Revocation of Alex Murdaugh’s Inmate Communication Perks Following Unauthorized Recording by Legal Counsel

Incarcerated felon Alex Murdaugh has been stripped of his telephone access and prison-assigned tablet device after it was revealed that his attorney recorded a phone conversation featuring Murdaugh reading from his journal. The recording was intended for inclusion in a forthcoming documentary about Murdaugh’s case, according to officials from the South Carolina Corrections Department.

Departmental regulations disallow prisoners from communicating with media outlets without official authorization. This policy is founded on the belief that crime victims or their families should not be subjected to exposure to the perpetrator through news platforms, as articulated by state prisons spokesperson Chrysti Shain.

The breach of media communication guidelines, in addition to another transgression involving the utilization of another inmate’s telephone access credentials, constitute disciplinary matters within the prison system, rather than criminal offenses, noted Shain.

Furthermore, Murdaugh has been barred from making purchases at the prison commissary for a one-month period. To regain tablet access—which facilitates supervised phone calls, sanctioned entertainment, e-book reading, and video coursework—Murdaugh will require explicit permission from prison authorities, added Shain.

Murdaugh, aged 55, is currently serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for the murders of his wife and younger son. Prosecutors contend that Murdaugh, a formerly practicing lawyer who has since been disbarred, was fearful of imminent detection for embezzlement activities involving his law firm and clients. His objective, they claim, was to gain public sympathy and allocate additional time to obscure his criminal actions.

Despite resolute denials of the murders during investigative processes and courtroom testimony, Murdaugh is facing an upcoming guilty plea on September 21 in federal court for absconding with client funds, according to legal documents. This admission will represent his inaugural acknowledgment of criminal conduct within a court of law.

His legal troubles do not end there, however. Murdaugh confronts approximately 100 additional charges in state court, accused of defrauding clients in desperate need of medical finances, looting his family’s law practice, and involvement in a narcotics distribution network to launder ill-gotten gains. Authorities have also charged him with a failed suicide-for-insurance scheme aimed to secure a $10 million life insurance payout for his son—a plan that resulted in merely a superficial head injury to Murdaugh himself.

Murdaugh’s attorney, Jim Griffin, has been cautioned by prison administrators that future infractions, either willful or accidental, could jeopardize his capability to communicate with his client. As of the most recent updates, Griffin has not responded to inquiries from The Big Big News.

Conversations between legal counsel and inmates are customarily exempt from recording and scrutiny, given their confidential nature. Nonetheless, prison authorities initiated an investigation into Murdaugh’s activities after a warden inadvertently overheard his voice during a phone call made from another inmate’s account. According to prison records, Murdaugh explained his unauthorized use of another inmate’s phone account by stating that his own phone credentials were malfunctioning. He also volunteered information about the recorded journal entries to prison investigators.