Black Mold and a Dead Cat

Recently, Todd Chrisley was able to speak with a reporter about the appalling conditions at his prison.

He described himself and other prisoners eating “filthy” unsafe food.

The fallen reality star also detailed a series of threats and punishments in retaliation for speaking out.

As he braces himself for more, Todd also shared a horrifying story about black mold, a dead cat, and prison food.

As we reported over the weekend, Todd Chrisley spoke to NewsWeek‘s Brian Entin in a rare phone interview from behind bars.

“It is so disgustingly filthy,” he characterized of the conditions within the facility.

“The food is literally, I’m not exaggerating this…the food is dated,” Todd reported. “It’s out of date by at a minimum a year. It’s a year past expiration.”

He shared one particularly harrowing anecdote in which the prison used plastic to cover and “protect” inmate food … while removing black mold.

(Notably, Chrisley’s family had also raised alarm bells about black mold in the facility)

While the prison was removing this health hazard from the ceiling, the corpse of a cat dropped from the ceiling and onto the food. That’s ghoulish, not goulash.

Speaking of non-human animals being way too close to human food, both rats and squirrels were, Todd described, getting into the prison’s food storage.

He says that he only eats the food that he can buy and make “from the commissary.”

Apparently, he trusts this a little more than he trusts what the prison serves.

“I eat tuna, I eat peanut butter,” Todd detailed. “That’s where I get protein.”

He went on to add: “I eat like a pasta salad that I make, pasta that I get in commissary.”

Todd elaborated: “And then I start over again doing the same thing the next week.”

According to Todd, the prison warden has been limiting how much of his preferred foods he can buy. All in an alleged effort to “break” him.

“So, before she came here you could buy 12 packs of tuna a week,” Todd claimed. “And she cut it down to six and then it went from six to three. She had not given a reason.”

Todd revealed: “When I asked her about it, she said, ‘Commissary is a privilege, not a right.’”

“They are literally starving these men to death here,” Todd said of fellow inmates who eat from the cafeteria.

“These men are getting…I don’t know that they’re getting,” he confessed, estimating “1000 calories a day.” That would be a starvation diet and inhumanly cruel if true.

The same reporter who spoke to Todd contacted the prison, hearing a vague rebuttal that “there are nutritious foods” available. Allegedly, these foods are both “up to date” and “fine.”

Prisons seldom allow in-person interviews, but they do happen.

Not to Todd, however. Ostensibly, this is for security reasons.

But Todd claimed that the true motive is that “they don’t want [Entin] in here where [he] can see what’s really going on.”

According to Todd, he has faced numerous instances of retaliation — because, through his children, he has raised the alarm.

For example, his daughter Savannah has told the world that prisoners’ medical needs are often neglected.

Additionally, temperatures reach unsafe, potentially deadly levels in cells because there is no air conditioning. While very few places in the US are habitable without air conditioning, we should remind everyone that this facility is in Florida.

In July, Todd’s attorney reported to the world that the prison is destroying Todd’s mail.

Additionally, allegedly, someone photographed Todd while he slept. His attorney said so in the summer. Todd’s new interview reiterated that allegation.

“There was a photograph taken of me while I was sleeping and sent to my daughter,” Todd described. “Asking for $2,600 a month for my protection.”

On top of that, Todd reported overhearing guards saying that Todd needed to feel “humbled” while in prison. That seems pointlessly cruel, even towards Todd.

We have to once again emphasize that we know that Todd — an unquestionably terrible person — is not a sympathetic victim of our flawed and even malicious justice system.

But all prisoners are people. Many of them are also innocent, or otherwise do not belong behind bars. Just because Todd absolutely sucks doesn’t mean that any of this is okay.