Joseph Duggar discussed his time in jail during a phone call with his wife, Kendra Duggar.
“I felt like [the] past two nights, like not last night, but the two nights before that, there [were] people up all night, and it was really loud and stuff, but so I didn’t get good sleep,” Joseph, 31, said to Kendra, 27, during one phone conversation from his recent stay at the Washington County Sheriff’s Office in Arkansas, according to audio obtained by Us Weekly. “So yesterday was a little bit more miserable.”
Joseph added that it can get “busy during the day” but also feels “rough being in there.”
The Counting On alum also claimed to Kendra that the sounds coming from other inmates’ cells were making it hard for him to focus.
“Sometimes I can’t even hear myself think whenever they’re next door,” he said, noting that the noise was “like getting hit by a jackhammer.”
In a second call with Kendra, Joseph shared that he couldn’t get any shut eye claiming another inmate threw a “tantrum.”
“I didn’t get much sleep last night. There [were] some tantrums happening. All day yesterday, there’s one guy having this whole tantrum thing. I was kind of waiting till he went to sleep,” he claimed per additional audio obtained by Us. “He got all processed through, and then I went to sleep for just a little while. I don’t know how long, really, but a little while.”
Joseph added there was another person throwing “a fit for two or three hours throughout the night.”
“He was just talking really loud, and they’re having to deescalate him the whole time, and every other word was the F word type thing,” he alleged.
Joseph also recounted an additional tantrum he allegedly heard while in his cell.
“The guy in one of the cells next door, in the holding cell, he was supposed to get checked in. He’s been thrown a tantrum all day,” he claimed. “Almost entertaining, except for, he’s pretty vulgar. So, I focus on my Bible reading.”
Last month, Joseph was arrested in Arkansas on March 19. He was charged with lewd and lascivious behavior involving molestation of a victim less than 12 years old and lewd and lascivious behavior conducted by a person 18 years or older after a 14-year-old victim came forward to police accusing Joseph of molesting her when she was 9-years-old during a 2020 vacation to Panama City Beach, Florida.
Joseph was extradited to Florida earlier this week, where he pleaded not guilty. He was released on $600,000 bail.
In addition to the molestation case, Joseph and Kendra were both charged with four counts of endangering the welfare of a minor, second-degree, and four counts of second-degree false imprisonment. These charges are unrelated to the molestation allegations.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). If you or someone you know is experiencing child abuse, call or text Child Help Hotline at 1-800-422-4453.
