Alex Murdaugh is seen shirtless in leaked pictures from his South Carolina jail-issued tablet

Shirtless selfies of Alex Murdaugh lounging about in his prison cell have been leaked from his South Carolina jail-issued tablet that he gets to play games and make FaceTime calls on.  

Murdaugh can be seen with and without his t-shirt, yawning at the screen and wearing headphones in the snapshots that are thought to have been automatically taken by his device each time he logged on.

The pictures from the South Carolina Department of Corrections were taken throughout June and show Murdaugh's ginger hair has grown back since March, when his first photo from prison showed him with a shaved head. 

Murdaugh - who is currently serving two life sentences for the shooting deaths of his wife Maggie, 52, and son Paul, 22 - can even be seen smiling in some of the 34 photos obtained by YouTuber Phone Calls From Prison in a Freedom of Information request. 

The bare surroundings of the cell can be seen with the framework of a metal bed and a single desk lamp attached to a railing - and at least one of the photos seems to have been taken at night with Murdaugh’s face only illuminated by the glow of the tablet. 

Photos of convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh lounging about with his top off in his South Carolina prison cell have been posted online

In a series of selfies from prison, Murdaugh can be seen using a prison-issued tablet that he makes video calls with

In another shot appears to be relaxing as he places his arm behind his head

In many of the photos Murdaugh is seen with his top off - some from above as he relaxes in bed - while in many others he can be seen wearing a white t-shirt and occasionally a set of yellow headphones.

Sometimes he can be seen hugging a cushion to his chest inside his tiny room at McCormick Correctional Institution near South Carolina's border with Georgia.

Murdaugh does not appear to be too unhappy with his new home and in several of the snaps can be seen relaxing as he places his arm behind his head. 

It's unclear whether Murdaugh has been making video calls to his remaining son, Buster, from the tablet - which does not allow general internet access but does allow inmates to place calls to family and friends with prison approval. 

The gadgets are also believed to come with a selection of basic apps including movies, games and radio that prisoners are allowed to listen to and emails can be sent to approved contacts.

Fellow YouTuber JumpSuitPablo who also posted them in an online video says he believes recent storms in South Carolina may have knocked out the prison air conditioning system resulting in Murdaugh taking off his top.

At least one of the photos seems to have been taken late at night with the prison cell’s lights off and Murdaugh’s face only illuminated by the glow of the tablet

Murdaugh does not appear to be too unhappy with his new home and in several of the snaps can be seen smiling

In some of the snaps, Murdaugh can be seen yawning as he relaxed on his prison bed

This shot sees Murdaugh walking along a prison corridor 

When the tablets were first introduced to the prison in 2019, there was outrage online.

One viewer to local TV station ABC4 said, 'This is jail not a luxury cruise.'

'Throw mad money at incarcerated criminals because they are still breaking the law while in prison,' said another. 

This tablet is supposed to help inmates connect to family and friends 'in a more meaningful way.'

'For the guys that are just using them because they want to lay on their bunks at night and talk to their mom, now they will be able to do that with these tablets,'  former corrections director Jon Ozmint said. 

'I think what they do more than anything else is they fight that boredom that breeds hopelessness, by eliminating the boredom you are also eliminating the hopelessness,' says Ozmint. 

More than 140 institutions across the country are said to be using similar devices.

'My big selling point was talking to other directors and frankly other jail administrators about how much safer it made it for their officers, staff,' said South Carolina Director of Corrections Bryan Stirling.

'Safer because the prisoners stayed engaged, able to study, communicate and relax. They will pay for that privilege. Just like a traditional phone call their use will be charged and heavily monitored.'

Murdaugh appears shirtless in  man of the pictures obtained from his prison tablet

Sometimes Murdaugh can be seen hugging a cushion to his chest

As a convicted double murderer, Murdaugh is being housed with the state's most brutal and violent inmates.

McCormick Correctional Institution, which has a maximum capacity of 1,128 adult male inmates, has a violent and chaotic history which includes prisoners rioting, inmates murdered in their cells and drugs being smuggled in via drone. 

Despite his crimes, Murdaugh has allegedly been bombarded with love letters and approached by Netflix for further episodes of its docuseries Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal.

The life he is now living is a far cry from the privileged world of multi-million dollar homes from the coast to the hunting lands of the Lowcountry he is used to.

Prisoners can be held in the general population or in special management, which is reserved for those who are difficult to manage, are on disciplinary, who have safety and security concerns or are in protective custody.

The offenders at the level 3 maximum security institution, located on the Georgia-South Carolina border, have usually committed violent acts. They are closely supervised and held in single or double bunked cells.

Offenders can take adult literacy courses, earn a GED, and various religious worship services and substance abuse treatment programs are provided.

McCormick Correctional Institution also participates in the correctional industries program and inmates are employed in an upholstery shop, in powder coating metal products, and in a modular furniture plant.

Smiling Alex Murdaugh appears shaven-headed in a mugshot from prison on March 7 2023 

Murdaugh was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences in March following a six-week blockbuster trial 

McCormick Correctional Facility where Alex Murdaugh is being held

Alex Murdaugh is led out of the courthouse to a waiting prison van to begin his life sentence in March

Murdaugh was found guilty of murdering his wife and son at the family's hunting estate in Moselle in June 2021 after a trial in the county where he was formerly a top lawyer. 

Through more than 75 witnesses and nearly 800 pieces of evidence, jurors heard about betrayed friends and clients, Murdaugh's failed attempt to stage his own death in an insurance fraud scheme, a fatal boat crash in which his son was implicated, the housekeeper who died in a fall in the Murdaugh home and the grisly scene of the killings.

The lawyer admitted stealing millions of dollars from the family firm and clients, saying he needed the money to fund his drug habit.

Before he was charged with murder, Murdaugh was in jail awaiting trial on about 100 other charges ranging from insurance fraud to tax evasion.

During his trial, disgraced Murdaugh, whose family has wielded immense judicial power in the region for three generations, lied to cops about his alibi before making the sensational decision to take the stand where he changed his story to fit damning evidence.

Alex Murdaugh with wife Maggie and their sons Buster (left) and Paul (right) 

The life Murdaugh now faces is a far cry from the privileged world of multi-million dollar homes from the coast to the hunting lands of the Lowcountry he is used to

Just after 10pm on June 7, 2021, Murdaugh called 911 claiming through blubbering tears that he had discovered his wife and son gunned down outside the kennels of their estate.

However, Murdaugh had fired five shots at his wife with an automatic rifle before shooting his son in the head and chest with a different weapon to make it look as though his barbaric murders were an ambush.

As police arrived on the scene, the lawyer said he had been to visit his mother and had returned to discover his Maggie and Paul dead. 

As video evidence would later reveal, he was lying.

Prosecutors think Murdaugh killed his wife and son because he feared his years of stealing millions of dollars from his law firm and clients would be exposed and his lofty standing in the community toppled.

They said he hoped their deaths would make him a sympathetic figure and draw attention away from the missing money.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pa3IpbCmmZmhe6S7ja6iaKaVrMBwrdGtoJyklWJ%2Bc3%2BPbmpvb192uabEjIasq5yRqrSpedKenKdlo522s8DLnqqsZZyarqyxw2anopukqr%2Bmv4yMpq6smGKQor7OpaCnmV2frqq4jKKqrK2VmXq1rcGlnK1mmKm6rQ%3D%3D