COLUMBIA, South Carolina — According to South Carolina Corrections Department authorities, convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh has lost his phone privileges as well as his jail tablet computer after his lawyer videotaped him reading his journal entries on a call for a documentary about his case.
Inmates are not allowed to speak to the media without authorization under prison policy because the agency “believes that victims of crime should not have to see or hear the person who victimized them or their family member on the news,” according to a state prison spokesperson Chrysti Shain.
According to Shain, the media interview infraction, as well as another violation for exploiting another inmate’s password to make a phone call, are prison disciplinary concerns rather than crimes.
Murdaugh also lost his ability to buy products in the jail canteen for a month during the Monday discipline session, according to Shain.
He will need approval from prison officials to obtain another tablet, which will allow him to make monitored phone calls, watch allowed entertainment, read books, or attend video lessons.
Murdaugh, 55, is serving a life sentence without the possibility of release for the murders of his wife and younger son.
Prosecutors claimed the now-disbarred attorney was concerned that investigators would discover he stole millions from his legal company and clients and was attempting to gain sympathy in order to buy more time to cover up the crimes.
Murdaugh flatly denied the deaths to investigators and on the stand.
According to jail documents, Murdaugh’s lawyer Jim Griffin filmed Murdaugh in June reciting entries from a notebook he maintained throughout his double murder trial for an upcoming Fox Nation series on his case.
Griffin received a message from prison officials warning him that if he deliberately or unwittingly assists Murdaugh in violating regulations again, he may lose his right to communicate with his client.
Griffin did not respond to an Associated Press message on Wednesday.
Because phone communications between attorneys and detainees are deemed confidential, they are not recorded or scrutinized. However, prison officials stated that they began investigating Murdaugh when a warden monitoring other phone conversations heard Murdaugh’s voice on a call made on the account of another inmate.
Murdaugh said that his phone’s passcode was no longer valid. According to jail documents, he also told the prison investigators about the taped diary entries.
According to court documents, Murdaugh is scheduled to enter a guilty plea in federal court on September 21 to accusations that he stole millions of dollars from clients. It will be his first time in court admitting to a crime.
In addition, Murdaugh is facing about 100 counts in state court. Authorities claim he stole millions of dollars from people who had suffered crippling injuries and needed money for medical treatment.
He is accused of stealing from his family’s legal practice and assisting in the operation of a narcotics network to launder money. According to authorities, he wanted a buddy to murder him on the side of a lonely highway so his son could get $10 million in life insurance. The bullet lightly grazed Murdaugh’s head.