Todd Chrisley’s Home Confinement Case Is Being ‘Investigated Internally’ After Being ‘Rejected’ (Exclusive)

Chrisley’s lawyer Jay Surgent tells PEOPLE that the former reality star and his wife Julie are “living in squalor in 100-degree temperatures”

Todd Chrisley’s home confinement case is being “internally investigated” after it was previously rejected, his attorney tells PEOPLE.

Jay Surgent says the Chrisley Knows Best alum “was making an application under the CARES Act to be released” to home confinement, but “his application, as well as a number of other applications — but particularly his — was rejected.”

“He submitted it, but the person that was administrating it and was in charge of processing it, decided that she didn’t want to do that. She decided not to do it,” Surgent explains.

“And then, the time period for the application expired, so he wasn’t given due consideration with reference to being admitted to home confinement or taken advantage of some type of a probationary program.”

Surgent adds: “It’s very, very unfortunate, and that matter is now being investigated internally, and we feel as though there was no reason why it should have not been processed, even in light of his prison term.”

Related: Savannah Chrisley Says Family Hired New Counsel to Appeal Parents' Case: 'Doing Everything We Possibly Can'

Surgent’s comments come after TMZ reported on Friday that Chrisley, 54, recently filed an application to serve the remainder of his sentence at home instead of at Federal Prison Camp Pensacola in Florida due to the extreme heat conditions.

Surgent tells PEOPLE that he and his wife Julie, 50, are “living in squalor in 100-degree temperatures” in prison, adding that “there’s no air conditioning, there’s no nothing” in their respective cells. (Julie is currently serving her sentence in Federal Correctional Institution and Federal Prison Camp Marianna in Lexington, Kentucky.)

In addition to the home confinement application, both Todd and Julie began the process to appeal their case in December before they reported to prison in January following their combined 19-year prison sentence for tax fraud.

Story continues

Related: Todd and Julie Chrisley's Lawyer Discusses Their Appeal and the Moment That 'Should've Stopped the Whole Case'

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Surgent reveals the final filings to appeal were just recently completed. As for what happens next, “11th Circuit Court of Appeals can reverse the district court, or they could remand the case back for hearings that should have been held that were not held during the course of this trial,” Surgent says.

“We argued very vigorously that their constitutional rights have been violated, and that they basically were not given a fair hearing. It’s all in black and white actually,” the attorney continues. “And their living conditions, both of them, he in Pensacola, she in Lexington, Kentucky, it’s an absolute ridiculous situation.”

“Not that we’re saying that they deserve special treatment because they’re celebrities. They don’t,” Surgent notes. “What we’re saying is that they, along with other inmates, deserve better treatment.”

Surgent went on: “We shouldn’t be treating our prisoners the way we’re treating our prisoners at this point in time.”

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