. But each child processed it differently. Grayson, he clams up, he's not going to talk. He's going to hold it all inside. Chase is going to Chase. It was hard for him to see the silver lining, that there was no good that was going to come out of this. And I remember when he would come to see me and we'd be walking and I said, but, son, think about all of those that have it so much worse than us. Think about Those people think about your friends who's lost their mom and dad and they're never going to see them again. If they go see their parents, it's in a cemetery, yours is coming home. And. And he just, the hurt was just too deep. So, I mean, every one of them, my mother, I mean, she processed it differently. I mean, she is a soldier. But you know, there were moments that she would break down.

[Jay Chrisley]

Well, she threw a pretty big priority when you first went.

[Todd Chrisley]

She would say, you know, she'd be sitting there talking to me and I said, mommy, you need to do this. And she said, I don't have you there to tell me what to do anymore. And I said, mommy, you didn't listen to what I told you anyway. I said, so why does it matter? She said, well, at least I could tell you to keep, to kiss my ass. I was going to do what I wanted to do. So, you know, but listen, we survived it and we're better for it, and we're better as a family for it.

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[Todd Chrisley]

I was so bitter when it happened, but I don't have bitterness in my heart anymore. I don't have anger. I don't have resentment. I don't have hatred. I'm. I'm just in a good, peaceful place and I don't want that interrupted.

[Jay Chrisley]

I don't totally understand. I. And I'm sure that the bond between you and Julie is even stronger now because of.

[Todd Chrisley]

You can't go through what we've been through and it not be stronger. And you know, you know, of all people, because y' all were closer to us than anyone else. Where I was, Julie was. Where Julie was, I was. And now it's a different bond we have more of appreciation of. Okay, well, now I know that you're going to the UK to film the show in February and you're not back until March, but I'm going to be gone in March for three weeks to film that show with Savannah. So it's really going to put us four weeks away from each other, which is the first thing is first time since we've been home.

[Jay Chrisley]

I would imagine she's kind of probably, probably developed some stronger independence, you know.

[Todd Chrisley]

Really? Yes. I think there's a lot of that. And it's such a beautiful thing to see because she, Judy was always independent, but she would always come to me and say, what do you think? Yeah. Now she's. She's Taken on that role of. I don't need to go to him with this because I know that this is not something that I want to do.

[Jay Chrisley]

Yeah.

[Todd Chrisley]

And I love that because it's less of a burden for me to have to carry to make a decision for another grown person.

[Jay Chrisley]

No, I totally understand. I think that makes perfect sense. She's probably stronger in a lot of ways she doesn't even realize yet.

[Todd Chrisley]

Exactly. Exactly. So, I mean, listen, she was already a pillar of strength to be married to me for as long as she was.

[Jay Chrisley]

No shit.

[Todd Chrisley]

And so she is. Julie's doing great. And you'll see her before she. Before you leave. She'll be here.

[Jay Chrisley]

I love that.

[Todd Chrisley]

But, yeah, we're in a really good place. How. How's your mother?

[Jay Chrisley]

My mom is. She's in the fight of her life right now with Alzheimer's, and it's getting worse, you know, alarmingly worse every time that I see her. So it is been a dramatic decline in the last three years. So there's not, you know, I share this all the time, and it sounds so awful to say, but. But there's not really much of the woman that I remember as my mother left.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right.

[Jay Chrisley]

And sometimes I feel like she would be very upset at me for letting her live this way. You know, I don't think she would want to exist like this. And I, you know, you. You begin to see the. The case a little bit for euthanasia. You know, I know it's very controversial, and I don't wish my mother to be dead, but I know that she wouldn't want to live the way that she's living.

[Todd Chrisley]

Well, you know, what a lot of people may not know is you have been for your mother exactly what I have been for my mother. You've been a caregiver, a caretaker, a provider, all of that. And so now for it to shift to being truly a caretaker, it's one thing to say, mom, I bought you this, or, mom, I'm going to buy you this house or whatever. Well, that's great, because they still are independent. But when you have to literally become the sole caregiver for. For a parent. Yeah, that's a whole different level.

[Jay Chrisley]

It's really, really difficult. It's really. I feel like I mourned the loss of my mother four years ago.

[Todd Chrisley]

When she remembered you.

[Jay Chrisley]

Yes.

[Todd Chrisley]

When she stopped.

[Jay Chrisley]

Remember when she stopped remembering me? And the first time she called me by a different name was the time I went, okay, my. My mother's gone. Like, the body's there, but the Mind is not there.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right.

[Jay Chrisley]

And it's really heartbreaking because my mother was my rock. Anybody that's read my book or knows anything about a complete mama's boy and.

[Todd Chrisley]

I, I, which is not shocking for the world for anybody that knows Jay.

[Jay Chrisley]

A very highly tuned athlete. Mama's boy. But I, I, you know, I miss her. I would talk to her every single day. I would call her on my way into wherever I was going to, you know, a concert date or going into the office or going to a. Right. Whatever I was doing. I lived to hear my mother's voice. You know, she was a concert constant for me.

[Todd Chrisley]

It was a safe place.

[Jay Chrisley]

It was. And it's gone forever. I don't think there's anything in the world that can heal the loss of a parent. I think that we lit. We all live through tragedy. We all go through hard times in our lives. But I think when, when you finally lose a parent for the first time, that is a hole that's unfillable.

[Todd Chrisley]

Well, you know this because you lost your dad.

[Jay Chrisley]

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And miss him every day.

[Todd Chrisley]

And I've lost my dad, and I find that every day. I'm actually, and I'm interested to see what your perspective is on this because I sometimes feel closer to my dad today than even when he was here.

[Jay Chrisley]

Yeah. Well, my dad and I had a difficult relationship early on. When he got older, he softened quite a bit. We were able to have some real in depth, heart to heart conversations. He apologized for some things and asked for forgiveness for some things that were really tough when. And he and my mom were going through their divorces. You know, they were married twice.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right.

[Jay Chrisley]

Made two runs at it. But my dad and I got very close toward the end of his life, later in his life. And what I've done, what I was, what I was deliberate about was I kept a bunch of voicemails that he had left me, a bunch of letters that he had written me. And I've kind of hung onto those. And you're right, I do feel much, much closer to him now that he's not here, because I think those things have, have connected me more to him now that I don't have him here physically.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right.

[Jay Chrisley]

And sometimes I'll sit, you know, I'm the kind of person that will sit by myself in the study and listen to voicemails and just get a good cry out, you know, because like I said, not having your folks is something that is really, really, I don't know, it's tough. It seems like there's nothing that really fixes that.

[Todd Chrisley]

Now.

[Jay Chrisley]

You can find joy in different ways.

[Todd Chrisley]

That's right.

[Jay Chrisley]

There's nothing that really fixes the loss.

[Todd Chrisley]

No. I was talk. My mother the other day, and she was in this whole thing of, you know, like, really upset. And she said, you know, I don't have that many more years left. You know, I'm 81 years old. And she kept talking about, you know, that I've tried to be a good mother. I said, you've been a great mother. Where's all this coming from? And she said, well, I don't want you, and I don't want you to have any guilt about anything that's ever happened in our life. She says. And with that being said, she says, it's time for me to get a new car. I literally. I mean, this is like. This woman is in tears.

[Jay Chrisley]

That's amazing.

[Todd Chrisley]

And I'm like. She's sitting here telling me she doesn't want me to. That she wants to leave this earth with me having no guilt. She says, and it's time for me to have another car. I looked. I was in such a state of shock when she did it that it was like, there's no cameras rolling.

[Jay Chrisley]

Well, is she doesn't need.

[Todd Chrisley]

I said, mama, are you serious right now? She goes, well, yes, Todd. She said, I had that car since, you know, your unfortunate situation. And she said, and now you're back. And she said, you know, I always had a new car every two years, Todd. This is going on three.

[Jay Chrisley]

What you get her?

[Todd Chrisley]

Well, I'm getting her the same thing. Another Mercedes suv, whatever. She's been driving that little thing, that's. That's easy for her to get in and out of, but. But it was just the timing of how she did that, that's the best. And I thought she.

[Jay Chrisley]

Were you really that shocked?

[Todd Chrisley]

No, not with her, but not after I got to thinking about it. But, you know, it's those moments that I will have. And I look at it that, like, Chrisley Knows Best, you know, I mean, that's 12 years.

[Jay Chrisley]

It's unbelievable.

[Todd Chrisley]

And so it's like a photo album that will be there forever. And so I'm grateful for that.

[Jay Chrisley]

Remember how the rating shot up once.

[Todd Chrisley]

We got on there since you got on there?

[Jay Chrisley]

Regulars.

[Todd Chrisley]

Exactly.

[Jay Chrisley]

More people knew me from Chris Knows Best and Rascal Flats, which is insane.

[Todd Chrisley]

One of the biggest country music acts in the country, in the world was really.

[Jay Chrisley]

I never will forget walking through Dollywood and having this group of people, like, going, oh, my gosh can we get our picture with you? And, you know, I kind of puffed up. I was like, yeah. And I put my arms around. And the lady goes, we just love you. And that Todd on Chrisley Knows Best. I was like, son of a bitch.

[Todd Chrisley]

But, I mean, you know, people do. I mean, I get messages every day. You know, you just said that you got a message the other day that. That people said that they don't like or made a snotty comment about. Because we're MAGA supporters or we're Trump supporters.

[Jay Chrisley]

Oh, about MLK Day, you know, I went on there and said, you know, he had a dream that everybody would find love instead of hate. And, you know, his pursuit was judging a man by his character and not the color of his skin. And.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right.

[Jay Chrisley]

I was simply making a statement that we live in a really screwed up world now because if we disagree on something, you're automatically an enemy.

[Todd Chrisley]

That's right.

[Jay Chrisley]

And in the comments section, everybody started going after each other. It was like exhibit A of what I was talking about.

[Todd Chrisley]

I know, I know.

[Jay Chrisley]

And it had nothing to do with politics, but everybody turns it into politics.

[Todd Chrisley]

We did a round of press last week, and it was literally, it was press day, the whole day. And it started at 9 o', clock, and we didn't finish it until 4 o'. Clock. And so many people in the interviews, it was, you know, now, congratulations, you're home, et cetera, et cetera. You know, how have you dealt with the backlash? I said, backlash for, you know, with President Trump giving you a pardon. And I said, I don't have any backlash. I said, I'm grateful to the good Lord above. I says, for, you know, for what God has made happen through President Trump and through my daughter. And they sit, and Tamara Judge was doing one of the interviews, and she says, well, you know, know, people said some very harsh things about Savannah and that she had slept her way through the White House to get your pardons. And then it went from that to she had paid a million dollars a piece. She said, how do you feel like that? I said, that never bothered me. I said, but it was shocking that they would think. I mean, because that's something I would have done. I said, she wouldn't do that, but I would have done that.

[Jay Chrisley]

You slept your way through one.

[Todd Chrisley]

Please. Which. Which Dick's first. If it's going to bring me home and get me out of prison. Which Dick is first.

[Jay Chrisley]

Jesus, help him.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right?

[Jay Chrisley]

Lord, help him.

[Todd Chrisley]

Put a hand on him. But, you know, to say that about. And here's the sad part about it, Jay, is it was other women that were saying it.

[Jay Chrisley]

That's not surprising.

[Todd Chrisley]

And it's so. It's just so disheartening because, you know, country music is a. Is a different. It's a different beast.

[Jay Chrisley]

Yeah.

[Todd Chrisley]

All of us here in Nashville, we know each other. Whether we hang out with each other or any of that, we all know each other. And when we see each other, we're cordial and polite. We speak and we go on.

[Jay Chrisley]

Yeah.

[Todd Chrisley]

You don't see people in country music going after each other like that.

[Jay Chrisley]

No, it's very, very uncommon. I think that we, you know, we're one of the last. One of the last organizations or genres or businesses left that tolerate people having different points of view. You don't really that anymore.

[Todd Chrisley]

No.

[Jay Chrisley]

And somebody. Somebody said on the comments that, you know, well, it's Trump's fault that everybody is hateful toward each other, and it's just like it doesn't matter who's in the White House. The civility started going out the window years, years ago when people got devices in front of them and cowards became really, really brave behind a keyboard.

[Todd Chrisley]

Exactly.

[Jay Chrisley]

And couldn't sit down and have a civil debate with you.

[Todd Chrisley]

That's right.

[Jay Chrisley]

They would fire off something on a social media post in a heartbeat.

[Todd Chrisley]

That's right.

[Jay Chrisley]

And, you know, I've got a former senator that's a good friend of mine that's at the same country club that I'm at that said, you know, the difference between now when and then when he served was if you disagreed with things, you would hotly debate each other on the floor of Congress or whatever.

[Todd Chrisley]

And then go have lunch.

[Jay Chrisley]

And then go have lunch. They don't do that anymore.

[Todd Chrisley]

No.

[Jay Chrisley]

They don't even try to find common ground.

[Todd Chrisley]

No.

[Jay Chrisley]

And I think that that's more important, is about the point that I was trying to make with my post, is we don't even try to find common ground about what we do agree on anymore.

[Todd Chrisley]

And, you know, you and I have always pretty much agreed on just about our views and stuff are always kind of very in line. But there were times I would say things that you didn't agree with, and you'd be like, ah. And, you know, and that caused me to think about, okay, well, maybe it was the way that I said it, or maybe I need to look at that again, you know, or whatever.

[Jay Chrisley]

The difference is, is that I could say something that you could disagree with or you could say something that I disagree with. It doesn't change the way I feel about you.

[Todd Chrisley]

That's right.

[Jay Chrisley]

Because I know the heart of the person.

[Todd Chrisley]

That's right.

[Jay Chrisley]

What, what flies all over me is when somebody's character, because they say something or they have a belief that may not be in line with or in agreeance with what they say.

[Todd Chrisley]

Exactly. I hate that. No, I don't like that either. And the great thing about it is. And the great thing about having a friend that you can be 100% transparent with is that you don't have to have a false facade. You don't have to be anything other than who you are. And you and I have always been able to have good, strong, educated conversations about things, whether it was in music or television or politics or what have you. And we didn't always agree on. On everything. But I still loved you. Even though you were wrong, I still loved you.

[Jay Chrisley]

I think healthy debate is great. How do we get anywhere as human beings?

[Todd Chrisley]

Exactly. And all of my kids don't believe the same way. And, you know, I just. If they don't believe the way that I believe, I blame it on the DNA on the other side. So, I mean, you know, I just think that it's sad that we live in a. In a world. I used to say country, country, but it's a world. It's the whole world. And anyone that. I don't care if you are Democrat, Republican, liberal, whatever. I don't. I don't care if you identify as a fucking tree, if that's what you want to identify as, be the best damn tree you can be.

[Jay Chrisley]

That's all, that's all there is to it.

[Todd Chrisley]

But don't expect me to water you. Don't expect me to fertilize you, because if I don't believe in that shit, I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna lean into it. But that doesn't mean I don't. That doesn't mean I dislike you or that I hate you or that as my brother or sister in Christ, I'm going to let you go hungry in front of me. I'm not going to do that. But it just. In that press tour, it was literally every, Just about every interview was. So why do you think there was backlash? I said, well, there was no backlash towards us. I said it was the person who signed the pardon. I said, because we have had millions of comments and it's. I love you guys. We don't see things the same politically. And you don't know how I see things and how.

[Jay Chrisley]

Who, who presented the narrative that There was a backlash to begin with.

[Todd Chrisley]

Exactly, exactly.

[Jay Chrisley]

You've got a world of support out there of people telling you how much they love you. I mean, of course you're going to have people that come out of the woodworks that want attention, that are going to say whatever. But by and large, the largest group of comments and supporters I've seen have nothing but love and support for you guys.

[Todd Chrisley]

Yes. And it's. And it's the same. I mean, they, you know, the network was doing a study on, on these new shows and stuff. You know, the product about what our likability rating was. Our likability rating is 89.7% now. That's down. It was 94.5. It's now down to 89.7.

[Jay Chrisley]

I think mine was 98 when they did my study.

[Todd Chrisley]

But if I can get you back on the air with me, I'll get back to 95. But, you know, when they were looking at those numbers and I was looking at it, and I'm like, okay, but I'm not really worried about that 5% that walked away. Because if you walked away or you're not a fan of ours or you're. And I don't even like the term fan, if you're not someone that wants to see me succeed, then you don't need to be. Have a ticket to the show.

[Jay Chrisley]

Yeah, I get it.

[Todd Chrisley]

And so I'm not trying to tear people down. If I can't help you, I'm not going to hurt you. And I don't care if you're a Democrat or Republican. You know, you and I both know we have people on both sides of the fence and we all get along fine. We can all show up the same Christmas party together. We all, we can all have decent conversations. No one's hating each other. And, and we didn't. I wasn't. Again, I was on my sabbatical during the election period, so I wasn't allowed to vote then, but I am now. But it was. There was not that division in prison. I mean, these men.

[Jay Chrisley]

Interesting.

[Todd Chrisley]

I was there with 385 men. And when I tell you the staff, the staff was. Was more liberal and more Democrat. The men. And these, these are men of color.

[Jay Chrisley]

Color, yeah.

[Todd Chrisley]

Were rooting for President Trump. And I said, I'm just curious. I said, why are. I mean, are you a Democrat or Republican? They're like, well, I don't really know who I am. What, you know, like, how I vote or whatever. I said, well, have you ever voted? A lot of them had never voted.

[Jay Chrisley]

Yeah.

[Todd Chrisley]

So I, you know, my mother just voted, you know, the first time years ago.

[Jay Chrisley]

What was their answer?

[Todd Chrisley]

A lot of the people just said that they had never registered to vote or that they had never voted, but they wanted President Trump to win because they had not felt. They had not felt served in their community by President Biden or by Obama. These are men of color that I'm talking about. And when I tell you, Jay, 85% of the men that was there was pro Trump.

[Jay Chrisley]

Yeah.

[Todd Chrisley]

And these. A lot of these were men of color or different nationalities, you know, Puerto Rican, Mexican, and they were Trump. And if you look at the numbers of. Of how Trump's numbers were when he. Because he swept. He swept the country. When you look at those numbers, you can argue about someone's opinion, but you can't debate. Well, I guess we can debate the numbers in this country because either, you know, some people believe elections are rigged and some say they're not. I don't know.

[Jay Chrisley]

Both sides have their.

[Todd Chrisley]

Have their own version of it. Yeah, that's right. But, you know, it was crazy watching the night of the election. Election, these men were up all night waiting for these numbers to come in. And when it was announced that he had taken this state and this. People were screaming. And so then I come home because I've been pardoned by this man. And then I find that it's literally, for the most part, any negativity that we've gotten has mostly come from white females.

[Jay Chrisley]

Isn't that something?

[Todd Chrisley]

White, conservative females. So that was so odd to me. And I'm just like, listen, I don't really give a if you like me or not, but you are still following me.

[Jay Chrisley]

Yeah.

[Todd Chrisley]

You are still following me on Instagram, you're still following me on Facebook, on X. And you're talking this.

[Jay Chrisley]

Of course they want to be in the mix.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right. And I have learned within 20 in those 28 months that I don't have to allow you into the mix. And the way that I don't allow you into that mix is by not responding to you.

[Jay Chrisley]

Yeah.

[Todd Chrisley]

Because, you know, I would drag people before.

[Jay Chrisley]

Oh, yeah.

[Todd Chrisley]

Now I just don't care. Yeah, I'm good with you, dude. I mean, you. Listen, you want to get blowjobs to Barney, go do that. I don't give a damn.

[Jay Chrisley]

It's so hard sometimes to. To. To put the phone down, take a deep breath, and not respond to idiocy.

[Todd Chrisley]

Huh?

[Jay Chrisley]

You know what I mean? Like, when it's obvious that the person has no idea who you are what your character is or what your point, you're even trying to make it is. I've had to learn to take a deep breath and go, that's just nonsense. I can't pay any attention to that.

[Todd Chrisley]

That's right.

[Jay Chrisley]

And by the way, by paying attention to it, you give it.

[Todd Chrisley]

You're giving it life.

[Jay Chrisley]

You're breathing life into deserves to have.

[Todd Chrisley]

That's what. That's right. Because it's taking up space in your mind. And I'm just not going to do that. I love who I love. The people that I love and that have been loyal to me and faithful to me all these years are still in my life. And I'm here for each and every one of those individuals, for anything that they ever need. And I'm here to help anyone that I can help, whether I know you or not. But I'm not going to find fight with you.

[Jay Chrisley]

Yeah, well, it's a losing battle. It is.

[Todd Chrisley]

Because, listen, if you believe one way and I believe another, I can sit here and debate with you all day. But if you've made your mind up that everything I say you're going to disagree with and vice versa, it's wasted air.

[Jay Chrisley]

It is.

[Todd Chrisley]

It's wasted time and I'm just not going to do it.

[Jay Chrisley]

So it's exhausting too. It is, really.

[Todd Chrisley]

It is. So tell me, what is now, how old are you now? 16?

[Jay Chrisley]

72.

[Todd Chrisley]

72?

[Jay Chrisley]

Yeah. I'll be 73 in April.

[Todd Chrisley]

You look great.

[Jay Chrisley]

Thank you so much.

[Todd Chrisley]

You look great.

[Jay Chrisley]

You know, Ozempic is a wonderful thing.

[Todd Chrisley]

I did go the hell off on a warden at Montgomery last week on the podcast at the Maxwell Air Force Base there. Yeah, it's this big old fat slop hog of a warden, Warden Washington. And he made me so mad of the way he was treating these guys. And I said, you need to make friends. You need to be best friends with Ozane. And so I shouldn't have said that. Judith said, todd, why?

[Jay Chrisley]

That's not Christian.

[Todd Chrisley]

She did. She said, todd, why you do so good? And she says, and then the devil gets a hold of you. She said, you want to walk hand in hand with him?

[Jay Chrisley]

Yeah.

[Todd Chrisley]

And I said, I wouldn't say hand to hand. I said, but we did have lunch that day.

[Jay Chrisley]

What was the warden's response?

[Todd Chrisley]

Well, I got word back that his fence was hurt that I. That I had said he needed to make. He needed to make best friends with Ozempic. But. And I'd love to be able to say that I apologize for that, but I don't. Because these men don't have a voice. I'm the only voice that they have. And if I know that they're being mistreated or they're not being fed properly or clothed properly or given proper medical care and that's brought to my attention, then I'm going to expose that you.

[Jay Chrisley]

Stay in touch with all the time.

[Todd Chrisley]

All the time. I speak to people that I was there with because a lot of my guys that I was there with were white collar, you know, Wall street, bankers, doctors, things like that. But then I had my buddies there that, you know, as they would say, you know, won't never forget this. He said, I used to sling bricks. Well, I was so stupid, Jay, that I'd only been there, like, two months, and I was on the wait pile, and this other guy came up to me, was talking to me, and he goes, what's he in here for? I said, he was something construction. And he said, construction? And I said, yeah. He said, oh, I thought he was. I thought it was drugs or something. I said, no. I said, he told me that he slings brick. Said so? And he just looked at me, goes, put his hand on my shoulder. He goes. He said, what? I said, he just said, he slings bricks. And I said. He said, what do you think that means? I said, you know, like, when they throw the bricks, when they're doing the building the houses, they throw them up.

[Jay Chrisley]

To the bricks that they were the.

[Todd Chrisley]

Trial just because, you know, I've seen. When I've been in construction forever, and, I mean, I would watch the guys throw the bricks up to the people at the. On the second floor. I thought that's what the hell that meant. And I remember them saying, we got to talk to you. We know that you're naive, but when people tell you they sling bricks, that's dope.

[Jay Chrisley]

Yeah.

[Todd Chrisley]

And I said, well, why would he even be bragging about that? And he said, why did he tell you that? I said, well, I asked him, you know, why are you here? And he said, I was slinging bricks. He said, well, then he gave you the answer. So I learned at that point I ain't asking nobody else why you're here, because I might not understand what the hell you're telling me anyway, but, you know, I still am in communication with just about all of them. And staff members. You know, I talked to staff members, the ones that helped me when I was there, that brought my chick fil a and my pizza and kept my phone hidden for me and all that Stuff that I paid, I still have in communication with them because they're good people. Now, the BOP would say, now, Todd, they were breaking the rolls. Yes, they were.

[Jay Chrisley]

And you just outed every one of them.

[Todd Chrisley]

Nuh. I've never told on one of. Now, I did tell on the ones that were abusive to people and they'd been walked out. You know, the warden that was there with me, she was walked out. That facility that I was in has been closed down.

[Jay Chrisley]

Oh, has it really?

[Todd Chrisley]

It closed. I went and did the final graduation speech for the RDAP program there, and I did the speech that day and it closed down 60 days later.

[Jay Chrisley]

What did they close it because of abuse?

[Todd Chrisley]

They closed it because of all of the exposure that Savannah had brought to the facility. And so many people, you know, they're like, I just did this podcast with this guy named Ian Beck, and they're like, I thought he had it bad there. I did. I mean, it's not the home that I came from. So yes, it was a culture shock. Was. And I've gone on record and said this. Was it as bad as some of the guys, what they had been through at other facilities? No, it was a camp, but it was run down, it wasn't clean. And so I took care of myself. I hired people to clean my room, to make sure my windows were washed, to make sure that I, I had cleaned sheets every other day, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, things like that.

[Jay Chrisley]

Because you, at first, you were only being able to change your sheets once a week.

[Todd Chrisley]

Once a week.

[Jay Chrisley]

Yeah. That's nasty.

[Todd Chrisley]

See, he said that's nasty.

[Jay Chrisley]

It is nasty.

[Todd Chrisley]

And so, and you know yourself, because you know how we've lived, that our beds were changed every other day. And so I stayed in that routine of being there. I took what I had and tried to implement what I knew to that process.

[Jay Chrisley]

So you and I have not caught up since you've been back. And I, I, I want to ask, and I'm sure a lot of people want to know too, when you, when you hear the word prison, you think, you know, bars, under guard all the time. What was life like daily for you in there? Were you able to move around however you wanted to?

[Todd Chrisley]

It was, it was. Truly, it was. It's a military base.

[Jay Chrisley]

Okay.

[Todd Chrisley]

It was a military base for the Navy. And where I stayed was the barracks.

[Jay Chrisley]

Armed guards, though, or just.

[Todd Chrisley]

No, there's no, there's no armed guards or any. You had COs correctional officers that were walking around, but they're not armed because it's not that kind of place. But I was able to get up and go and do what I wanted. I worked out every day, two times a day. I went and used the computer anytime I wanted to. I read. I was in the chapel every day because you're supposed to have a job when you're there, which I was not going to give them anything. And when the warden said, you have to have a job, I said, no, sweetie, I'm here to do time, not just chores. So I'm not doing that. And so they put me in the chapel and I watched movies all day.

[Jay Chrisley]

I didn't know that choice would have been yours.

[Todd Chrisley]

That's good. It ended up God looked out for me, and so I did not do that. I was in the chapel with the chaplain. I had the most wonderful chaplain, Chaplain Dixon, and who I stay in contact with to this day, she's just the loveliest woman ever. She's filled with. She's truly filled with the Holy Spirit every day of her life. And she was there and she tried to counsel the men. She, she, you know, you lose a loved one when you're there. Whatever. She was very good about making sure that they, that they were being seen and heard.

[Jay Chrisley]

What were the strictest rules that you had to adhere to while you were there? Like, were there certain check in times, certain bed times?

[Todd Chrisley]

Yeah, you had to, like, you had count. That's all it was.

[Jay Chrisley]

Okay.

[Todd Chrisley]

You had count time, which was at. You had your 4 o' clock count and then you went to. To chow. Well, I never went to that place because it did not look clean to me. So I never went in there. They give you.

[Jay Chrisley]

That's when you got your pizza and Chick fil A.

[Todd Chrisley]

Yes, 100% chick fil A. Olive Garden, which I didn't like. Culver's became my jam.

[Jay Chrisley]

Culver's is great.

[Todd Chrisley]

It became my jam.

[Jay Chrisley]

It's really great.

[Todd Chrisley]

And. But you had your four o' clock count and you had your nine o' clock count.

[Jay Chrisley]

Hell, I'd take McDonald's in prison.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right. I had that too in Burger King. I never knew anyone could love a Whopper like I did in burger in prison. But. But you had your 4 o' clock count and your 9 o' clock count, and after that you were free to do whatever as long as you were there. For count time, you were good.

[Jay Chrisley]

So you could stay up as late as you wanted to.

[Todd Chrisley]

Yeah. Yeah. And now I stayed up.

[Jay Chrisley]

That sounds like a pretty good vacation to me.

[Todd Chrisley]

Yeah. You had no one. You know, from the standpoint of if the guards are the COs. You had those that were there. And the only way I can describe it, Jay, is that you remember back in high school when you, you know, you were in your PE class and you were going to do dodgeball.

[Jay Chrisley]

Yeah.

[Todd Chrisley]

And your PE teacher made you line up. You had to pick teams. There was always that fat kid that was left at the last one who was not picked. Well, all of those ended up working at the. At the bop. So, you know, you've got all of these very morbidly obese fat people there.

[Jay Chrisley]

And little bit of power.

[Todd Chrisley]

Little bit of power. And so unattractive. And you know how that's distracting to me if you're ugly? It's just it distracting to me. It's not that I don't like you, because I do have some friends that are not as attractive as others, but I love them because I see other things about them. But there was just no redeeming qualities to the. To 95% of these people. And, you know, they were constantly trying to degrade these men. That didn't happen with me, but it didn't happen with me because they knew the voice that Savannah had and that she was putting it out there.

[Jay Chrisley]

Well, they probably also knew your voice would bark back at them.

[Todd Chrisley]

Well, I did. And they would say, no, no, no. You are in a prison camp. And I said, yes. And you need to remember that because you. It's outside of policy for you to curse at these men. And I would get my policy book out and I would go straight to it. So I beat them with policy. But I had, you know, I had good people there that were good to me. Like, you know, Ms. Kennedy. She was good. She was good up until she wasn't. She got mad because I came and spoke at the last GR graduating class. And I think she was under so much pressure because they were trying to figure out who is giving him and his family this information about this facility. And because she and I were so close, the warden had zoned in on her that she had to be the one leaking this information. Now, I would have gone to my grave with that. Now, you know yourself that I know a lot of shit about a lot of people and it's never come out. I would have carried her. I would have carried that to the grave. Then she wants to try to front on me at the damn graduation thing and then go do a nasty post on Facebook, on the BOP's Facebook page. And I said, sarah, you have worked for me for the last 18 months. Why do you want to come on here and start like acting like you're going to put me on front street. And so I outed and I said, now, you know that there are cash app receipts, you know that there is proof about when you logged in on your computer and let me use it, you know what you did. I would have never told on her, but she wanted to be that girl. The other people that were there that were so good to me, they're still working in the bop.

[Jay Chrisley]

Yeah.

[Todd Chrisley]

I've never said a word about them. Now, like I said, if you were abusive to the men that was there and you wrote fake charges on them, you know, shots is what they're called. In high school, it would have been a detentions right to grown ass men. And they love to do that. And you know, they love to do shakedowns to where they could try to find contraband because they would take the people's cigarettes and stuff and then they'd go smoke them. They'd get these vapes and then they'd take them and smoke them. You know, they'd get like during New Year's and Christmas and whatever, you know, they'd bring. I now know what a handle is of liquor.

[Jay Chrisley]

Oh, yeah.

[Todd Chrisley]

I know you know what that is very well. But I did not know what that was. But those would come in during the holidays and whatever. And the guy would mix their drinks and whatever for the holidays. They would be looking for that. Or they would come and say, who's got some vodka?

[Jay Chrisley]

So you could drink in there.

[Todd Chrisley]

No, you can't. But it was coming in and. But some of the staff would come to the guys that they knew had it and they'd. And they'd bring them their yeti cup.

[Jay Chrisley]

Yeah.

[Todd Chrisley]

And have them to fill it up so it looked like water. So the COs could walk around and drink.

[Jay Chrisley]

So they could drink while they were working.

[Todd Chrisley]

Yeah, I'm not going to tell on them. They. They were off doing their thing, leaving us the hell alone. And I was on my phone doing business, so I was running my shit right there. I was like literally minding my own business.

[Jay Chrisley]

You probably got more done in there than you had in years, Jay.

[Todd Chrisley]

I was so damn productive. I was so productive. I had that place closed down. So what's that tell you? I won't never forget Terrence, this guy. And you'll meet him. Terrence used to say, y' all leave him alone. He taking down the bop. It was the funniest thing. It was his running thing. It's taught because you know when they'd Come to your room. They'd knock for them to come in, and Terrence would be watching because he'd be like, the watch or whatever. And he'd say, you got company coming. And they'd come and say, you can't talk to him now. Todd busy taking down. He's trying to take down the bop. And I'd be sending documents out or whatever. And that staff had given me about theft and about abuse and about not giving people proper medical care or giving them the wrong medication for something that they didn't have. And I. And I reported all that, Jay. It was so horrific, the conditions of. And I'm so grateful to God because I didn't have to go to medical.

[Jay Chrisley]

Yeah.

[Todd Chrisley]

And I always told them that. That's it. Mr. Chrisley, you need to come see us in medical. We need to get blood work from you. We ain't had no blood from you. I said, you ain't getting no blood from medical. I said, Mr. Chris, we have to class the. No. My attorney told me that I can refuse, that I'm not. Y' all are not sticking me with no dirty needles. And, Mr. Chris, we open. I said, no. Not doing it. Ms. Walter had to do it. No, I did not. And you know that they'd say, you know, we need. They were worried about me after Savannah had gone public, so they would send an orderly to bring me up that there to ask me, are you having any problems? We need to check your weight. You know, you're not going to chow hall to eat. We checked your card. And my weight was always maintaining as where it was. And they. They were like, how the. What is he eating to keep his weight up? And I said, I work out every day. Muscle weighs more than fat. And so, you know, it was just, you know, they would. I did have some good people there.

[Jay Chrisley]

Yeah.

[Todd Chrisley]

And they were good to me because they didn't believe the way the system. The way it was being ran. They didn't believe in that. They didn't believe these men, grown men, should be going to bed hungry at night. They believed that they should have proper medical care. You know, we had this one little, tiny, tiny guy that worked in laundry. Mouse Dick Medina.

[Jay Chrisley]

Was that his given name?

[Todd Chrisley]

I gave them all names. I gave everyone. And, you know, I'm notorious for that, but I gave them all names. And I called him Mouse Dick Medina because he's like a little pocket pal. Like, you could pick him up and put him in your pocket.

[Jay Chrisley]

Yeah. And elf on the shelf.

[Todd Chrisley]

Elf on a shelf. They've Got longer legs. But he was so abusive to the men. He ran laundry and he'd say, and it was so cold there. I mean, no one would have thought that in Pensacola that would get that cold. But it would be so cold during the winter months, and they would have one blanket and the heat wouldn't be working. And they would go and ask for an extra blanket. Well, he would tell them no. So when you leave these men and you tell them that they're going to freeze, what do you think they're going to do? They're going to figure out a way to not freeze. So they would pay other people that worked in the laundry to bring them an extra blanket?

[Podcast Host / Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Todd Chrisley]

Well, he would look at the inventory and see that it was going down. And he would come with carts every day and bring two people from laundry and go and count the blankets that each person had on their bed. Just to torture them.

[Jay Chrisley]

Nothing better to do?

[Podcast Host / Advertiser]

No.

[Todd Chrisley]

And I was standing at my bed one time when he came through, and I saw him coming through, and one of the guys in my room said, you need to get your blankets put up. He's coming to take them. I said, I hope this little does come here and take my blankets. I hope Mouse Dick Medina does walk up in here. And so he came in and he's look. And literally, this is what he done. He walks in our room and he goes, my bed's right here, and I've got a blanket hanging up on the end of my bed. One on this end. I bet you did, you know, hang it, because it was a bunk bed. So that's kind of how I closed myself up.

[Jay Chrisley]

Four blankets.

[Todd Chrisley]

And then I had one here, one here, and then I had one that went long ways to close me off in there. And then I had my two blankets that I slept under. So that right there is five blankets. Right. And he looks around the room. He goes. Walks right on out, but went and took everyone else's blanket. So I asked him, I said, medina, I said, you know that I have these blankets, and you know that the heat's not working, so why are you letting me keep my blankets? But you're taking that man over there who's 78 years old, and I says, and who is a diabetic, and you're taking his exact extra blanket, Chrisley, this doesn't involve you. And I said, well, I'm just telling you that it does. And I'm going to get on the phone and I'm going to call and report it. And I did. And within two Hours of Savannah going public with it. Yeah, she did a. She did a face. Face time live or whatever our. Yeah, Instagram live. Yeah, she. An Instagram live. And within two hours, there was a thing came across the intercom that everyone that does not have two blankets needs to report to laundry and retrieve a second blanket. And Tomorrow morning at 6am there will be coats being handed out to every inmate here, and you need to be there to pick up your coat.

[Jay Chrisley]

Wow.

[Todd Chrisley]

And so we did a lot of complaining and bitching, but it benefited everyone there.

[Jay Chrisley]

Well, you got things done.

[Todd Chrisley]

Exactly. And, you know, they would come in the sun, they would just do things that would torture you. Like in the summertime, there was no air, so. And they had these big fans in there and did they let you redecorate at all? Listen, I went to hell off on them so many times about how raggedy that place was, and they didn't. The. Aw. Who's this other. Just egg on legs, little fat short woman. Yeah, egg on legs bitch been threatening to die since I've been there. She's been saying she's got mas. Was trying to get a medical distance, medical retirement or whatever. Hell still wreaking havoc somewhere else. But she came in to take all those fans and had other guys in there taking the fans. I said, excuse me. I said, you are. And she said, I'm the aw. And I said, okay. I said, so now that I know what you do, I said, you were in here taking these men's fans. And I said, It's 100 degrees outside. She says, we're running out of fans. And I said, that doesn't mean that you get to take them from the people. People that have them. And she says, we're going to have some other. Some. Some more delivered tomorrow. I went and got on that phone and called Savannah. Said they listened to every phone call that I had. So I called Savannah. I said, they're taking all these men's fans. And I said, Savannah, it's 100 degrees in this. In this dorm. I said, it's so hot that there's condensation on the cinder block walls and on the floors. Savannah got on that phone. She called a congressman and told him what was going on. He got on the phone with a big. It was the next morning, everyone had fans being brought in, being set back up. And they made it a point to bring a big one and put it in my room. And they said, Mr. Chris, just want to make sure that you know that you have a fan in here. And I Said, oh, I guess my daughter's voice was loud enough. What about these other men? We don't have enough for everyone. I says, no, no, no. You're not setting me up to make it look like that. I'm getting preferential treatment if I've got a fan in here. These men have to have fans.

[Jay Chrisley]

Yeah.

[Todd Chrisley]

And they ended up getting fans for.

[Jay Chrisley]

How about fixing the ac?

[Todd Chrisley]

Savannah got that fixed. They ended up. But there's so much theft that goes on within the Bureau of Prisons and in all government agencies because they get these budgets like the. The Bureau of Prisons budget.

[Jay Chrisley]

Realize you were their worst nightmare. When you.

[Todd Chrisley]

Do you know? Do you know? Do you know? Do you know what. Oh, he mamala. Yeah. Eric Mama. He was the unit team manager. And he said to me when I first got there, he goes, Mr. Christie, how are you? And I says, I'm good. And he said. I said. He said, I. When I saw that you were coming here, I said, he will close this place down. That was the first week that he met me, really? He said, I said, if they put you here, you would close this place down. When I got ready to leave, he was the one processing me out. And they had already told him that it was closing. And he said, you remember what I told you on that first week that I talked to you? And I said, no, sir. And he said, you know, remember when I said that when I saw that you were. Had been assigned here that you would be the reason this place closed? I said, oh, yeah. He said, and it's closing.

[Jay Chrisley]

Where did they take all the other guys? Are they scattered?

[Todd Chrisley]

They sent them to other facilities. But the good news about that is, is that the bop, because now it's under a new director, Billy Marshall, who was a wonderful man. He and John Josh Smith. Josh Smith is the deputy director and is also a former convicted felon who is now the deputy director.

[Jay Chrisley]

Oh, wow.

[Todd Chrisley]

You talk about how. You talk about change happening. And the director, he's lived it firsthand. He lived it firsthand, so he knows about the abuse and how these staff members do. And Billy Marshall has made it clear that there will be no tolerance. Abuse will not be tolerated. Inhumane treatment will not be tolerated. Tolerated. These men and women will be fed three good meals a day. They will get the proper medical care they need. But the problem is, is that the BOP is so far in the hole financially because it's second only to defense in budget.

[Jay Chrisley]

Wow.

[Todd Chrisley]

And $8.9 billion was the budget that was approved for this year.

[Jay Chrisley]

Where's the money Going.

[Todd Chrisley]

And. Well, there was President Trump. He created. He and Jared Kushner. In 2018, they created what's called the First. First Step Act. Well, that means that if you are in prison and you're programming, taking classes or whatever, that can reduce your sentence by 50% as long as you're programming.

[Jay Chrisley]

Oh, wow.

[Todd Chrisley]

Well, that happened in 2018. Well, when Biden took over, they, they, they were not. Even though it was law, it's law. It's not something that you can stop doing. It is law. Congress passed it. It passed with bipartisan support. And, you know, that's hard to get, but it passed with bipartisan and support. But under the Biden administration, they were not pushing these men and women out. They were not even programming for them. They were not doing anything because the union's contract said that every year, the Bureau of Prisons had to add so many more staff per year. Well, what that does is that creates revenue for the union, because now you got union dues. So the more staff members they have, the more union dues that get paid. And the staff members would look at it, that if they let someone out, that that was, you know, job security, that the more people that left, the less people they needed. So when Billy Martin, when President Trump was reelected, he wanted Jerry to look at how is the First Step act doing? And it was a nightmare. But during that First Step act, when it was, when it became law, $400 million a year out of the BOP budget as far as the administering of the First Step act, all that money's gone, and it wasn't being done. So now Billy Marshall, who's the new director, has inherited this shit show of buildings that are decaying and falling down. A dysfunctional group of staff members, people that should not be there. Now, listen, there are some good people within the BOP that I have met and that have reached out to me since I've been home, wanting to report other things going on in other facilities. So there are some good staff members, but they are the minority. They're not the majority. And now these men and women are being given a safe place to where they can be a whistleblower and they can tell on other staff members that are being abusive. But think about that. 400. It's over $400 million a year that these folks within the BOP was using, misappropriating fines. But yet, where are they being indicted? Why are they not being brought up on charges? Why are they not going to.

[Jay Chrisley]

Where did the money go?

[Todd Chrisley]

And, well, it went for them hiring other secretaries. So that they didn't have to do anything. Secretaries having secretaries. It went to renovate warden's offices or to, you know, like our warden, who was as worthless as a tit on a bore hog. You know, she spent $10,000 on paint to paint her office wing and then decided she didn't like it and then had him to redo it. Again, just wasteful spending. So it's. It's just been a crazy. The things that I've learned and my understanding of how government works now, now it's scary. It's scary because literally the Department of Justice is a scary beast. Because if someone within the Department of Justice starts looking at you and thinking, that's how I can get elevated to get myself out of here. They don't mind destroying you in order to elevate themselves. And so, you know, and that's been going on with Republican or Democrats, whatever. It's been going on forever. So you can't sit here and say that, you know, it's all Biden, it's all Trump, it's all Obama. You know, the Republicans is not. We've not always done everything that we're supposed to do. The Democrats damn sure have not done what they're supposed to do. And at the end of the day, collectively, if we could come together and say, this is the task at hand, we have to get together and work together to reform the Bureau of Prisons, and we were forced to do that in order to get a paycheck, we could correct that problem. But see, the problem is, is that when you're in the, when you're a congressman or a senator, your money really is going to. Your money is there anyway. Whether you pass a bill, whether you block a bill, whether you do anything, you still get paid.

[Jay Chrisley]

That's why they don't care if they shut down the government.

[Todd Chrisley]

No. Because they still get paid. So, you know, I just think that if our country, if the people, the citizens of our country would look at it and educate themselves on how the system runs, it would give them a much better understanding of how they should be voting. So it is what it is.

[Jay Chrisley]

I would say that that that applies to more than just the Department of Corrections.

[Todd Chrisley]

Amen. Amen. I said the federal government, but it's also in private companies as well. But when you look at private companies, there's an accountability factor.

[Jay Chrisley]

Yeah, sure.

[Todd Chrisley]

It's the bottom line. The bottom line is, okay, CEOs are looking at that bottom line to know what their bonus is going to be for the end of the year.

[Jay Chrisley]

Yep.

[Todd Chrisley]

These folks within the Bureau of Prison Citizens, if. Let's just say that Pensacola got $20 million for that month. The warden's in charge of that money.

[Jay Chrisley]

Wow.

[Todd Chrisley]

The warden's in charge of where this money is going to be allocated and where it's going to be spent.

[Jay Chrisley]

So not a lot of accountability.

[Todd Chrisley]

None. Zero. There is now. Because of Billy Marshall. Because he's holding people accountable. But before, it was like a blank checkbook. It was like a blank checkbook. I mean, she would. This warden, Sherry Cockeyed Salisbury, she would take money.

[Jay Chrisley]

Is that her legal name? Is that what she was named when she was a child?

[Todd Chrisley]

Well, I call her worthless as a tit on a boar hog. Sherry Cockeyed Salisbury. Sherry Fake Salisbury. Because she wore all these fake labels. But, you know, she would pay to.

[Jay Chrisley]

As her friends.

[Todd Chrisley]

No, that bitch is gone. She's no longer with the bop. She now works for Fountain Prison in Alabama. And I'm now trying to work to get her ass fired from there for lying when she went and got that job. But at any rate, she would take and spend money on having barbecues for the staff members. She was having barbecues once. Once a week, once every two weeks. And they were going to Publix and buying steaks and hamburgers and all this stuff and grill out with these grown men who's getting nothing. Hmm.

[Jay Chrisley]

And that doesn't seem like an appropriate use of the funds.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right. Exactly. When you couldn't pay Cisco, who provides the food, you couldn't pay them. And they would literally turn. They would literally stop bringing food to the facility because they had not been paid.

[Jay Chrisley]

Or buy a box fan for everybody to have.

[Todd Chrisley]

Exactly. Or sell them on common sense. Yeah. If you don't want to put the money out. Those men would buy those fans.

[Jay Chrisley]

Yeah.

[Todd Chrisley]

Order them in. You're making 30% markup. Let them buy them. But it was those people there. It's a camp. Yeah, It's a camp. Nonviolent. It's a camp. And you are. This is not some maximum security prison. And these people wanted to treat those guys like that because they wanted to.

[Jay Chrisley]

Lord talking about murderers or.

[Todd Chrisley]

No, they wanted to lord over them. And these were people that have made more money in their life than those people are ever going to make. They're going back to their homes. They're going back to their cars. They're going back to their lifestyles that these people are never going to have. And they resented that.

[Jay Chrisley]

White collar crimes.

[Todd Chrisley]

Yes. I remember this big old fat yard gnome, Janet Genilat. She was A case manager there, she called me in one day and she goes, Mr. Chrisley, you know, when it comes time for you to leave, you know, we need to know where you're going to be going. You know which home you're going to be going to. And I said, excuse me? She said, well, I know that it's going to be hard for you. You'll just have to pick one of your four mansions that you're going to go to. We'll need to know that address so that we can send probation out to check on it. And your wife won't be able to be there with you because y' all were both sentenced. And I looked at her and I smiled and I said, how were you when you said your daddy left you? Excuse me? I said, you told me that your dad left you as a child. How old were you? She Sundays, I was 4. And I said, smartest man that has ever walked, he knew at 4 years old to get the fuck away from you. Because the shit you just said to me is so ignorant. Regardless of how many homes I go to, it ain't none of your business which one I go to. And I says, and I pay attorneys sixteen hundred dollars an hour. They'll tell me if my wife's going to be able to be there with me, because I've never heard of such. She said, well, that's the policy. And I have a paregal degree. And I said, I don't give a. About your tech school degree. I don't care.

[Jay Chrisley]

Phoenix online.

[Todd Chrisley]

Exactly. I don't care. Because, Jay, I swear to God, all of their diplomas are all these schools that are online. Not that if that's where you're going to go, you're going to go, but it ain't the same as sitting in a damn classroom and getting it firsthand. And all. All of their diplomas are like that. And literally, they don't know how to count to. If they run out of fingers and toes, you're fucked. As far as your calculations go. Yeah.

[Jay Chrisley]

Yeah.

[Todd Chrisley]

So, I mean, literally, me and two other guys was helping the case managers do the calculations to get the men out of there because the case managers didn't know how to do it.

[Jay Chrisley]

Wow, that's alarming.

[Todd Chrisley]

Resulting in men at that camp. One of them stayed 11 months longer than he was supposed to stay.

[Jay Chrisley]

Astounding.

[Todd Chrisley]

But on a given day now, it's not as bad. Right now because Billy Marshall's taken over, they've revamped the calculation system. Rick Stover is in charge of fsa, he's on top of it. There are still people that are incarcerated right now that have been there longer than they should be there.

[Jay Chrisley]

Wow. How does that happen?

[Todd Chrisley]

Because they have ignorant people that work for the. That work for the VOP that they a. They're lazy. They don't come in half the time, and they don't know how to do their job. So rather than do their job correctly, they just keep. Just like anyone else does on a job that they don't want to do. They just keep pushing it on the back burner. And then when we made it such.

[Jay Chrisley]

A big deal, I'm wondering how the inmates not counting down the days.

[Todd Chrisley]

They do. And. But here's the thing. If they go up there for their. You know. Because you have open house once a week.

[Jay Chrisley]

Yeah.

[Todd Chrisley]

So if a lot of these case managers would not even show up for open house to give these guys the answers.

[Jay Chrisley]

Wow.

[Todd Chrisley]

And these men, these are white collar men, Fortune 500 company people that are in there, they know how to calculate. If you say they stole a billion dollars, they know how to count. So they would say, yeah, well, that's not. That's not how we were taught to do it. I said, wait a minute, what are you talk. The law says it has to be this way. It is 10 days for the first six months, 15 days thereafter for every six months. So if you do 30 days, you're getting credit for 45.

[Jay Chrisley]

Wow.

[Todd Chrisley]

That's simple math. You get 15% off the top of your sentence for good time credit. This is not. This is something you should be able to do in third grade. And so me and Brian Newton and a couple of other guys there was running these numbers and would take them in there and they'd say, have y' all checked them? Asking us if we had checked them when we were the ones that had done them. We don't need to check them. We got them. Right. And you know, you had accountants in there that I would go around. I'd say, you're an accountant. You're coming to work with us. And I'd give them calculations. I'd say run their numbers, and then I'm taking them in. I. Because these men were afraid to go in there and deal with them.

[Jay Chrisley]

Yeah, I'm sure they were.

[Todd Chrisley]

So I would get people, when they'd come to me and say, man, I should have already been gone, I said, bring me your papers. I'd have Dwayne, who was an accountant from Louisiana, he would run their numbers, and then I'd take the paperwork In. And I'd say, this is wrong. You got to change this.

[Jay Chrisley]

How many of them were you able to help get out? That have been there too long?

[Todd Chrisley]

Since I've been home, I've gotten 116 out.

[Jay Chrisley]

Oh, wow.

[Todd Chrisley]

Since May 28, I've gotten 116. But while I was there, probably. Probably 30.

[Jay Chrisley]

Wow.

[Todd Chrisley]

Probably 30 while I was there. And that's.

[Jay Chrisley]

That's really alarming. I can't believe that those guys slip through the system like that. That's.

[Todd Chrisley]

It's not slipping through. It's intentional. Yeah, it's not slipping. It's intentional. When you've got men and women being incarcerated like that, every day matters. And they should not have to do one hour longer than what they've been sentenced to. And for someone to be sitting there, away from their children for another 11 months because the case manager is refusing to do their job.

[Jay Chrisley]

Or can't do math.

[Todd Chrisley]

Or can't do math. How scary is that? I remember guys would come to me and grown men, and they'd be sitting at the picnic table and they'd just start crying, talking to me. And I got Janet gentle at. And I hear that she's the worst of the worst. And I said, that's the. The dumbest. I said, that spongebob built looking bitch. I said, she's the dumbest that they got here. And so I would take over their stuff and I'd go to another case manager. There was one great case manager there, Ms. Bertrand. She tried to help as many people as she could. And I would take the paperwork to her, and she said, that's not right. Yeah, let me look at that. And she said, that's not right. But because it was Janet Genelet's file, she couldn't. Couldn't touch it.

[Jay Chrisley]

I got you.

[Todd Chrisley]

So then I'd have to go.

[Jay Chrisley]

If somebody was already assigned to it, she couldn't. She had the power to.

[Todd Chrisley]

Exactly. But she would tell me that it wasn't right, or another case manager would tell me that it wasn't right. And so. And Janet. Janet, she did it out just as spite to torture people. But that's all right. Bitch ain't got a job with the BOP no more. So, you know, it's. You got to get those kind of people out. And you. If you're going to be in a business because it's. It is a business. If you're going to work for a company, and the BOP is a company, and your charge is to make sure that these men and women are treated fairly and are treated by the law given exactly what they're supposed to be given. That's what's in your job description. You need to do that every day. But the federal government allows these people to accumulate so many days a year that they can keep building and building, building and building. Some of these people, when they got ready to leave, they had, like, three years of time that they could take.

[Jay Chrisley]

Really?

[Todd Chrisley]

Yes. They let you accrue it, and if you don't use it all, you can't, like, cash it in. You got to use it. So therefore, they'd get so many. So many days.

[Podcast Host / Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Todd Chrisley]

It keeps rolling over. So they'd get all these days built up. So now they're supposed to be there five days a week. They might come in two days a week. Well, what are you getting done in two days?

[Jay Chrisley]

Nothing.

[Todd Chrisley]

So that's the shit that I dealt with. But at any rate, I am glad that you came on here, because out of all the people that I wanted on this podcast, it was you. Because I got so tired of defending how shitty of a friend that you had been to me.

[Jay Chrisley]

Buddy, I love you, and I'm so happy that you're back. I missed you. While you were gone, life was not the same.

[Todd Chrisley]

I missed you. I missed my friend Allison. I missed my other other kids. But I am back, and God is good to me.

[Jay Chrisley]

Did you get a prison tattoo?

[Todd Chrisley]

I did. I got one little word on my penis. It says little, but when I get excited, it says Little Rock, Arkansas. Oh, God.

[Jay Chrisley]

How long did you work on that one?

[Todd Chrisley]

That's good. So, with that being said, I love you. I appreciate you. Look forward to having you back on. Thank you, folks. Until next time, good luck and God bless you. Pluto TV has thousands of free movies and TV shows. This is the mindset.

[Podcast Host / Advertiser]

Free.

[Todd Chrisley]

This is the mantra. With movies like joe dirt, pixels, and.

[Jay Chrisley]

50 first dates, it is awesome.

[Todd Chrisley]

And tv shows like survivor, spongebob squarepants.

[Jay Chrisley]

The fairly odd parents, and ghosts, pluto.

[Todd Chrisley]

Tv is always free. Huzzah. Pluto tv. Stream now. Pay. Never. You're welcome.