← Chrisley Confessions 2.0
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- [00:00]
Todd Chrisley
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- [00:34]
Julie Chrisley
So tell me. We've talked about kind of where you are with things and, you know, since we've gotten back into the flow of things and so many people are wanting to know, have so many questions about kind of what's going on in our life.
- [00:48]
Savannah Chrisley
Right.
- [00:48]
Julie Chrisley
So I felt like that we'd go ahead, now that we're back to podcasting, that we'd go ahead and put out there. Some will answer some of their questions.
- [00:56]
Savannah Chrisley
Because so many people have some rapid fire to go right now. Okay, let's see.
- [01:06]
Julie Chrisley
Well, you ain't gotta be that selective, honey.
- [01:08]
Savannah Chrisley
Wait a minute.
- [01:09]
Julie Chrisley
Hit me with it.
- [01:09]
Savannah Chrisley
Okay, well, how did it feel seeing your spouse after so long? We kind of already talked about that. You were a little let down with.
- [01:17]
Julie Chrisley
The brown hair, but okay, I was not let down. But I will say that it's hard for me to explain because mentally, in my mind, you were the same every day of my life. Because I don't know how. And folks, this is going to shock you that I am at a loss for words. I don't quite know how to articulate how I feel about you. I can say I don't have a problem in saying how much I love our children. You know, what they mean to me in everyday life. What? How they have fed my soul and my spirit all these years. But when it comes to you, it's hard for me to be able to articulate that into words because I just know what's in my heart. And I know that in my heart you have always been my safe place. And I survived on all of the memories that you and I have created over all these years.
- [02:19]
Savannah Chrisley
Yeah.
- [02:20]
Julie Chrisley
And you never, you never changed for me, Right.
- [02:25]
Savannah Chrisley
How this kind of goes along with it. How often did Todd and Julie speak during their prison time? We didn't.
- [02:31]
Julie Chrisley
None.
- [02:31]
Savannah Chrisley
We didn't, you know, we had email that was sporadic at best.
- [02:40]
Julie Chrisley
Now, I would have spoken with you, but what people don't realize is that you are going to abide by the rules. Me, I'm going to do what I need to do to make sure that I stay in touch with the people that I love. So y' all can read into that whenever you want to.
- [02:55]
Savannah Chrisley
We did not get to speak at all. There is something in prison that if married couples are both incarcerated, both of the wardens have to give an approval to be able to get one phone call a month.
- [03:13]
Julie Chrisley
Right?
- [03:14]
Savannah Chrisley
My warden approved it. Your warden.
- [03:16]
Julie Chrisley
My warden did not. My warden did not. Because she knew she was caught up in so much corrupt behavior and that Savannah had exposed it, which. That warden has now been let go. She's out. She's no longer gonna be a warden anymore. But she refused, and she came to me, and she said, well, it's not on my end. It's on. It's on your wife's end.
- [03:35]
Savannah Chrisley
No.
- [03:35]
Julie Chrisley
Savannah had said, no, it's not. It's on that ratchet heifer's end.
- [03:39]
Savannah Chrisley
Yeah.
- [03:39]
Julie Chrisley
And she was more.
- [03:40]
Savannah Chrisley
We did not actually get to speak. That is. That's horrible. That was. That was the worst. One of the worst parts of it, you know, because we did still have minor children. We had Grayson. We had Chloe. And we've always worked as a team. You know, it's always been us against them because we've always been outnumbered.
- [04:00]
Julie Chrisley
Let's see. You had a warden that was not. Who adhered to the philosophy of your. Your punishment is being here. It's not up to us to punish you.
- [04:11]
Savannah Chrisley
Right.
- [04:12]
Julie Chrisley
I had a warden who wore folk Gucci. She wore fake Gucci. You know, she. Every label she wore was fake. So she was too busy. This woman had been the longest. Had held the position of an AW Longer than I believe any. And I will put this in parentheses. Have been told that she held this position with it with the. As with the Bureau of Prisons as an associate warden longer than anyone else in the bureau.
- [04:40]
Savannah Chrisley
She was not doing her job proficiently. She was not adhering.
- [04:44]
Julie Chrisley
She was. She was abused. She was abusing her power and her position. She was wasteful with. With expenditures. She made purchases with monies from the United States taxpayers that she should not have made. She literally forced inmates to clean asbestos and black mold. This guy that I worked with in the chapel Navarro create. He was. He got a lung cond. Is documented within the bureau of prison's medical files because of her making him clean this stuff with chemicals without giving him a respirator and made him do it.
- [05:22]
Savannah Chrisley
And I know. I'm sure, because, listen, I have a lung condition from being in prison.
- [05:28]
Julie Chrisley
Right.
- [05:28]
Savannah Chrisley
Not from doing those things, but because I was.
- [05:30]
Julie Chrisley
Because of all the black mole that you were around.
- [05:32]
Savannah Chrisley
Asbestos. You know, I. And you will probably notice me at certain times trying to get, like, a breath.
- [05:39]
Julie Chrisley
And that's something that we're having to address right now, because now, this week, you actually are going to have. You have a doctor's appointment with a pulmonary specialist that's going to do some tests on you.
- [05:46]
Savannah Chrisley
Yes.
- [05:47]
Julie Chrisley
But going back to, you know, us not being able to speak, I want to make sure that we couch this exactly the way that it was factually. You had a warden that said, yes, I have no problem with these two people speaking. I had one who, as a form of retaliation because of all of the abuse that we exposed at her hands through Savannah, she. It was. The only thing she could control was to make sure you and I did not speak because she felt like folks at that was going to break me when all that it did was make me drive it dig in that much deeper. And you know yourself, because you've been sitting there at the table this week, how many staff members have called me this week?
- [06:28]
Savannah Chrisley
Yeah.
- [06:28]
Julie Chrisley
That. Have. That reached out to me on social media saying, please, out this woman.
- [06:32]
Savannah Chrisley
Right.
- [06:32]
Julie Chrisley
Please tell the truth.
- [06:33]
Savannah Chrisley
And unfortunately, she's not the only one.
- [06:37]
Julie Chrisley
Throughout the Bureau, there were.
- [06:38]
Savannah Chrisley
There are many BOP employees that feel like it is their job to punish you. And I've said that all along. We were punished. Sentenced us. Punished us. Said, okay, you are to serve this amount of time in prison. That is your punishment. It is not their job to punish you. Every day that you're in prison, you're. You've already been punished by. So that's.
- [07:03]
Julie Chrisley
Yeah, okay.
- [07:04]
Savannah Chrisley
All right, tell me what one experience you learned from being in prison.
- [07:15]
Julie Chrisley
God, I can't narrow it down to one experience because I had such a plethora of experiences that took me on a journey of humanization that was so powerful to me. You know, I've watched elderly gentlemen who had dementia that was not receiving medical care and who was abused by some of the COs there. I remember this gentleman, Mr. Winters, who had. He had. He had dementia. And, you know, we dealt with that with your grandmother, you know, Ms. Hicks. So I knew. I knew those signs to be looking for. And I remember taking care of him, and I was the only one that. That he would deal with that could calm him down. And I remember this Hackett, you know, he's such a piece of shit, a DTS officer who l. First of all, he smelled like dried piss 24,7 did not believe in deodorant. And every staff member there that had to deal with him was always talking about, don't stand around that man in front of a fan because it'll knock you out. But he was one of those people that had done very little with his life. But in the Bureau of Prisons, he got to be a big dick in, you know, around campus. And I don't know of any man there that could not have beaten the shit out of him with one punch. But because of him being having that title of a DTS officer, you know, he got to be the big dick in town. I remember sitting in the chapel with Chaplain Dixon and Melvin Williams, who was my boss. He was the. You know, he was the head orderly. And it came across the radio and it said, all staff to adorn. All staff to adorn. Bed number. And it was Mr. Winter's number. And he was across the hall from me. I knew it was his bed, and I said, I've got to go check on him. That's. That's Mr. Winters. And I remember the chaplain saying, you can't go over there. When staff. I said, I'm going. I went. And when I got there, his room was filled with staff. Hackett was yelling at him, and he had all of his papers out. Mr. Winters did, and I had. That was a thing that we had to deal with every day. And because he wanted to work on his paperwork, because he was living back in another era of his life, and which I've said this before, for him. For him, it was a blessing that this occurred there, because he wasn't there mentally, so he wasn't having to suffer that stuff mentally. And I went in. I remember standing at the entrance, and the CO turned to me and I said, I can handle him if you will let me. If you will let me come in. And he went over and he told Hackett. He said, chris says he can calm him down if you let him come in. He said, let him come in. I went in, and as soon as Mr. Winters looked up, he knew me. And I said, what are you doing? I said, you know, we're not supposed to be working on paperwork at this time of the day. I said, we've got to be getting ready for lunch. He said, I know, I know. I'm putting them away. I'm putting them away. And I said, let me help you. And I said, you've got to take your nap, and then we're going to get you your lunch. Remember, we have the schedule. Yeah, yeah. So I got all of his paperwork up and put it in his little brown accordion folder. And I got him on his bed and took his shoes off. And I realized at that moment of taking this other man's shoes off, why God had placed me here. Because remember my dream the first night I was there. I have planted you where I need you. And when you leave, they will rise. Well, this man, I made sure he got in there and that, you know, me and two other guys would make sure that he went and took his shower every day. You know, we made sure that we gave him body wash and whatever to make sure he was being clean. And I'd get him back, and I'd take him outside, let him sit at the picnic table, you know, and he'd wander around looking for his car. He was looking for his car. And I remember when I told them, y' all better get him some help, because if you don't, my daughter's going to expose it. They came and got him that night in the pouring down rain. And the next morning when I saw him, he had a hole knocked in his head and. And he was bruised and bloodied from his aunt, from his hands to his elbows. Now, all of this is documented, whether these CEOs know it or not. I had another staff member to document it. They claim he tripped as he was walking. There's nothing for him to trip on. It's a sidewalk all the way. But the man never had anything wrong with him the whole time that he was left in my care. So to. To narrow it down to one experience, I could talk about Medina. How, you know, when you get there, you have to go to laundry to get your blankets and your sheets and your uniforms and stuff. I can narrow it down to Medina talking to Melvin Williams, who's an African American, older gentleman from New Orleans, highly decorated police officer there. I can remember him going up there to get his laundry. And Melvin's a very prideful man, always. He was very fastidious in his uniforms every day, very clean. And I remember him being so humiliated and degraded by Medina, who's this little tiny, tiny pocket pal guy who's been gone from one facility to the next. And that, folks, what you need to understand is, is in the Bureau of Prisons, there's a saying that in order to move up, you got to fuck up. And that is what you've got going on within the Bureau of Prisons. And I'm grateful to God that we have Deputy Director Marshall. And I'm sorry. I'm very grateful that we have the new director, William Marshall. And the deputy director, Josh Smith, because those things are changing. Those people, these staff members that are abusive, not doing their job, showing up, banging in, banging out. Let me explain to you what banging means. That means you're. You're checking in for the day. When you bang out, you're leaving for the day. At my facility, people would bang in, but then they'd leave. So they're getting paid because they've already logged in, which is fraud. Which is fraud. But I remember Medina Melvin going up there to get his laundry, and it was one minute after the time. One minute. And he goes, Mr. Williams, do you know how to tell time? Now, this is someone that's this big. He's this tall. And they said. He said, do you know what time it is, Mr. Williams? He goes, yes, sir. He said, look at that clock. I want you to look at that clock right now and tell me exactly what time it is. He said, and Melvin told me, you know what time it was. He said, that's one minute too late. So you will get your laundry tomorrow during normal hours. Now, this is a man who never did his job. He was bumped from one. He was accused of stealing in commissary. So he was taken out of that and then bumped over to laundry. Savannah exposed that and just to degrade this man. So, you know, there's. There's that example, you know, then there's the example of the, you know, the. The trans guy that came to our facility. Now, I don't know anything about all that kind of stuff. You know, that's not something you and I have ever been involved in, so we don't know the whole processes of that. But I remember them bringing in one particular person. They hired a new person for our facility because of this special. At that point, it becomes a special population. So this guy comes, and now they hire someone else to come in to make sure that this one individual is. Our needs are being met. Now, listen, I want everyone's needs to be met, but this is a male facility. I don't think that he should ever been there to begin with if he's a true transgender individual.
- [14:59]
Savannah Chrisley
So he was a female.
- [15:01]
Julie Chrisley
That's what they were alluding to.
- [15:02]
Chase Chrisley
Right.
- [15:03]
Julie Chrisley
And so then commissary, you had Ms. Piot, who was literally not running commissary the way it was supposed to be ran. We ran out of stuff all the time. She would not order the correct items that needed to be ordered, and it was almost like she was punishing everyone. Well, I'll make sure they don't get this. They don't get this. But because she is a gay female, gay Hispanic female, and other DEI hire, because that's what we had at our facility. We had so many DEI hires that that's why it just literally crashed and burned. And I'm saying that point blank because I lived it.
- [15:39]
Savannah Chrisley
You.
- [15:39]
Julie Chrisley
You don't get to. Just because you're a gay white female or a gay Latin female or a gay black female, that doesn't qualify you. Those are non qualifying traits for a position in a workforce. If you're going to be a warden, you've got to be a strong leader. You've got. Your moral conduct has to be beyond reproach. Your ethical conduct has to be beyond reproach. When you go and you want to be a.
- [16:07]
Savannah Chrisley
Your work history.
- [16:08]
Julie Chrisley
Your work history. Exactly. And when you look in experience. That's right. And when you look into Warden Salisbury's personal history with the Bureau of Prisons and her personnel record, you will find it is not clean. But yet. Fuck up, move up. So at any rate, PO use that control over commissary to punish. But when someone else of her community, and I say her community, someone that was a man identifying as a woman who is gay comes in, all of a sudden, the commissary changes.
- [16:39]
Savannah Chrisley
So. Oh, you mean it was a woman identifying as a man?
- [16:43]
Julie Chrisley
No, this I don't know how to explain was a. I think it would be. It was a woman. I know that he was a man wanting to live as a woman.
- [16:56]
Savannah Chrisley
Okay, so he had male parts. Okay.
- [16:58]
Chase Chrisley
Okay.
- [16:59]
Julie Chrisley
I don't know if he had them or still did or not. I don't know. But at any rate, commissary, we could. Men could not get three in one body wash. We were running out of deodorant. We were running out of toiletries. But yet this individual comes in and then they change commissary for wet and wild lip gloss, for orange scented body wash, for shoes that different kind of shoes, you know, that looked more feminine or more female. The whole list changed.
- [17:31]
Savannah Chrisley
There was a transgender list.
- [17:32]
Julie Chrisley
Bras and panties.
- [17:34]
Savannah Chrisley
Yeah.
- [17:34]
Julie Chrisley
He was allowed to have bras and panties.
- [17:36]
Savannah Chrisley
Yeah.
- [17:38]
Julie Chrisley
And so Po could get that. Right. But she could not order for men, three in one body wash.
- [17:45]
Chase Chrisley
Right.
- [17:45]
Julie Chrisley
She could not order. Make sure men had what they needed to eat when they're paying for it all because the funds were being misappropriated and used for other things they shouldn't. She was.
- [17:56]
Savannah Chrisley
And their thing was, is commissary is a privilege. It's not a requirement. Well, that was what was always said.
- [18:04]
Julie Chrisley
Right.
- [18:05]
Savannah Chrisley
Well, you know, like, you need to remember that commissary is a privilege. Commissary is not something they have to give you.
- [18:11]
Julie Chrisley
Well, then don't steal the money from it.
- [18:14]
Chase Chrisley
Right.
- [18:15]
Julie Chrisley
You understand that the Bureau of Prisons years ago decided that because of all the money that the inmates sent in, they could use that money to pay staff members bonuses and stuff. Are you aware of that? So they need to be reminded those bonuses are a privilege from commissary. They're not a requirement.
- [18:36]
Savannah Chrisley
So I think, going back to the question, because, again, we have so many stories to tell, and we're not going to. Every. Every episode of Christly Confessions is not going to be prison.
- [18:47]
Julie Chrisley
That's right.
- [18:48]
Savannah Chrisley
So. But I feel like it's necessary, you know, for these first couple of episodes to kind of tell those stories for people to know what our life has been like for the last two and a half. So I think what I'm hearing you say is that there was a lot of misjustice, a lot of injustice.
- [19:05]
Julie Chrisley
Injustice. A lot of inhumane treatment, a lot of discriminatory treatment. Because I want to touch on that.
- [19:11]
Savannah Chrisley
Yes.
- [19:12]
Julie Chrisley
At the camp that I was in was in Pensacola, Florida. And prison, for the most part, really is what America's made of. It's a melting pot.
- [19:26]
Savannah Chrisley
Yes.
- [19:27]
Julie Chrisley
I have so many friends that are Puerto Rican now that I love dearly. I mean, Jason that cut my hair was a hairstylist outside of the prisons as well. I was blessed to have him as when I first got there.
- [19:42]
Savannah Chrisley
Yes.
- [19:43]
Julie Chrisley
And, you know, the Puerto Ricans came to me and said, with a translator, he will cut your hair if you want him to. He did this outside of here. And so he started cutting my hair. And I remember Savannah saying, who's cutting your hair? It looks great. It looks the same as it always did. And I said, my friend Jason, he's Puerto Rican. He's great. And, you know, I had so many. As far as the population of men go, we didn't really have a lot of discriminatory actions. I mean, I didn't see. I didn't see blacks fighting with whites or whites with blacks or Puerto Ricans or Mexicans. We all got along great. And that is what the country should be made of.
- [20:23]
Chase Chrisley
Right.
- [20:23]
Julie Chrisley
The camaraderie of all mankind.
- [20:25]
Savannah Chrisley
Right.
- [20:27]
Julie Chrisley
But the staff members were some of the most racist that I have ever dealt with. And you and I have talked about when we got Chloe, that we had to be better. We had to make sure that our circle expanded. We had to make sure that Chloe knew she was a child of color, we had to make sure she knew what she came from.
- [20:43]
Savannah Chrisley
Yes.
- [20:44]
Julie Chrisley
So taking that, going into prison with it in my mind, I'm not even thinking that this is going to be a thing, but I remember we're going to go back to Hackett, DTS in the RDAP program, calling this young African American male out and saying, boy, stand up. Now you and I both know that boy in the African American community is a trigger word that goes all dates all the way back to slavery.
- [21:08]
Savannah Chrisley
Yes.
- [21:09]
Julie Chrisley
Don't use it.
- [21:10]
Savannah Chrisley
Right.
- [21:10]
Julie Chrisley
If we're a better people today and striving to be better, don't do the shit that was done so many year, decades ago that makes us look bad today. Stop doing it. But Hackett was notorious for the, for the racist comments that he made and the conduct that he exhibited. You know, I know because there's a recording of a staff member, Mr. Ruffner there at Pensacola, who's in education. The man should not be in education. He shouldn't be up. He should not be in a public position of authority because the man is on recorded state on a recording stating, if these guys, if these men come in here and they don't speak English, we put them in fucking refusal status. That way we don't have to fuck with them. And I'm saying the F word twice because that's what he says on the recording. Rather than educate these men to where they can speak English because he was talking about the non English speaking individuals.
- [22:08]
Savannah Chrisley
Right.
- [22:09]
Julie Chrisley
So I remember when Savannah told me what was on the recording about this, I said, I know exactly who that is. I said, he's this little fat Barney Rubble looking thing. Not Barney Rub. Yeah, kind of fat like Barney in the Flintstones. All he did was lay in his office and eat and watch and watched programs on his computer. Now, folks don't believe me. Believe. Well, can't really believe what the Bureau of Prisoners records are either. But we have documents to show how many men left that facility with a ged.
- [22:45]
Chase Chrisley
Yeah.
- [22:46]
Savannah Chrisley
Because those of you who don't know, if you go into federal prison and you do not have your diploma or ged, it is a requirement for you to go to class to begin to earn your ged. That is a part of your programming. We had women in our camp who were. We had, we had a lady there who was in her 70s who was.
- [23:15]
Julie Chrisley
Getting her G. And what a blessing that is. But you would think that the Bureau of Prisons. And when I say the Bureau of Prisons, I want to make sure this is Bureau of Prisons prior to Director William Marshall and Deputy Director Josh Smith. Because I do believe these are. I do believe that they are a godsend to all incarcerated individuals as well as the good staff members of the prison, because there are some good staff members there. I was fortunate to have some good staff members. I had Ms. Gamble, who was over reentry. I loved her. She was wonderful. I've already talked about how wonderful Chaplain Dixon is and was to the men that was there and what a blessing she is, and she's since retired. But I would say now that the Bureau should reach out to Chaplain Dixon because that is a woman who is still young enough to come in and make an effective change in people's lives and run programs the way they should be ran. So she was wonderful. I had Ms. Abare, who was in medical. She was a wonderful woman, and she did what she could to help people. I had Taft, who was in recreation. Wonderful young guy, could be my. Could be my son. It was just a courteous, polite guy. You know, Gillis was a piece of shit. He was a snitch. He was a. He was a guard. He was a mentality of a guard. And he did nothing lazy. Came in when he wanted to, left when he wanted to. You have Medina, who was a piece of shit. I could just go on and on and on, right?
- [24:47]
Savannah Chrisley
I think you could, but I think. I think what we're trying to say is, like, for us and for so many people out in the world, if you've never been affected by prison, if you've never been in prison, so many people say that you don't think of. You don't think about it. You don't think about how people are treated in prison. You don't think about the injustice. You know, I find it, and I. And I know I was probably guilty of this, that, you know, people were talking about the Feds and Club Fed and Camp Cupcake and all this stuff that. It's not that. It's not that at all.
- [25:25]
Julie Chrisley
I had a friend tell me last week, todd, have you watched the documentary with Martha Stewart Now? You know, we're. We love Martha, you know, our family loves Martha Stewart, but I had not watched it. I didn't have a way of watching it to begin with, right? But so I watched it, you know, last week. And my friend Shannon, who had said, oh, my God, have you not seen Martha's documentary? And I said, no. And she said, you've got to watch it. It's amazing, right? So that night, I Go and watch it. And what did I come to you and say? You got to watch it. I said, you've got to watch this documentary. Because again, we're. We all love Martha. Now you look at the prosecutor that prosecuted her, who is now under federal investigation for all the fraud that he's committed and the abuse of his powers of his office. This woman, no loss, nothing. A $30,000 fine. But you stripped her of hundreds of millions of dollars of company value because of the negative press. How is that what our country's built on? We're supposed to be the land of the opportunity. A woman, as she states, first official female billionaire in our country. And you got a male who has a short penis syndrome who wanted to get a name for himself. He wanted a trophy. And what at that time was a bigger trophy than Martha Stewart of that time? What was a bigger trophy? A woman who had struggled and built an empire, whether you liked her way of doing things or not. I watched that. And so many of the things that she was chastised for, I have been applauded for in the press. She's chastised for wanting her business to be as close to perfection as she can get it. So you. We, as consumers can look at the way she lives and the way that she does things. And if we are attracted to that lifestyle, we get to emulate that lifestyle.
- [27:29]
Chase Chrisley
Right.
- [27:29]
Savannah Chrisley
By buying into it.
- [27:30]
Julie Chrisley
By buying into it. So I watched so many of the things that she was chastised for as a woman that I have been applauded for. He's a perfectionist. Yeah, but that's how. That's how men get to the top. They don't let balls drop. But if you're a woman doing that, you're a controlling bitch.
- [27:47]
Savannah Chrisley
Yeah.
- [27:47]
Julie Chrisley
And so I was watching that, and I was thinking to myself, I came to you and I said, judy, you have to watch this. There's so many powerful moments in this. And I think that the moment that it really grabbed me was when she was in her greenhouse, and she said that when you. If you're living, you should be changing every day. And I'm paraphrasing this. So watch the documentary so that you get it correctly. But so I'm going to paraphrase, if you're living, you should be changing every day, you should be evolving. And at the moment, you stop evolving, you stop living. The woman is a treasure trove, trove of resources from a lifestyle brand to a. A woman in America who did well.
- [28:38]
Savannah Chrisley
And I just love what she's done since Then.
- [28:42]
Julie Chrisley
Right. Because you.
- [28:44]
Savannah Chrisley
Prison.
- [28:44]
Julie Chrisley
Because you can't keep her down into.
- [28:46]
Savannah Chrisley
A whole other market. And she has become this.
- [28:50]
Julie Chrisley
She's cool.
- [28:51]
Savannah Chrisley
She's.
- [28:52]
Julie Chrisley
She's cool. I mean, Martha, I think 84 now or something. She's a third. She's creating thirst traps.
- [28:59]
Savannah Chrisley
Yeah. Well, she's in her swimming pool, this.
- [29:02]
Julie Chrisley
Oldest woman ever to be swimsuit Sports Illustrated. And, you know, she has evolved. She's now. She has her show with Snoop Dogg. And one of her big comeback moments was when she roasted Justin Bieber.
- [29:15]
Savannah Chrisley
Yeah.
- [29:15]
Julie Chrisley
And I thought to myself, she. But you could see. I could see, because I adore her. I could see the uncomfortable. The uncomfortableness in her eyes. Sitting on that panel with all these men and these men who are speaking in ways that Martha would not speak in and the language that they were using. I could see how she was nervous there. But when she got up to that podium and took that mic, she let it out and she shocked the world in the way that she could really. That she became more relatable.
- [29:52]
Savannah Chrisley
Right. More relaxed.
- [29:53]
Julie Chrisley
And there's so many. So many people have said that about. I've been reading comments and people sending me stuff in the, you know, articles and stuff. And one of the reporters I spoke to last week said, do you feel like that you have become more relatable to the country? And I said, in what way? And he said, I've had so many people say he just seems more humanized. He seems more relatable.
- [30:18]
Savannah Chrisley
Well, unfortunately, people in this country, they love to see you rise, but they love to see a fall.
- [30:26]
Julie Chrisley
They love to see the fall better. The hard work in this country is to build someone up. The easy work is to tear them down.
- [30:32]
Savannah Chrisley
Absolutely.
- [30:33]
Julie Chrisley
And, you know, so many people.
- [30:34]
Savannah Chrisley
I think people feel like, okay, we're on the same level. He's been brought down a notch or two, you know, and I do feel like that's.
- [30:42]
Julie Chrisley
But here's the irony of that. Do you think I should have been brought down another level? Because I've always felt like that I was one of the people that I am, the people that I do relate to everyone. That there's no one that I don't talk to or that I don't speak.
- [30:56]
Savannah Chrisley
Right. Yeah, Now I see that. But, you know, perception, everybody has their own perception. Was there anything you enjoyed while in prison?
- [31:05]
Julie Chrisley
I think after my realization of why I was there, I enjoyed the camaraderie.
- [31:14]
Savannah Chrisley
Yeah.
- [31:15]
Julie Chrisley
Of the men that I had built friendships with.
- [31:17]
Chase Chrisley
Right.
- [31:18]
Julie Chrisley
Enjoyed working out every day and, you know, I never enjoyed that.
- [31:22]
Chase Chrisley
Right.
- [31:22]
Julie Chrisley
But that became my. That became my peace.
- [31:25]
Chase Chrisley
Right.
- [31:26]
Julie Chrisley
So I enjoyed my working out and I enjoyed every time Savannah exposed something because I knew they looked at me differently.
- [31:32]
Chase Chrisley
Right.
- [31:32]
Julie Chrisley
I knew that they knew that. That accountability was on its way.
- [31:35]
Savannah Chrisley
Right. Yeah. I mean, I, you know, I loved being there with the girls, like the younger girls.
- [31:41]
Julie Chrisley
Being able to be careful when you say that because you'll be accused of being a lesbian if you say you were there with the girls.
- [31:47]
Savannah Chrisley
The younger, the younger girls where I could still feel like I was mothering, you know, that made me feel like.
- [31:54]
Julie Chrisley
I'm so glad you said that.
- [31:55]
Savannah Chrisley
Like I was still.
- [31:56]
Julie Chrisley
Like we were still a parent.
- [31:57]
Savannah Chrisley
A parent, you know, because so many of them, you know, they're in prison and a lot of their parents walked away from them or they had, you know, fractured relationships before prison. Because keep in mind, a lot of the younger girls that I knew in prison, that I know that are in prison, they weren't that way before they came to prison.
- [32:18]
Julie Chrisley
That's right.
- [32:19]
Savannah Chrisley
Prison changed them for the better. And I had so many of them tell me.
- [32:22]
Julie Chrisley
And that's hard. That's hard to have happen because it's hard for prison to change someone for the better.
- [32:27]
Savannah Chrisley
Right.
- [32:28]
Julie Chrisley
Because prison normally makes someone better.
- [32:30]
Savannah Chrisley
Right. But like my, the roommate that I had before I left, you know, we had many, many conversations and she was like the older kids age, you know, and, and she said to me, prison saved my life, you know, and she said, I don't feel like I would have been around to even. Yeah. And she's got a long prison sentence. She's got 15 year prison sentence. But she says prison saved me. And as sad as that is.
- [33:03]
Julie Chrisley
Well, it's sad from the standpoint that it took a non caring government entity to save you over what should have saved you. I don't think it was your family.
- [33:12]
Savannah Chrisley
The government entity, but it was, it was that she had to reach such a place and that to know that.
- [33:20]
Julie Chrisley
There'S nowhere to go from here but up.
- [33:22]
Savannah Chrisley
Right, Right. So I did love being able to be a positive influence and a role model for them. You know, I loved that I had Ms. Joyce, who was 77, and you will meet her, you know, but she.
- [33:42]
Julie Chrisley
We are going to.
- [33:43]
Savannah Chrisley
She reminded me of my grandmother back in the day. So I did. I love to be able to go by Ms. Joyce's room and say, okay, we're playing cards at 5:30, come on. You know, And I loved that. I loved that she loved to cook for us on Sunday. And that was her Sunday dinner. And she Loved to do that. And that was something that she did.
- [34:04]
Julie Chrisley
Well, you know, I think that when you said it helped you to be still a mother. I've said that statement to so many of my friends that with. With my young kids, that it allowed me to be a father. Because, you know, I had so many great young men in there, you know, from Aaron to Tanner to Brian to Brandon. You know, I just had so many scholar. You know, I had so many young kids that. That came to me. Jake, that great kid from. From Dallas that you just wanted to nurture. You wanted to be that positive role model for them. And I can remember one of them telling me one night, what your kids take for granted is all so many of us just want to have. I never had a father figure. I never had someone that cared about me, because I'd tell them all, all right, good night. I love you. When they'd leave in the morning, I'd say, have a good day. I love you. I'll be here when you get back. And I still, you know this. I still have those relationships with those kids, right? And, you know, I've got. Brian's doing great in New York right now. I've got so many of them that are doing so none of. None of my kids. I want to make sure I put this on the record. None of my kids are doing badly right now. Whether in prison or out of prison, they are doing great. So I think that when you said that, that is something that. Well, even staff there would say, we got another one for you. When a young kid would come in and somebody was leaving my pod, they said, we got another one for you. And I'd say, well, I need to know what they're here for. Tell me. Tell me what the history is, whatever. And some of my kids was not out on the streets, would not be someone that I would gravitate towards. And so I think that when you look at where God placed us, in the belly of the beast, God showed me that no matter where I was and who I was with, he was present. And that we're all God's children. And I love them all. And as I've shared with you, they will be in our lives for the rest of our lives.
- [36:20]
Chase Chrisley
Right.
- [36:22]
Savannah Chrisley
Is there anyone in prison you will go back to visit?
- [36:25]
Julie Chrisley
Yes, several.
- [36:27]
Savannah Chrisley
We are both going back to our.
- [36:30]
Julie Chrisley
I'm not. I'm actually going back to our prison, my prison, because I'm going to be speaking at the RDAP program for the final graduation, which I understand has set a whole world on Fire there because the warden has now left the facility because she was so adamant that I was not going to be speaking there. It's going to send Dennis Prophet, who has been the. The ultimate serial abuser of these men in that RDAP program and ran that program into the ground. Might I say he will have to be there. So it's got to be hard for these end. These abusers that I've called out and that Savannah has called out for so long to see me walk in and be the keynote speaker. So I think that's. I mean, that's the only reason that I'm going back there right now. My. You know, one of my kids, I say he's my prison son, my camp son. He has been moved. He is now in Kentucky. So your Ms. Joyce is there in Kentucky, and Kentucky is only three hours away for us, so it makes it easier for us to go and visit them. So we have now gone through the process of getting approved to where we can go and see. I can go see Aaron. You'll be able to see Ms. Joyce. I get to meet Ms. Joyce the first time. You get to meet Aaron for the first time. And it's such a blessing. And all of that, folks, was facilitated by the new director, William Marshall, who's truly believing that. He truly believes that it's his mission to make sure that people are treated humanely and that familiar connections are maintained.
- [38:05]
Savannah Chrisley
Yes.
- [38:06]
Julie Chrisley
To where in the past, these wardens and staff members, they. They felt like, well, if we snatch them away from their family, we isolate them, they don't have communication. Will break them.
- [38:17]
Chase Chrisley
Right.
- [38:17]
Julie Chrisley
You're only. You're not breaking. You're only making bitter.
- [38:20]
Savannah Chrisley
Yeah.
- [38:21]
Julie Chrisley
And when we become bitter and when I say we, even though I've been pardoned and my record has been cleared, I will always be 726-726-0019 in my mind, because that's where I learned what real humanity and the lack thereof.
- [38:37]
Savannah Chrisley
Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. There's lots of questions about food and cooking and will Julie be doing a cooking show? Yes, I am actually going to be doing that.
- [38:55]
Julie Chrisley
You were doing that before until we were so rudely interrupted.
- [38:58]
Savannah Chrisley
Yes. So I have several different things working on the cooking front. You know, that is my passion. My ultimate goal is to open a restaurant.
- [39:08]
Julie Chrisley
Which you will do in South Carolina.
- [39:10]
Savannah Chrisley
Yes. I'm going to do some cooking segments. I'm going to do some cooking segments with people that I cooked with in.
- [39:17]
Julie Chrisley
Prison, which is an amazing thing.
- [39:19]
Savannah Chrisley
So I'm super excited about that.
- [39:21]
Julie Chrisley
But I want Some of my sons on that cooking segment because I want them to out cook your girls.
- [39:26]
Savannah Chrisley
Oh, okay.
- [39:27]
Julie Chrisley
So this is going to be a cooking. This is going to be a cooking ward.
- [39:30]
Savannah Chrisley
Yes, yes. So, yes, there are many things coming up where I'm going to be able to cook and I'm going to be able to tell stories. And yes, I'm super excited about that. They're asking about any plans for a new series, new show. There's lots of that. Is there a new show coming out or is Chris. He Knows Best coming back?
- [39:53]
Julie Chrisley
Chrisley Knows Best is not coming back.
- [39:56]
Savannah Chrisley
Right.
- [39:56]
Julie Chrisley
The real Chrisley's are coming back. So there is a new show that is coming, that's coming out and then I have several shows that I'm doing separately from the family that's coming out. You know, one of those that we're working on right now is called the Todd Father and that encompasses all of the men that I was incarcerated with, what their stories are and how was I, was I ever a blessing to you or did I hinder your time? Did I make your time harder? It talks to a lot of the young guys that was there that are already out, a lot of men that are my age that are already out, you know, but had direct interaction with me on a daily basis. So, you know, we have that coming out and we have three other projects. So yes, you're going to see a lot of us, probably more than you want to see.
- [40:45]
Savannah Chrisley
Let's see, what else is there? Do you think released prisoners should be provided some kind of PTSD support?
- [40:54]
Julie Chrisley
You already know the answer that I'm going to give 100% that men and women that come out of prison should have, there should be, there should be a program to where these men can go and sit down with a licensed therapist that specializes in ptsd.
- [41:11]
Chase Chrisley
Right.
- [41:12]
Julie Chrisley
Because I can tell you, and again, I have to go back to what I know, right. I watched these men, these men at Pensacola. I watched Dennis Prophet and Mandy Ramsey and Richardson and Hackett. I watched them inflict PTSD into these men through this RDAP program. I watched how these, how abusive they were and how they threatened them and how they manipulated them and how they were. These are Grown men, folks, six men, six feet tall, 250 pounds. Being so beaten down and fear instilled in them by Prophet and Ramsay that they were afraid to move for fear they were going to lose communication with their children or with their. Or with their spouse. I look back on it now and I, I truly believe that this is modern day slavery. That the Bureau of Prisons is modern day slavery, the way it's being ran. Do you know that the 13th Amendment, that the, that, you know, that involves slavery. Do you know that the only thing Left surviving the 13th Amendment is slave labor in prison?
- [42:18]
Savannah Chrisley
Really?
- [42:19]
Julie Chrisley
It's the only thing left of the 13th Amendment and that says that slave labor is abolished except for for incarcerated individuals.
- [42:31]
Savannah Chrisley
I did not know that.
- [42:32]
Julie Chrisley
Incarcerated individuals, they can inflict slave labor.
- [42:36]
Savannah Chrisley
I'll tell you, I didn't experience that part of it from, from you know, officers, you know, degrading and, and we didn't have.
- [42:45]
Julie Chrisley
Listen to me, you should thank God for that because I did witness.
- [42:49]
Savannah Chrisley
Yeah, I, I didn't, I didn't witness that. I didn't, I never saw that. But as far as the, the slave labor, you know, our camp was a working camp. So the women did all the work there because the men's facility that was adjacent, they were behind the fence. So those men were not able to roam freely like we were. So there were women that every day they worked on vehicles, they drove a tractor, they mowed the grass, they weed eated, they dug ditches, they did painting, they did, worked on sewer lines. I mean, you name it, you know, from. And then, you know, we had people who were orderlies and I worked in commissary and you had kitchen people and you had people that worked all month for $7. Well, you know, you had people that worked all month out in the hot sun to come home, our temporary home to 100 degree weather in the summer. So they worked outside all day. Just like a day like today, 90 something degrees. They would have been outside working all day to come in to an environment where it was 100 degrees and they might make $7, $12 a month.
- [44:07]
Julie Chrisley
A month.
- [44:07]
Savannah Chrisley
A month.
- [44:08]
Julie Chrisley
But let me help you with this. Did you, did your girls always get paid on time for that? $7 a day. The men at our facility, they would be make, they would be out mowing yards at the naval base. I mean you're talking about acres and acres and acres, weed eating, mowing these lawns, you know, fixing the, the vehicles out there, whatever had to be done. And they're making seven to twelve dollars a month and they couldn't even get paid that on time.
- [44:32]
Savannah Chrisley
Yeah, I mean it was snow.
- [44:33]
Julie Chrisley
Cheatham would not pay people time.
- [44:35]
Savannah Chrisley
Snow duty. They would be out shoveling snow in middle of the night.
- [44:40]
Julie Chrisley
Albert Cheatham, who was the, he was the CMC at our facility. But he love. He's such a power hungry freak. I say that he looks like the Muppet. The judge. The Muppet or the Muppet that's a judge in the balcony in the Muppets, that mop head and whatever. But he loved power. And he would not, and he would intentionally not process payroll from men on style, you know, for men that were owed their money and put it on their, in their commissary account, he would not do it. He would literally, if people were, had nothing in their commissary, he had picked those people to make sure he was late in paying. Yeah, this is a federal job and.
- [45:19]
Savannah Chrisley
There are people in prison who rely on that, on that paycheck, whether if it was $7 or $12, whatever. And that was the only money that they got for the month. Now keep in mind that you know, if you want to have deodorant, if you want to have shampoo, if you want to have soap and you know, all these things that you, you know, if you want to have a pair of tennis shoes, they don't give you tennis shoes. You have to buy those. They don't give you gray sweatshirt shorts or, or sweatpants or everything you get.
- [45:54]
Julie Chrisley
The Bureau of Prisons is set up like a business, a badly ran business. Yes, but they order this stuff in and then they, and they're all seconds and thirds. None of them are first quality. And then they charge you first quality prices.
- [46:07]
Savannah Chrisley
They've got 30%, 30% markup. So it doesn't matter what, whatever they buy it for. There's a 30% markup except for a certain over the counter medications.
- [46:18]
Julie Chrisley
But here, here at my facility, they would not because it's standard across the board. Every commissary must carry a certain number of items. I was never dead, but they committed fraud by printing up the commissary sheets to make it look like that they were providing this stuff. So these men would go in and say, I have allergies. I have, this is going on with my eye. Cause they're in these mold infested dorms. Medical would say, go to commissary and buy over the counter. They wouldn't even have the over the counter drugs. So I remember one time, I remember all these men complaining that they could, that they're sending them to commissary to buy the over the counter medication, but they didn't have it. So I faked having, you know, saying that I was having this issue with these allergies, whatever. And you know, I've never had an allergy in my life. I go up there and I said, I need you to get me some allergy medication. I says, because I'm having these issues. They knew they didn't have that medication in commissary, so they sent a staff member to the local pharmacy there in Pensacola to buy what I needed. Now, folks, I did that to prove a point that we're not all equal in these facilities.
- [47:32]
Chase Chrisley
Right.
- [47:32]
Julie Chrisley
They did not want Savannah having another headline to say, my dad has this medical condition and is not being treated. So they wanted to steal that headline. But what about the other 158,000 people that's having to go through this that doesn't have the voice that we have?
- [47:50]
Savannah Chrisley
Right, Right.
- [47:51]
Julie Chrisley
So I used to thank God every night, God, thank you for this blessing of a voice that I wanted to quit having after season three. But now I look back at it and I know that everything that I fought against, not wanting to be back on television, wanting to move on with, get back into my real estate, whatever, God was setting a stage, and he was making that stage so big that when we stepped back on it, that literally it would shake. And that is what's happening. When you look at the changes that are occurring in the Bureau of Prisons, when you look at the rooms, the doors to the rooms that have been opened. Welcome, welcoming us back in. When you look at the heads of states contacting us, saying, move your show here. We welcome you. We know you love Nashville, but we would love for you to come here. You know, we saw in the headline where you were going to Charleston, you know, moving your show to Charleston. We want you to come here. We believe our state offers more incentives for you to run your show here. You know, I should have said, when you check with Patricia Altshall and find out how she feels about that. But, you know, I look back on it, Julie, now, and all the things that I fought against then have turned out to be a blessing for us now. So, listen, God has turned those 28 months.
- [49:12]
Savannah Chrisley
I'm not going to lie. They were some of the darkest of my life. But I know that there was a reason. And every day, every day, those reasons are coming to light more and more and more.
- [49:27]
Julie Chrisley
We talked about that last week, you.
- [49:29]
Savannah Chrisley
Know, and so it wasn't in vain. And that is the only comforting thing from it that I know it wasn't in vain, because it is. It is creating change. And, you know, we, you know, there was a question. Are you going to forget? No, we're not going to forget.
- [49:48]
Julie Chrisley
You can't forget.
- [49:49]
Savannah Chrisley
We are out of prison. We have been given a gift that we could never repay President Trump, the.
- [49:55]
Julie Chrisley
Good lord above him first.
- [49:58]
Savannah Chrisley
But we are never going to forget that 28 months, because it. It is so ingrained in you that you can't. You cannot forget. And so with that, we're not going to forget the people that we left there.
- [50:12]
Julie Chrisley
I have guys there that are still incarcerated. They've been transferred now because that facility that I was in is closing. It's officially closing down. Thank you to our daughter for exposing all the things that. That I gave her to put out or that other staff members helped her with. Thank you to William Marshall for seeing and verifying that these things were true and saying, not on my watch will this occur. So I'm grateful for that. But, you know, I had someone ask me while in prison, he's an attorney. He said, this has to be the darkest day of your life. And I said, no, it's not. And he was kind of like, he's a huge attorney, very, very wealthy. And he goes, what? And I said, no, it's not. I said, the darkest day of my life, I says, was when Julie was diagnosed with breast cancer. Cancer that. Not the death of my father. It was that day. And when you talk about PTSD and people getting help for it, you and I both know that I have that because of that moment in our life. That still is the heaviest situation I've ever dealt with and the most feared issue that I've ever dealt with. I would take 28 months at FPC Pensacola any day of the week over that fear, because with FPC Pensacola, I had an exit date.
- [51:42]
Chase Chrisley
Right.
- [51:42]
Julie Chrisley
But with that diagnosis of breast cancer, I had to live every day wondering when your exit date was.
- [51:48]
Chase Chrisley
Right.
- [51:50]
Julie Chrisley
And there was a lot of detachment between me and you during that time. And you said, I will never forget. You said, I'm here.
- [52:00]
Chase Chrisley
Right?
- [52:01]
Julie Chrisley
I'm going to be fine.
- [52:03]
Chase Chrisley
Right.
- [52:04]
Julie Chrisley
And it wasn't until we had that breakthrough moment for me, and I still struggle with it to this day, but that was a breakthrough moment for me. So prison wasn't the darkest day of my life.
- [52:15]
Chase Chrisley
Right.
- [52:15]
Julie Chrisley
Cancer was the darkest day of my life.
- [52:17]
Chase Chrisley
Right.
- [52:18]
Julie Chrisley
Losing my dad was a dark day. Not compared to you. It was still, losing my dad was worse than me going for 28 months to prison. And if you said to me, and, I mean, I remember one of our kids looking at me the other day when I was asked this by a reporter, if you could change anything in your life, what would it be? And I said, her diagnosis. And that kid looked at me and said to me later, dude, you should have said you would. You would have not. Would have been the prison, I said. But it wasn't because with cancer, I was already imprisoned in my mind. I had already been placed in prison of when are you going to strike next? In what form will you strike next?
- [53:03]
Chase Chrisley
Right?
- [53:04]
Julie Chrisley
And so I look back on it that my 28 months, yes, I was separated from you physically, but spiritually and mentally, I never left your side, right? I never left our children's side. I didn't leave my mother's side. In my mind, I held in my. In my mind, mentally and emotionally, I was filming in another location, right? I was shooting a movie and I was on. I was on. On location for a movie right now. It was a shitty movie. And I am going to do a movie about this experience, right? But that wasn't my worst experience, because how can you say it's your worst experience when you come out? And I have at least 75 relationships that I've made with. With men from all age groups that have made me a better human being, right? Because I've listened to their stories now, right? They have become human to me, right? And they have humanized the whole experience. And we looked after each other, we took care of each other. And that's when I realized that I'm at war. I am literally a. I'm a combat officer in war. We're all in the foxhole together. Unfortunately, the war that we're having to wage is against our own country, who placed us here without the proper vetting of a lot of these cases of people that's been wrongfully convicted from a bad judicial system. You know that because we've dealt with it with inexperienced, uneducated judges that should have never been put on a bench. So, no, I would not trade that 28 months because of. I know that I am a better man. I'm a better human being today because of what I've experienced.
- [54:58]
Savannah Chrisley
And with that, folks, we're so grateful to be back. We thank you for tuning in again. Go subscribe anywhere that you get your podcast, and we'll see you again next week.
- [55:11]
Julie Chrisley
Next week.