Todd Chrisley Says His ‘Sole Intent’ While in Prison Was to Make Staff ‘Miserable’

Todd Chrisley is revealing his prison pet peeve — and how he dealt with it.

During an appearance on daughter Savannah’s Unlocked podcast on Tuesday, July 1, Todd and his wife, Julie Chrisley, opened up about their time behind bars. While the family patriarch, 56, said he rarely had conflict with other inmates at Florida’s Federal Prison Camp Pensacola during his two-year tenure, he admitted that he didn’t exactly get along with those who worked there.

“I told staff off,” Todd shared. “I told C.O.s [correctional officers] and staff [off].”

Savannah reminded Julie of a bad experience she also had with a staff member.

When Julie, 52, noted that she never experienced that in the Federal Medical Center in Lexington, Ky., Todd teased that it was because she was probably “up there being Miss Pollyanna,” referencing the overly-optimistic character in Eleanor H. Porter’s famous 1913 novel.

Not everything was entirely smooth for Julie, though. Savannah, 27, recalled an incident that occurred at the beginning of her mom’s sentence involving a staff member.

“I will never forget at the very beginning, you called me, and you were all to pieces because that one a—— C.O. [correctional officer],” Savannah said. “He locked her in the cafeteria!”

“Oh yeah, he was a food service [worker],” Julie noted. “Yeah. He’s since retired.”

Savannah further alleged that “he did it because he was pissed off at her — he did it on purpose.”

In a statement to PEOPLE, a representative for FMC Lexington wrote that “Humane treatment of the men and women in our custody is a top priority,” although they did not comment directly in regards to Julie.

Despite being in separate facilities, the couple bonded over the complicated dynamics while in custody.

“He was just a miserable human being, he really was,” Julie claimed as Todd agreed and said, “They all are.”

“I would have put a BP8 on his a–,” he added, referring to filing an administrative complaint. “I was surrounded by miserable human beings. And every day, I got up and it was my sole intent to make their life even more miserable because they were there to make our lives miserable.”

Both Todd and Julie went on to explain that some inmates made an effort to “buddy up to the staff,” and Todd said “never understood” why. 

“They’d go tell on everyone else,” he remembered. “And I would say to them, I’d say, ‘What in your mind makes you think that they’re your friends? It is us against them.’”

“They are not your friends, that’s for sure,” Julie quipped.

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The Chrisley Knows Best alums had been incarcerated since January 2023 after being found guilty on charges of tax evasion and bank fraud in 2022. They were sentenced to a combined 19 years in prison, although that number was later reduced by about two years each.

Following several attempts to appeal their convictions, President Donald Trump issued Todd and Julie full pardons on May 27 of this year. They returned home the next day and have continued to maintain their innocence.