Josh Duggar Moved to Ohio Prison Facility

Former reality television personality Josh Duggar has been transferred to a federal correctional facility in Ohio, marking his fifth prison relocation in five years following his conviction on child pornography charges.

Court documents obtained by Us Weekly confirm that Duggar, 38, is now imprisoned at FCI Elkton in Lisbon, Ohio. A Federal Bureau of Prisons spokesperson confirmed to KNWA TV that Duggar was transferred from temporary accommodations at FTC Oklahoma City to FCI Elkton on Wednesday, July 8.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons describes FCI Elkton as a low security federal correctional institution with an adjacent low security satellite prison. The facility currently houses just over 2,000 inmates between its two campuses.

Duggar was initially detained at the Washington County Detention Center in Arkansas following his 2021 arrest. He was convicted of receiving and possessing child sexual abuse material in December 2021 and sentenced to 12 years of incarceration. Duggar has maintained his innocence throughout the legal proceedings and has suggested there were errors in the admission of forensic evidence at his trial.

The former 19 Kids and Counting star served the majority of his 151-month prison sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Seagoville, Texas, before being moved to FMC in Fort Worth earlier this year. No official explanation was provided for his transfer between the two Texas facilities. Prior to his most recent relocation to FCI Elkton, he spent several months at Federal Transfer Center in Oklahoma City.

Duggar has continued to appeal his conviction despite the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit upholding the trial ruling in October 2023. In June 2024, the Supreme Court declined to review his appeal to have his criminal conviction overturned.

The conviction represents the culmination of legal troubles that have followed Duggar for more than a decade. Prior to his child pornography case, he released a public statement in 2015 addressing accusations in a police report that he molested five girls, four of whom were his sisters, when he was a teenager.

"Twelve years ago, as a young teenager, I acted inexcusably for which I am extremely sorry and deeply regret," he said in a statement in May 2015. "I hurt others, including my family and close friends. I confessed this to my parents who took several steps to help me address the situation. We spoke with the authorities where I confessed my wrongdoing, and my parents arranged for me and those affected by my actions to receive counseling. I understood that if I continued down this wrong road that I would end up ruining my life."

Later in 2015, Duggar issued another public apology when he was named in the Ashley Madison leak, which exposed information tying him to the website designed to facilitate extramarital affairs.

"I have been the biggest hypocrite ever," the conservative political activist wrote on the Duggar Family website at the time. "While espousing faith and family values, I have secretly over the last several years been viewing pornography on the internet and this became a secret addiction and I became unfaithful to my wife. I am so ashamed of the double life that I have been living and am grieved for the hurt, pain and disgrace my sin has caused my wife and family, and most of all Jesus and all those who profess faith in Him."

Duggar shares seven children with his wife Anna Duggar. According to Us Weekly, Anna, 37, helped Josh with his 2025 motion to vacate his sentence. A judge ruled in June that Josh filed the motion late, rendering it ineligible for review.

Representatives for the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the Duggar family have not responded to requests for comment regarding the recent transfer.