Savannah Chrisley got emotional while giving fans an update on her mom Julie Chrisley‘s life in prison. On the Tuesday, January 28, episode of her Unlocked podcast, she read a letter she received from Julie about the “traumatic” experience of being transferred from the Federal Medical Center in Kentucky to the Grady County jail in Oklahoma, where she was held during her resentencing trial in September 2024.
While reading the four-page recollection, Savannah was noticeably choked up and even had to pause at some parts to compose herself. “I will never forget the days of transit,” she admitted after finishing the letter. “I knew when I didn’t hear from her that she was probably in transit because we made it a point … she called me every morning, multiple times a day. So when I didn’t hear from her, I knew she was somewhere being transported.”
The Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test star also pointed out how expensive it’s been to keep in contact with her parents amid their prison sentences for tax evasion and bank fraud. Savannah said she’s spent about $500 just to communicate with Julie and her dad, Todd Chrisley.
Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images
Julie had asked to attend her resentencing trial via Zoom after hearing horror stories about the Oklahoma facility, but her request was denied by a judge. Instead, she had to show up in person to the “most disgusting place” she’d ever seen, according to the letter.
Savannah also recalled the moment she finally heard from her mom once Julie had been transported back to the Kentucky prison. “She called me and she could barely say hello. She was sobbing,” Savannah shared. “And to hear her — throughout this whole process, she has never cried to me on the phone — and this was when I heard her just completely broken, and it was so difficult to hear the hurt in her voice and to know the trauma that she had experienced.”
After Todd and Julie received their guilty verdicts in 2022, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison, while she received seven years behind bars. However, in June 2024, a legal error was found in the way Julie’s sentence was calculated. The case was resentenced, but the judge upheld the original seven-year decision.
Savannah became the legal guardian of Todd and Julie’s then-minor son Grayson and niece Chloe after they went to prison.