Michelle Carter Serving Sentence in Dartmouth Prison
DARTMOUTH — Michelle Carter will spend over a year behind bars in the Bristol County House of Correction in Dartmouth.
Carter was ordered to begin serving her 15-month prison sentence Monday after the Bristol County District Attorney's Office requested that her stay of sentence be revoked since she lost the appeal of her involuntary manslaughter conviction to the state Supreme Court last week.
Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson says Carter is currently in solitary confinement as she undergoes evaluation.
"We're working on having her assimilate successfully right now," said Hodgson. "She's been going through her mental health and physical screening. We have every reason to believe that with our staff and programs we'll be able to have her assimilate in the period of time that she's there and anticipate her to be, hopefully, a model inmate."
Hodgson says he expects Carter to be integrated into the general inmate population within the next two weeks, if not sooner.
Carter was convicted in 2017 of involuntary manslaughter in the suicide death of 18-year-old Conrad Roy III of Mattapoisett. The teen was found dead of carbon monoxide poisoning in his truck in a Fairhaven parking lot in July of 2014. An investigation revealed that Carter was on the phone with Roy as he was having second thoughts about following through with the suicide, with Carter telling Roy to "get back in" his truck.
The case and ensuing trial garnered nationwide media attention as prosecutors argued that Carter's words effectively caused Roy's death. Carter's defense team lost their appeal of her conviction to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court last week, as well as a request for an extension of her stay of sentence. Her lawyers plan to take the appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Because of her highly publicized case, Sheriff Hodgson says Carter's safety is a concern, but assures that his staff is properly trained to handle any situation that may arise.
"Particularly in these notable cases, that's one of the things that they understand that they have to pay close attention to; if they see any inmates or hear of anything. They just pay very close attention to any conversations they might pick up."
Carter is not the first high-profile inmate to serve time in the Bristol County House of Correction. Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez spent several months in the prison in 2013 as he awaited trial in connection to the murder of Odin Lloyd. Hernandez was later transferred to the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Lancaster, Massachusetts after his conviction. Hernandez committed suicide in the prison in April 2017.