Todd Chrisley is working to bring attention to what he calls the “inhumane” prison system while he is locked up on tax fraud charges. The reality TV star is serving time at FPC Pensacola in Florida, a minimum security prison camp. While incarcerated, Chrisley has been fighting to improve the prison’s conditions, according to his lawyer, Jay Surgent, who claims Chrisley was given the wrong medication.
Sugent said that Chrisley was given medication that was meant for another inmate. ” The medical department is in shambles,” Surgent told RadarOnline.com, claiming that not only was Todd given the wrong medication, but another inmate was “inadvertently” given insulin. “The administration of this medicine rendered them unconscious and they were rushed to the hospital,” Surgent said of the inmate who supposedly received insulin. These types of mix-ups and mistakes are inexcusable and just another indication of how terrible these conditions are and have become,” he added.
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“I am asked almost on a daily basis about Todd and how he is doing and what he is focused on and working on while he is in prison,” Surgent continued. “I can tell you, Todd is doing well, his spirits are up, he is focused and determined, and one of his very highest priorities, outside of being reunited with his wife and his children, is to create real, lasting systemic change within the US Justice System and particularly within the American Prison System.”
The attorney went on to discuss that Chrisley is hoping to see the “very cruel, broken and inhumane system” be renovated into something more rehabilitating. “FPC Pensacola does very little rehabilitation. In fact, not a single person has received their GED from that institution in the last three years. Not a single one,” Surgent claimed.
Surgent also shared that the prison’s staff have been mistreating some inmates based on their religious beliefs. “There are a huge number of inmates that are Muslim that are regularly being denied access and opportunity to participate in their faith-based worship services,” he said. “The reason for this is striking, the leadership at FPC Pensacola have decided these inmates should be required to work during their scheduled worship times. So their right to practice their freedom of expression and religion is being denied so that they can provide free labor to the camp and the BOP.”
Chrisley also told Surgent that inmates are forced to work in “unsafe and truly dangerous conditions” of over 100 degrees during the summer, doing things such as mowing, weeding, and landscaping. Comparing the prison where Chrisley is being held to FCC Hazelton in West Virginia, Surgent noted that Hazelton has come under serious scrutiny with some politicians calling for investigations into “disturbing whistleblower reports of abusive treatment of incarcerated individuals and other employee misconduct.” In addition to allegations that the facility once released the wrong incarcerated individual, the Hazelton whistleblower also accused staff of assaulting inmates and forcing them to urinate and defecate on themselves.
“These are the exact issues that Mr. Chrisley is intent on changing. He knows the strength of his platform and he intends to use every available resource to provide a bright light on these issues and to once and for all help America see what evil is happening within these facilities,” Surgent told Radar. “He is determined to do more than just bring these actions to light, but is deeply committed to offer real solutions and ideas that would help the BOP return to its main purposes.”
Surgent added, “Todd knows that there are those within the BOP that are sickened by these activities and conditions and wants to help create a coalition of people who will work from without and within to solve these issues and restore a sense of humanity and decency to the role of criminal justice and incarceration within our country.” Radar states that it has reached out to FPC Pensacola for comment.
