Amy Duggar King hopes cousin Josh Duggar is feeling 'torture' while behind bars

Amy Duggar King hopes that her cousin Josh Duggar, who is behind bars for receiving and possessing child sexual abuse materials, is suffering for his actions.

"I hope every day there is absolute torture for him," the "19 Kids and Counting" and "Marriage Boot Camp" alum said in this week's issue of People. "I really hope that because what he watched and what he was viewing for his own fulfillment is those kids experiencing torture."

Read more: Jinger Duggar says family's 'cult-like' beliefs had her 'terrified of the outside world'

Josh Duggar, 36, was convicted and sentenced to 12½ years in prison in May 2022 and is locked up at FCI Seagoville federal prison in Texas. He is expected to stay imprisoned until October 2032 after his appeal was denied in October.

"He deserves every second in there, and I hope he gets a longer term. I hope he messes up again," his cousin told the magazine.

The disgraced reality TV star and his ultra-religious family starred in TLC’s hit “19 Kids and Counting,” which was canceled in 2015 after allegations surfaced that he had, as a teen, molested four of his younger sisters, including Jill Duggar Dillard and Jessa Duggar Seewald. The eldest son of Jim Bob Duggar and Michelle Duggar also built a large family of his own — he had seven children with his wife, Anna Duggar — but admitted using extramarital-affair website Ashley Madison and checked himself into rehab in 2015, reportedly for a pornography addiction.

The family’s follow-up show, “Counting On,” was canceled in 2021, months after Josh Duggar was arrested on child pornography charges.

Read more: Jinger Duggar isn't in the documentary series about her family. Here's why

Despite Duggar's conviction, his lawyer has maintained his client's innocence, arguing that the illicit images that were downloaded on a computer at a car dealership owned by Duggar could have been downloaded by someone else.

In 2023, Amazon Studios' four-part docuseries “Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets" dove into how the family's Christian fundamentalist religion, associated with the Institute in Basic Life Principles (founded by disgraced minister Bill Gothard), was a breeding ground for abusive behavior toward women and children.

The series included interviews with several members of the family, including Jill Duggar Dillard and Amy Duggar King, the only daughter of Jim Bob Duggar's older sister, Deanna Jordan. She did not grow up in the IBLP and had a less restrictive childhood than her cousins.

Read more: What 'Shiny Happy People' reveals about the Duggars: 'We were taken advantage of'

Amy Duggar King, 37, said she doesn't know if Josh Duggar is "doing any work" on himself during his time in prison. However, she also said that she has not spoken to him.

"And I will not. I will not," she told People. "When you just cross those evil lines like that, there is no coming back. I just think there's no coming back."

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.