ATLANTA — In the days leading up to Julie Chrisley’s resentencing hearing, Savannah Chrisley wrote a letter to the judge, urging her to let me mother out of prison.
Ultimately, the judge ordered Julie to be sentenced to 84 months in prison after her original sentence was vacated by a federal appeals court.
During this week’s episode of her podcast, Savannah read that letter to Judge Eleanor Ross. This is what it said:
Dear Judge Eleanor Ross, I hope this letter finds you well.
First and foremost, I want to express my deep gratitude for your kindness and allowing my family the gift of that last Thanksgiving and Christmas together, and what it would have been within your power to separate us on the day of sentencing, but you chose to delay it, giving us what would become our final holidays as a complete family for seven to 12 years.
I truly believe you felt the weight of that decision and your heart and for that, I thank you sincerely.
Today marks 617 days since my family was torn apart. In that time, the trauma and pain of separation have felt like a lifetime of punishment. I’m writing to you, not just as a daughter, but as a 27-year-old woman now raising my younger brother Grayson and sister Chloe.
The past two years have been unimaginably difficult. I know that God destined me for motherhood, but never did I expect to be placed in this role under these circumstances. I love Grayson and Chloe with all my heart, but no matter how much I provide for them, I know I can never truly give them what their mother can.
Chloe, who has already experienced the pain of abandonment by her biological parents, now faces that same heartbreak again with the absence of my parents her true parents.
She asked me, ‘Do you think mom will be home to teach me to drive,’ or ‘Will mom be here for my first high school dance?’
Her questions are constant, and the uncertainty is heartbreaking.
Grayson, my sweet brother, tells me that I saved him, but the truth is, he saved me more times than I can count these past two years. We face the challenges of parenting together, navigating the struggles of school, home life, and simply surviving. But I feel the strain every day as I juggle raising them, fighting for justice and freedom for my parents, and trying to keep a roof over our heads.
As a single woman running a one-income household, it often feels like no matter how hard I work, it’s never quite enough.
My mother has missed so many of the moments that define a family: Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, Chloe entering middle school and starting cheerleading, Grayson’s last baseball season, senior year, prom and now the college admissions process -- all moments when children need their parents most I imagine the joy you felt witnessing milestones in your own children’s lives, and I hope you can understand the deep ache that fills my heart knowing that my mother has missed these with us.
Chloe is struggling in school. Despite the resources, I’ve tried to provide. Both she and Grayson wrestle with anxiety and depression that sometimes leaves them debilitated. I’m fighting with every ounce of my being to keep them from becoming another statistic, children of incarcerated parents who lose their way. They’re brilliant, beautiful souls with the potential to change the world, and I don’t want this world to break them.
But I can’t do it alone. I need my mother. We need her. Watching the treatment of my mom while she is incarcerated has been heartbreaking. The conditions are inhumane, especially for women.
When you ruled that she must attend this resentencing in person, the abuse began. I just want you to know the conditions, because I truly do not believe you’ve been privy to these things. My mother endured a 13-hour transport, told not to eat or drink because if she had to go to the bathroom, she would have to walk through a plane filled with men heckling her just to use the restroom at the back.
She chose to not eat or drink for the entire journey, just to preserve what little dignity she had left.
Since then, she’s been transferred from facility to facility, allowed outside for only an hour a day. The isolation and deprivation are taking their toll on her, mentally and physically.
Your Honor, I beg of you to see my mother as I do -- a woman who has survived breast cancer, the loss of a brother, a miscarriage, and now this.
I plead with you to grant her mercy, to allow her to survive this ordeal and come home to her family.
I know that beneath the robes of justice, you’re also a mother, and as a mother, I believe you understand the power of that bond.
Please, I’m not asking for myself alone, but for two children who need their mother, for a family that’s been fractured in ways that words can’t fully capture.
I long for the day I can embrace my mother as a free woman again.
I beg you, Your Honor, please send my mama home.
Sincerely, Savannah Chrisley
Savannah has said they plan on appealing the new ruling.
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