Even behind bars, Julie Chrisley appears to be making friends and showing off her card-playing skills, at least according to her former fellow inmate, Sharita Mona.
The reality TV star, 52, is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence after she and her husband of nearly 30 years, Todd, 55, were convicted of tax evasion and bank fraud in 2022. Todd was sentenced to 12 years.
Last September, Julie was re-sentenced following an attempt to have her term reduced to no more than five years. A federal judge, however, rejected her bid, and upheld the seven-year sentence.
The couple’s youngest daughter, Savannah Chrisley, 27, spoke with Mona about prison life on a new episode of her Unlocked podcast.
Mona, who served eight months at the Federal Medical Center in Lexington, Kentucky, with Julie, recalled seeing the reality star for the first time.
“I was sitting in the telephone line … and I saw her. She was moving quick; your mom walks fast around that camp,” she laughed. “She had her head down; she wasn’t really talking to anybody. She smiled, but you could tell she was in deep thought. She was thinking about getting to where she had to go, and a few people spoke to her, but she was by herself and really quiet.”
It wasn’t until later, when Julie started playing cards, that she came into her own. “She was a little card shark,” Mona teased.
It wasn’t until a few weeks into Chrisley’s time in prison that the two women started working together and connected, Mona recounted.
She said they would often speak about real estate and entrepreneurship, with Julie encouraging Mona to enter the career field after her release. At one point, Chrisley taught real estate classes in prison, and with her help, Mona flipped a house and earned $60,000 days after she was released.
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Mona described her friend’s mindset as being heads-down.
“She was like, ‘I’m not gonna think about this. I’m just gonna do what I gotta do.’ She was worried about y’all. She loves you all. You are her world,” Mona told Savannah.
Savannah responded: “There was never a time where I was like, ‘Where’s mom? Is she going to be at school today?’ She was always there. Always. Her kids are her number one focus.”
Mona noted: “That came across from the time that I met her,” and said Julie had pictures of all of her children displayed on the wall of her room.
Besides Savannah, Julie and Todd also share a daughter Lindsie, 35, and sons Kyle, 33; Chase, 28; and Grayson, 18.