It’s been a year since the infamous Chrisleys of reality TV were released from prison.
For years, Todd and Julie Chrisley starred in “Chrisley Knows Best,” where the couple portrayed themselves as multimillionaire real estate tycoons and entrepreneurs with a picture-perfect family. However, they were both found guilty of tax evasion and of defrauding community banks of more than $30 million through fraudulent loans in June 2022 and were sentenced to 12 and 7 years in prison, respectively.
Over two years later, in May 2025, President Donald Trump, also a former reality TV star, granted the “According to Chrisley” stars a full pardon. Since then, the Chrisleys have made their return to television.
Todd began his 12-year sentence at the Federal Prison Camp in Pensacola on Jan. 17, 2023, according to prison records. Months after his release from there, the Chrisley patriarch visited to talk prison reform. A year after the Trump pardon, the prison is no longer operating. What happened?
What is the Federal Prison Campus Pensacola in Florida?
The Pensacola, Florida, campus is a minimum security institution that has dormitory housing, low staff-to-inmate ratios and limited or no perimeter fencing, and is located on Saufley Field, an outlying field of Naval Air Station Pensacola − home of the U.S. Navy Blue Angels. The Bureau of Federal Prisons categorizes this type of prison as “work- and program-oriented.”
The Pensacola prison is described as a “minimum security federal prison camp” by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. In 2009, Forbes listed FPC Pensacola as the second “cushiest” prison in America.
Where is FPC Pensacola located in Florida?
Why is FPC Pensacola in Florida closing down?
In a December 2024 news release sent to the USA TODAY Network’s Pensacola News Journal, FBOP says FPC Pensacola in Florida would be deactivated as a prison to “maximize resources and mitigate safety concerns.”
“This will also help alleviate staffing shortages across the FBOP,” the release said. “The structures that make up FPC Pensacola are owned by the U.S. Navy, which is in the process of moving all its assets to Naval Air Station Pensacola.”
What has happened to the FPC Pensacola in Florida since it closed down?
As of May 2026, the Federal Bureau of Prisons is continuing to move toward closing the prison. Previously, it was said that once all inmates and current employees have been moved, the Navy will demolish all vacated buildings that are in “significant disrepair.”
Todd Chrisley called Florida prison ‘filthy’ in 2023. Here’s what he said
In an interview for NewsNation’s “CUOMO” in 2023, Chrisley said he and other inmates were living in filthy conditions and that he believed he was being targeted by prison staff.
Speaking to reporter Brian Entin by phone through his lawyer, the “Chrisley Knows Best” star said the food was at least a year out of date. He said he only ate the tuna and peanut butter he could buy at the commissary, but even that was a challenge.
“I’ve been told this by a staff member — one of the ways she’s trying to break me is by cutting down what you can buy in commissary,” he said. “So, before she came here, you could buy 12 packs of tuna a week. She cut it down to six, and from six it went to three. She had not given a reason — when I asked her about it, she said commissary is a privilege, not a right.”
He said that the prison is “literally starving these men to death here.”
He went on to claim that there are animals — some dead — found near food storage areas.
“You have got rats, you have got squirrels in the storage facility where the food is. They just covered it up with plastic and tore the ceiling out because of all the black mold, and they found a dead cat in the ceiling that fell down on top of the food,” he said.
Todd Chrisley also claimed he ‘feared for his life’ in this Florida prison
Todd Chrisley detailed the treatment he received from the prison guards and staff, recalling the things that had been said about him to Entin.
“There are recordings of staff members here talking about ‘he needs to be humbled. What we need to do is put him in diesel therapy and put him in shackles and let him ride around the country and bring him back and will humble him,'” Chrisley shared. “’He thinks he is in one of his mansions, but this is the f— (Bureau of Prisons). That is what he will need.'”
Chrisley also told NewsNation that a photograph was taken of him while he was sleeping and sent to his daughter, asking for $2,600 to keep him protected in prison.
In a 2023 statement to NewsNation and various media organizations, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons said its mission is to “operate facilities that are safe, secure, and humane” and that “humane treatment of the men and women in our custody is a top priority.”
Famous inmates at Federal Prison Campus Pensacola in Florida include NBA referee, congressman
Todd Chrisley is not the first notable inmate to step foot inside the prison.
Samantha Neely is a trending reporter for the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida, covering pop culture, theme parks, breaking news and more. You can get all of Florida’s best content directly in your inbox each weekday by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY, at https://floridatoday.com/newsletters.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: What happened to Florida prison Todd Chrisley was in? It’s gone
Reporting by Samantha Neely, Jennifer Sangalang and Brandon Girod, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Pensacola News Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
