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When Steven McBee Jr. and his family dropped off patriarch Steve McBee Sr. to begin serving his 24 month prison sentence in Yankton, S.D. on The McBee Dynasty: Real American Cowboys, they chartered a bus. The reason? They all wanted to soak up every last moment together on the roughly five-hour road trip before saying their goodbyes.
Upon arrival, Steve Sr. walked into the prison camp alone, with his loved ones wiping away tears as they watched him out the bus windows. As emotional as the scene from Season 3, Episode 6, of The McBee Dynasty looked on screen, Steven Jr. revealed in an exclusive interview with Bravo Insider that the experience was even more heartbreaking behind the scenes.
"Dropping off my dad at prison was, candidly, one of the hardest days I've ever had in my entire life," he said. "On one hand, at the personal side of the situation, I'm losing my dad for two years. We're not gonna be able to talk to him, not gonna be able to see him, not going to be able to call him up when things get hard. And then on the professional side I'm thinking, oh man, what are the next two years going to look like for us boys? How are we gonna keep these businesses and this farm alive?"
From Steven Jr.'s perspective, the personal impact outweighed any professional challenges that his father's absence might present, especially considering Steve Sr. was also leaving behind his two new granddaughters, Cole McBee and Kacie Adkison's daughter, Blair; and Jesse McBee and Alli McBee's daughter, Summer.
RELATED: Cole McBee Offers an Update on Steve McBee Sr.'s Life in Prison (EXCLUSIVE)
"My dad is such a big figure in all of our lives," Steven Jr. added. "I mean we're over there for dinner at his house three or four nights out of the week, literally all of us boys. So, knowing that's going away, knowing that he's missing out on Blair and Summer, the first couple years of their life, it is very hard to think about my dad not being around."
Does the McBee Family talk to Steve McBee in prison?
Yes, although Steve Sr. is behind bars at FPC Yankton, roughly 340 miles from the family farm in Gallatin, Mo., Steven and the others are still "able to stay in touch" with him, though not as frequently as they would like.
"I'd say we email once every week, week and a half," Steven Jr. shared. "And I have a phone call with him once every two weeks or so."
With such a large family, also including brother Brayden McBee and matriarch Kristi McBee, as well as Steve Sr.'s girlfriend Masha Petrova, jockeying for those precious moments of one-on-one phone conversations, scheduling is a necessity.
RELATED: Are Masha Petrova and Steven McBee Still Together? Their Relationship Status, Explained
"He only gets 15 minutes of phone calls a day, so he cycles through all of us boys, my mom, Masha," Steven Jr. detailed. "He doesn't tell us, but definitely Masha on probably a couple of those days throughout the week."
Why is Steve McBee Sr. in prison?
Steve Sr. pleaded guilty to one count of federal crop insurance fraud in November 2024. By entering a guilty plea, he "admitted that he engaged in fraudulent activity from 2018 to 2020 that caused an economic loss to the U.S. Department of Agriculture," according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Western District of Missouri.
On October 16, 2025, a federal judge sentence Steve Sr. to serve 24 months in federal prison, along with having to pay a combined $7 million in fines and restitution. As seen in The McBee Dynasty's July 20 episode, Steve Sr. self-surrendered at FPC Yankton on December 1, 2025 to begin his sentence.
"It's a minimum-security prison camp," Steven Jr. explained in a confessional. "To see him walking away into prison by himself, it is a top 3 hardest day of my life."
He concluded, "I don't want to say that it's broken our spirit, but we're damn close to being there. All I know is I'm going to be here for my family, and we're gonna make it through this. And we're gonna be stronger than ever, moving forward."
Is Steve McBee Sr. still in prison?
Yes, Steve is still in prison, but will be returning home sooner than expected.
In an interview published on July 20, Steven Jr. told Page Six's Virtual Reali-Tea that Steve Sr. will be released on September 11, 2026, less than one year into his two year sentence.
As the brothers keep the businesses running in Steve Sr.'s absence, don't miss an update on the McBee family's financial problems.
—Reporting by Stephanie Gomulka
