Todd and Julie Chrisley Report to Prison to Begin Serving Tax Fraud Sentences

The reality show couple report to prison exactly one week after they were denied bail.

Todd and Julie Chrisley have just reported to prison, ET can confirm.

On Tuesday, Jan. 17, the embattled Chrisley Knows Best stars reported to their respective facilities to begin serving their combined 19-year prison sentence following their federal tax fraud case convictions. Todd, who was sentenced to 12 years in prison, reported to Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Pensacola in Florida, a minimum security facility. Julie, meanwhile, was originally set to report to FCI Marianna in Jackson County, Florida, just two hours away, but reported instead to Federal Medical Center Lexington in Lexington, Kentucky, after being re-designated to the facility on Dec. 20. FMC Lexington houses both male and female inmates requiring medical or mental health care and holds inmates of all security classifications. She has been sentenced to seven years. 

Todd and Julie, who also each were sentenced to 16 months probation, report to prison exactly one week after their motion for bail pending their appeal was denied. They had requested to extend their surrender date by 21 days.

The Chrisleys were sentenced back in November, nearly six months after they were found guilty of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States and tax fraud. While the couple has frequently spoken about an unjust legal system, their sentence is far less than what prosecutors requested -- 17 1/2 to 22 years for Todd and 10 to 12 1/2 years for Julie, respectively.

Judge Rachel Juarez, star of the first-ever, three-judge panel CBS show Hot Bench and who was not involved in the Chrisleys case, shared with ET what life might be like for Todd at FCI Pensacola, which Juarez says "has made a lot of lists as one of the easier places to do time in a federal system." In fact, an October 2020 report in the Buffalo News described the minimum-security prison as "laid-back" and basically like "camp." 

The outlet also reported that inmates at FCI Pensacola have access to a well-stocked library, gym, track, and are afforded the chance to play a variety of sports, including racquetball, volleyball and horseshoes. They've also had movie nights. The prison poses such a low risk, the Buffalo News reports the facility isn't even equipped for solitary confinement. 

As for Julie, FCI Marianna is a prison facility that, according to Business Insider, has 25 buildings and houses male and female inmates in seven housing units with approximately 1,2000 inmates as of date. According to the outlet, some of their recreation programs include intramural sports, art, aerobics, music and other hobbies.

Earlier this month while on the Chrisley Confessions podcast, Julie discussed what life is going to be like for her being separated from her husband for the first time, and how seeing Emmy Medders' mother care for her father during his ALS diagnosis put things into perspective.

"There is that possibility of my husband and I being separated, but there’s a difference between my husband and I being separated for a period of time and having to say goodbye forever," Julie said as she became emotional while alluding to her and Todd's time away in prison.  

"So, it almost makes me feel ashamed that I’m worried. She’s going to have to say goodbye to her husband and she won’t see him again on this side of heaven. So, I think it puts things into perspective. I know it puts things into perspective for me. We all think our hard is the hardest thing." 

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