Michelle Carter Released From Jail Early
Editor's Note
If you experience suicidal thoughts or have lost someone to suicide, the following post could be potentially triggering. You can contact the Crisis Text Line by texting “START” to 741741.
Update: Michelle Carter was released from jail early on January 23, 2020. Her original release date was scheduled for May 2020. Her early release was due to good behavior.
Michelle Carter is scheduled to be released from prison early after being convicted for playing a role in her then-boyfriend’s suicide.
Carter was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2017 after text messages showed she encouraged her then-boyfriend Conrad Roy III to die by suicide. She was 17 years old at the time, and Roy was 18. Roy died by suicide in 2014. Carter was sentenced to 15 months in prison after her conviction was upheld by the Massachusetts Supreme Court.
Carter’s case garnered national attention and was the subject of a two-part HBO documentary, “I Love You, Now Die: The Commonwealth vs. Michelle Carter.” Most recently, the Supreme Court of the United States declined to hear an appeal of her conviction on the grounds of free speech. A similar case will be tried in Massachusetts after Boston College student Inyoung You allegedly convinced her then-boyfriend Alexander Urtula to die by suicide.
According to Boston 25 News, Carter will be released from Bristol County House of Correction in Massachusetts on Jan. 23, after earning time for good behavior. Her initial release date was scheduled for May 2020.
“There have been no problems,” said Jonathan Darling, the spokesperson for the Bristol County Sheriff’s Department. “Ms. Carter continues to attend programs, is getting along with other inmates, is polite to our staff and volunteers, and we’ve had no discipline issues at all.”
Header image via Twitter
Renée Fabian was the features editor at The Mighty. She has also written for The Washington Post, VICE, Healthline, Talkspace, The Fix, The Establishment, The Culture Trip, and GRAMMY.com, among others. Renée was named a 2019 AHCJ Comparative Effectiveness Research fellow, a 2020 USC Center for Health Journalism California fellow, and holds a master's degree in journalism from the University of Southern California and a master's degree in psychology from Antioch University Los Angeles. You can follow her on Twitter @ryfabian.
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