EXCLUSIVE! Minimal Showers, ‘Humiliating” Viewings & More: What Josh Duggar’s Life Is Like After Being Thrown In His Prison’s Secure Housing Unit (SHU) for Having a Phone

“I’d give anything for some tater tot casserole right about now.”

Josh Duggar is currently in the middle of federal prison’s version of a “time out” after being thrown in the Secure Housing Unit (SHU) as punishment for being caught with an illegal cellphone. According to one former inmate, who spent time in the SHU at the same Texas prison that Josh is currently incarcerated in, life in the “the hole” can be described in one word: “miserable.” 

The man, who spoke to The Ashley on condition of anonymity, was imprisoned at FCI Seagoville, and was once thrown in the SHU like Josh for being caught with a cellphone. Life in the “hole” (as some prisoners call it) is a far cry away from the former 19 Kids & Counting star’s life as a cushy reality TV personality.

“But…but…but…I’m a DUGGAR!”

While the conditions in the SHU are “horrible,” the former inmate said that the worst part about being in there is that your punishment often includes taking away some of your earned “good behavior” days, which will essentially extend your prison sentence.

Josh’s release date is later now, due to him being caught with the phone. (His original release date was given as August 12, 2032. It’s now listed as August 22, 2032.) 

The former inmate explained that the prison’s Discipline Hearing Officer (DHO) hands down the punishments for behind-bars offenses; however, the SHU sentences don’t even start counting until the prisoner sees the DHO, so Josh’s SHU sentence hasn’t even officially begun, despite all the time he’s already spent locked up there. 

Here’s a look at what life has been like for Josh since he was caught with his cellphone:

Accommodations:

Josh is currently staying in a small cell (about 10×6 feet) with another prisoner. Inside the cell is a bunk bed and a toilet/sink combo. Prisoners are allowed to go “outside” once a day; however, by “outside” they are essentially taken into a 20×20 caged area with two other prisoners. 

“Anytime you are moved you must be cuffed at you cell door,” the former inmate tells The Ashley. “If I wanted to go outside for my rec hour, both of us would be cuffed, then they’d take me out of the cell and uncuff him.”

Hygiene:

“I just got a whiff of myself and, not gonna lie guys, it’s not pretty.”

Before being thrown in the hole, Josh would have been able to shower daily. Now, though, he is only allowed to shower three times a week (on a set schedule of days), so he will sometimes have to go three days without hosing off.

“Most inmates will do a bird bath, which is basically washing yourself down in your cell with the sink,” the former inmate said. “That’s your only option on the no-shower days.”

Food:

Prisoners in the SHU like Josh are served three meals a day, but all food is given to them through a slot in the cell door, so there’s no real interaction with staff. Breakfast is served at 5:30 a.m., lunch at 10:30 a.m. and dinner at 4:30 p.m. 

“Other than that, you basically get no other food,” the former inmate said. “You are allowed to buy very limited food from commissary so you pretty much get no food but what’s on the tray.”

Entertainment:

Once in the SHU, Josh was only allowed to get two books off the book cart that comes around every two weeks. He was also not allowed to have visitors and was limited to only one 15-minute phone call a month.

That face you make when you’re no longer able to call your jailbird hubby…

If he has the money, Josh can get a hand-cranked radio that must be cranked 500 times in order to get only one hour of radio play. The radios are pricey, though, costing Josh $129 if he wants to groove to some tunes. 

One of the worst parts of being in the SHU, according to the former inmate, is the fact that SHU-dwellers are “on display.”

“You constantly have people walking around looking through the cell door at you like you’re an animal in the zoo,” he said. “Once a week, there’s a meeting where all the higher-ups talk about everyone in the SHU. Afterwards they do a walk through, and ‘view’ the inmates they just spoke about. It’s humiliating.”

The former inmate said that being caught with a phone is a pretty serious offense or “shot” (as it’s called in prison.)

“A shot at the 100 level is the worst. Murder would be 100, but having a phone is a 108. Stealing would be in the 200s,” the former inmate explained.

The Ashley wants to clarify here that the lower the number of the “shot,” the more serious it is. So, murdering someone would be the worst, at 100. Seriously injuring someone would usually be classified as a 103 or 104. Possessing a cellphone is a 100-level offense, at a 108, but not as serious as murdering or injuring someone, obviously.

So, offenses in the 100-series are the greatest offenses. Offenses at the 200-level are not as serious (something like stealing or fighting). A 300-level is a moderate offense (something like disobeying an order). A 400-level offense is a minor offense (being late to work or something like that).  

This explains the “shot” classes in detail.

Punishment for 100-level shots usually include visit restrictions, fines, taking good behavior days (which extends the sentence), restricted commissary and phone, and other disciplinary actions. 

As of press time, Josh is still in the SHU. It’s unknown when he will be returned to general population. Until he is, he is not allowed to have any visitors. 

As The Ashley previously told you, the eldest of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar‘s brood of blessings children is currently serving a 151-month sentence at Federal Correctional Institute (FCI) Seagoville near Dallas, Texas, for receiving child sex abuse materials (CSAM). 

 

 

 

 

21 Comments

  1. Hopefully, his being in the SHU will prevent Anna from being called by him hundreds of times per day and him convincing her to bring his kids there with all his manipulative tactics.

    I hope Anna uses this time away from him to realize she can do it alone. And she doesn’t need him.

    Unluckily, but a girl can hope.


    1. Anna needs money. That’s the bottom line. Let’s cut the poor girl a break. Give her time to hopefully find herself, and then she can write the best selling tellsll of all time.


      1. I’m sure she does. Thank god with Josh in jail by the time he gets out she will be in menopause. For many reasons.

        But all those phones from prison are EXPENSIVE. All the money is money taken from their kid’s mouths. Like he’s going to get food no matter what in prison, but his kids aren’t.

        I think part of Anna’s problem is her father was a prison chaplain and taught her to believe all prisoners are redeemable. And I think a lot are. But I also think some are past redemption, ped0philes are in that category for me.

        Maybe she’s playing it smart. Like, will stay with him to get money from Jim Bob (which is really Josh’s and Anna’s money anyway) and then right before he gets out release a book, and serve him paper.

        Hopefully, he will be in jail long enough that she will finally be deprogrammed.


  2. I’m confused about the shot thing. Is murder less shots than stealing and phones? I don’t get it. 🤷‍♀️


    1. Yeah, that made no sense??
      A phone is more trouble than murdering a person??
      Are we sure that “source” was telling the truth?


    2. Just as first-degree murder is a higher level (worse) crime than second-degree, it sounds like the ratings of the imprison crimes and infractions give more serious offenses lower numbers, and they were trying to demonstrate just how serious it is to have a smuggled phone. If murder is 100 and stealing is 200, then having a contraband phone is considered more closer to killing than taking someone’s Ramen.

      I’m not sure whether the numbers were literal or not, but the general point makes sense: having a cell phone in prison *is* considered extremely dangerous, because, while many are doing it just to get around the outrageous pricing for phone calls, an incarcerated person can also use it to bypass the recording and monitoring systems for phone calls and letters and plan crimes on the outside. (Or, depending on the type of phone, someone with a compulsion for CSA material could continue to access it…).

      This just further demonstrates how little Joshie thinks the law applies to him (and how much “someone” on the outside is still willing to enable him).


  3. Is the not showering thing really a punishment? Judging by every photo taken of him in the last fifteen years showers aren’t really his thing. He’s a greasy pig naturally. He is always more sweaty than my husband after the gym. Maybe forcing him to shower TWICE a day would be a better punishment.

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