Convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh lost his prison phone and canteen privileges after he broke rules about phone calls, partly for a documentary, according to records and the South Carolina Department of Corrections.
He read his journal entries on a phone call with his lawyer, Jim Griffin, which Griffin recorded and provided to the media, which is against the rules, the Corrections Department said in a statement.
“The department believes that victims of crime should not have to see or hear the person who victimized them or their family member on the news. Inmates lose the privilege of speaking to the news media when they enter SCDC,” the statement said.
Murdaugh, a former attorney, was convicted in March of killing his wife and adult son in 2021 and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Murdaugh also used another inmate’s PIN for a phone call, the department said, which also violated prison rules. He said he was using another person’s PIN because his was not working, according to a Corrections Department incident report.
Murdaugh read his journal entries to Griffin in a June 10 phone call, according to a letter the Corrections Department sent to Griffin.
The violations are administrative and are not crimes, the department said. Murdaugh’s tablet privileges were also revoked.
A Corrections Department incident report says the recording was for a coming Fox Nation documentary, “The Fall of the House of Murdaugh.”
The prison warden got a report from the Office of the Inspector General on Aug. 15 about reports that Murdaugh had participated in an interview with Fox Nation, according to the incident report.
Griffin did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent early Thursday. Fox News Media also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Prosecutors said Murdaugh killed his wife, Margaret, and their younger son, Paul, 22, on June 7, 2021, to gain pity and to distract from financial crimes.
The case and trial were widely publicized. Murdaugh was from a well-connected legal family in South Carolina’s Lowcountry.
CORRECTION (Aug. 31, 2023, 5:04 a.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated the date of a phone call between Murdaugh and Griffin. It was June 10, not July 10, according to records.
