A phone call from jail shows how difficult life has become for Joseph Duggar. The 31-year-old is being held at the Washington County Detention Facility in Arkansas while he waits to be taken to Florida, where he faces serious charges of child molestation.
Joseph speaks from jail in phone call
On the evening of March 20, Joseph made a collect call to his wife Kendra from the jail. According to records from the Washington County Sheriff’s Office obtained by the People, the call connected at 8:11pm local time.
Just a few hours before this call, Kendra had been released from the same jail after being charged in a separate case. The two had not seen each other earlier that day when she was taken into custody.
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During the call, Joseph spoke quietly and said he is being kept in solitary confinement and spending most of his time alone in a small cell.
"I'm in solitary," he said. He also added that he spends “23 hours of the day” in “an 8-by-10 area”.
{{/usCountry}}"I'm in solitary," he said. He also added that he spends “23 hours of the day” in “an 8-by-10 area”.
{{/usCountry}}"I've been spending a lot of time reading, uh, reading the Bible, they got me a Bible in here,"
"Pretty small area, but I've been able to read a lot actually, and resting some, but I'm not sleeping great through the night," he added.
During the call, they also talked about Kendra collecting Joseph’s belongings from the jail. Even though she had been released less than two hours earlier, Kendra told him she had already hired a lawyer.
What are the charges against Joseph Duggar?
Joseph was arrested on March 18 and charged in Florida with lewd and lascivious molestation of a victim under 12 years old and lewd and lascivious behavior conducted by a person 18 years or older, per the Bay County Sheriff's Office. The allegations relate to incidents that reportedly took place during a family vacation in Panama City Beach in 2020, when the victim was just 9 years old.
Additionally, Joseph also faces additional criminal charges in Arkansas, which a source close to the investigation told People are unrelated to the Florida charges.