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Josh Duggar's prison commissary funds were dramatically restricted, and it was all due to a staff member being the victim of a joke, In Touch can confirm.
"A staff member was pranked, some sort of chemical convocation spilled on a staff member. We decided to restrict commissary until we figured out what happened or if it came from commissary," a source at Texas' FCI Seagoville reveals.
"We found out who did it but wanted to wait out the cycle so it fairly affected everyone," the insider says about how the drop in funds affected Josh, 37, who is nearly three years into his 151-month sentence for receiving child pornography.
"One of the inmates played a prank on a guard. Now everyone is on a $25 commissary limit. They usually have a $360 limit a month," a source told The U.S. Sun on May 20. The outlet was the first to report the news of Josh's monthly fund taking a hit.
A second source confirmed the usual monthly limit to the publication and added, "They shop every other week. Half the institution got the restriction during the investigation. It's only fair to have the other half miss out."
Inmates are able to purchase a number of food items from the prison commissary, ranging from meats and cheeses to snacks, cereal, coffee, candy and ice cream. Additionally, there's a vast array of personal hygiene and sundry items that can be purchased by or for inmates.
FCI Seagoville, located outside Dallas, Texas, had been the subject of reports that inmates, including Josh, were having to use commissary funds to purchase food items after allegedly being served smaller portions due to issues including expired milk and insect infestation.
"They've been getting half portions of food for months," a source close to a Seagoville inmate told The U.S. Sun in December 2024. "People are having to buy food from the commissary or go hungry, it's wild. Complaints from loved ones have gone nowhere."
An insider tells In Touch that they don't have the same problems with their food that other federal facilities do, especially the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn, New York, where Sean "Diddy" Combs has been housed since his arrest in September 2024 on sex trafficking and racketeering charges.
"We don't have complaints of food, the roach and the other stuff has been from other detention centers and sanitation issues in Brooklyn," a source close to the situation explains.
"I've never seen issues of roaches or any kind in the food. We have a very good reputation of the food we serve," the insider continues, while explaining, "We have some issues with flies and ants, but we have fans, and it does not affect the food."
"We have some of the best food in the prison system," the source proudly adds.
The holiday menus for FCI Seagoville over the years since Josh arrived have shown that the inmates were served several appetizing options.
For the former 19 Kids and Counting star's third Thanksgiving behind bars in 2024, the facility offered inmates roasted turkey and glazed ham for the entrée. Vegetarians had the option of a veggie lasagna. There was also an array of side dishes, including cornbread dressing with turkey gravy, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce and dinner rolls. Inmates were served assorted pies for dessert.
Josh was set to receive baked Cornish hen as his Christmas 2024 dinner, along with dinner rolls, mashed potatoes, chicken gravy, corn casserole and rice with broccoli and cheese.
In Touch previously reported that Josh had been pressuring his parents, Jim Bob Duggar and Michelle Duggar, to add more money to his prison commissary account so he could live a cushier life while serving his sentence. This came after the eldest Duggar sibling was photographed wearing sunglasses and sneakers while strolling the prison yard the month prior.
"Truth is, Josh has been rescued by his folks so many times and he probably thinks he deserves the finer things," the source dished in December 2024. "Jim Bob and Michelle are sick with worry and Josh is guilting them even more into sending him cash so he can buy the luxuries that would otherwise be unavailable to him and live in style."
The former TLC star was convicted of one count of receiving and one count of possessing child pornography images in December 2022 after a brief trial. A judge dropped the first charge against him during Josh's May 2023 sentencing. His earliest possible release date is in October 2032.