NORTH DARTMOUTH, Mass. — Michelle Carter walked out of the Bristol County House of Correction just before 9:30 a.m. after she was released more than three months early from her 15-month sentence.
The Plainville woman’s case drew international attention and became the subject of a popular documentary after she was convicted for urging her boyfriend to kill himself. But behind the jail walls, Carter’s life has been relatively routine since she arrived last February.
Carter was sentenced to 15 months in jail for involuntary manslaughter in 2017 for sending text messages urging her boyfriend, Conrad Roy, to kill himself. He died by suicide in 2014.
“She really actually was a model inmate, she got involved in various programs, hospitality, culinary, the service aid program, she was involved in the kitchen working as kitchen help, got involved in the recovery program, so she was very busy,” said Bristol County Sheriff Thomas M. Hodgson.
Hodgson said that Carter’s ability to stay busy means she’s getting out early.
“She’s earned her good time through those programs and she’ll be released tomorrow sometime after 9 o’clock,” Hodgson said Wednesday.
Carter, now 23 years old, will remain on probation for five years after she’s released.
Often, inmates with high-profile cases can be a challenge in correctional facilities. Hodgson said they did not have issues with Carter.
MORE: All the texts between Michelle Carter and Conrad Roy the day he died
“We didn’t really have many concerns in regard to her other than making sure her mental health state was good coming in and that it maintained its health condition until she was released and that seemed to go well,” he said.
Roy’s family says they are trying not to focus on Carter but on a passing a bill called Conrad’s Law, which would make it illegal to coerce someone who you know is vulnerable to suicide.
The bill calls for a punishment of up to 5 years in prison.
MORE: Defense rests in text message suicide trial; closing arguments to begin