Todd Chrisley served sentence at Pensacola Federal Prison Camp before pardon. What to know

Todd Chrisley, who started his original 12-year sentence at Pensacola’s Federal Prison Camp, and his wife, Julie, will soon go home after receiving a pardon from President Donald Trump.

“It’s a great thing because your parents are going to be free and clean, and I hope we can do it by tomorrow,” Trump told the Chrisleys’ daughter, Savannah Chrisley, in a video posted on Tuesday to X, formerly known as Twitter.

Todd and Julie Chrisley were found guilty of committing tax evasion and defrauding community banks out of more than $30 million in fraudulent loans in June 2022 and sentenced to 12 and seven years in prison, respectively.

Todd began his 12-year sentence at the Federal Prison Camp in Pensacola on Jan. 17, 2023, according to prison records. His sentence was reduced to 10 years for good behavior in September 2023, according to reporting from NPR.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBOP) announced in December that the Pensacola FPC would close permanently as part of a nationwide fix for “several significant challenges” with the Bureau of Prisons.

Who are Todd and Julie Chrisley?

Todd and Julie starred in the reality TV show “Chrisley Knows Best,” where the couple portrayed themselves as multimillionaire real estate tycoons and entrepreneurs with a picture-perfect family. The show aired on the USA Network and ran for nine seasons.

The Chrisleys spent millions on designer brand clothes, luxury cars and real estate, including two mansions in Nashville, Tennessee, reportedly worth about $9 million.

In addition to prison time, the couple was ordered to pay $17 million in restitution.

Did Trump pardon the Chrisleys?

Trump has announced that he intends to pardon the Chrisleys as soon as Wednesday, but there has yet to be any confirmation of official action.

What is the Federal Prison Campus Pensacola?

The Pensacola campus is a minimum security institution that has dormitory housing, low staff-to-inmate ratios and limited or no perimeter fencing, and is located on Saufley Field, an outlying field of Naval Air Station Pensacola − home of the U.S. Navy Blue Angels. The Bureau of Federal Prisons categorizes this type of prison as “work- and program-oriented.”

In 2009, Forbes listed FPC Pensacola as the second “cushiest” prison in America.

According to Forbes, FPC Pensacola’s proximity to NAS Pensacola is a rare and desirable feature for inmates due to having access to better jobs and recreational activities. It has 350 male prisoners.

Former prisoner Mark Whitacre, a former executive of agricultural conglomerate Archer Daniels Midland who spent half his 8.5 year-sentence in Pensacola, told Forbes that prisoners there could visit with their families on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays in a tree-filled park, which offered “more like the privacy of a backyard.”

Whitacre embezzled $9 million from Archer Daniels Midland while work working as an undercover FBI informant and was the subject of the 2009 film “The Informant!” starring by actor Matt Damon.

Where is FPC Pensacola located?

Why is FPC Pensacola closing down?

In a release sent to the USA TODAY Network’s Pensacola News Journal, FBOP says FPC Pensacola, which is a minimum security male prison located on Saufley Field, will be deactivated as a prison to “maximize resources and mitigate safety concerns.”

“This will also help alleviate staffing shortages across the FBOP,” the release said. “The structures that make up FPC Pensacola are owned by the U.S. Navy, which is in the process of moving all its assets to Naval Air Station Pensacola.”

Once all the inmates and current employees are moved, the Navy will demolish all vacated buildings, which are in “significant disrepair.”

Todd Chrisley called Florida prison ‘filthy’ in 2023. Here’s what he said

In an interview for NewsNation’s “CUOMO” last December, Chrisley said he and other inmates are living in filthy conditions, adding he believes he is being targeted by prison staff.

Speaking to reporter Brian Entin in a phone call via his lawyer, the “Chrisley Knows Best” star shared that the food is out of date by at least a year. He only eats tuna and peanut butter that he can buy in the commissary but even that is a challenge.

“I’ve been told this by a staff member – one of the ways she’s trying to break me is by cutting down what you can buy in commissary,” he said. “So, before she came here, you could buy 12 packs of tuna a week. She cut it down to six, and from six it went to three. She had not given a reason – when I asked her about it, she said commissary is a privilege, not a right.”

He said that the prison is “literally starving these men to death here.”

He went on to claim that there are animals – some dead – found near food storage areas.

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

Chrisley also claimed he “feared for his life” in Pensacola prison

Chrisley detailed the treatment from the prison guards and staff, recalling the things that had been said about him to Entin.

“There are recordings of staff members here talking about ‘he needs to be humbled. What we need to do is put him in diesel therapy and put him in shackles and let him ride around the country and bring him back and will humble him,'” Chrisley shares. “‘He thinks he is in one of his mansions but this is the f— (Bureau of Prisons). That is what he will need.'”

Chrisley also told NewsNation that a photograph was taken of him while he was sleeping and sent to his daughter asking for $2,600 to keep him protected in prison.

In a 2023 statement to NewsNation and various media organizations, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons said its mission is to “operate facilities that are safe, secure, and humane” and that “humane treatment of the men and women in our custody is a top priority.”

Notable inmates at Federal Prison Campus Pensacola include NBA referee, congressman

Todd is not the first notable inmate to step foot inside the prison.

Tim Donaghy is a former NBA referee who plead guilty in 2007 to wire fraud conspiracy and illegally transmitting betting information. Donaghy was released from custody in 2009 after serving 11 months.

Chris Collins was a U.S. Representative from New York’s 27th district who was convicted of insider trading. Collins was released after he was pardoned by President Trump in December 2020.

Billy Walters is a professional sports gambler who was convicted of insider trading. Walters leveraged insider information related to Dean Foods Co. and stole millions. Professional golfer Phil Mickelson was also named in the investigation. Walters’ sentence was commuted in January 2021 by President Trump.

Irvin Mayfield was a jazz trumpeter guilty of the New Orleans Library scandal. Mayfield diverted $1.3 million of library foundation money and is currently serving an 18-month sentence.

Robert M. Freeman is a Goldman Sachs partner that was convicted of insider trading. Freeman was released from custody in 1990 after serving a four-month sentence.

Douglas Green was a Louisiana insurance commissioner from 1988 to 1991 before he was convicted of conspiracy, mail fraud and money laundering in 1991. Green was released from custody in 2003 after serving 12 years.

Paul H. Jones was the mayor of Ravenna, Ohio, from 1976 to 1982 and again from 1996 to 2005. He was convicted in 2010 of mail fraud and filing false tax returns using his position to help his son’s business make over $260,000 and failing to report it to the IRS. Jones was released from federal custody in 2008 and transferred to an Ohio state prison.

Scott Maddox is a former Tallahassee City Commissioner who was sentenced to five years in prison for bribery. He’s now serving time at the Federal Correctional Institution in Talladega.

Robert Powell was a developer for two for-profit juvenile prisons in Pennsylvania and was involved in the Kids for Cash scandal. He plead guilty to paying $770,000 to two judges in exchange for sentencing juveniles to serve time in his prisons. Powell was released from custody in 2013 after serving 18 months.

Mike Berlon was a lawyer, former chairman of the Georgia State Democratic Party and member of the Democratic National Committee’s Executive Committee. Berlon plead guilty to one count of wire fraud in 2015. He was released from custody in 2020 after serving five years.

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