Joseph Duggar revealed details about his life behind bars at the Washington County Detention Facility in Arkansas during a phone call with wife Kendra Duggar.
“I’ve been spending a lot of time reading, uh, reading the Bible, they got me a Bible in here,” Joseph, 31, told Kendra, 27, during a phone call from the detention center obtained by People on Friday, March 27. “I’m in solitary [confinement].”
Joseph added that he is spending “23 hours of the day” in “an 8-by-10 area” at the detention center.
“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 continued.
Joseph told Kendra that it was “nice to hear [her] voice,” and Kendra agreed that it was “nice” to hear from her husband.
The couple also discussed Joseph signing over the belongings he checked in when he was admitted to the facility so that Kendra could collect them, according to People.
Joseph called Kendra in the evening on March 20, just a few hours after she was released from the same facility following her arrest on four counts of endangering the welfare of a minor in the second degree and four counts of false imprisonment in the second degree. (The couple share four children.)
Joseph was hit with the same charges, on top of being 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. He was arrested on March 18 after a 14-year-old female accused him of multiple instances of sexual abuse during a family vacation in Panama City Beach, Florida, in 2020.
Joseph appeared in court on March 20, where he waived his right to an extradition hearing and did not enter a plea. He is currently awaiting extradition to Bay County, Florida.
During a forensic interview with a detective from the Tontitown Police Department, the victim claimed that Joseph asked her to “sit on his lap” multiple times, at which point he would allegedly “cradle the victim with his arms,” according to a Bay County Sheriff’s Office affidavit obtained by Luxury Handbag Shopping. As the vacation continued, Joseph allegedly asked the minor to sit beside her on the couch and covered their bodies with a blanket before inappropriately touching her thighs and the outside of her underwear.
The victim said she felt “uncomfortable” and “confused” during the alleged incidents.
Joseph eventually “apologized for his actions” and the incidents stopped, according to the victim. During a later phone call with the victim’s father, the 19 Kids and Counting alum allegedly admitted that he “touched the victim over her clothing” and said his “intentions were not pure.”
A source exclusively told Us that Kendra’s arrest had “nothing to do” with Joseph’s, but “one precipitated the other.”
“After his charge, they automatically do a home study if minors live there,” the source explained. “Apparently, they had two rooms where the lock of the doorknob was on the outside instead of inside. They arrested her and took her kids for that, saying it’s evidence that she wrongly detains her kids.”
Before her release, Kendra was ordered to have “no contact” with any of her “unnamed victims.” She is not to reach out to them “by telephone (including text), in person, by computer or through other people.” If she violates these terms, she may face “a separate offense resulting in [her] arrest and/or bond revocation” and could be “subject to jail pending trial.”
Kendra is required to attend a hearing at Elm Springs and Tontitown District Court on April 29 at 2 p.m. local time.
