Carter being a ‘model inmate’ at Bristol
Jailhouse newbie Michelle Carter has been polite to staff, took a book out of the clink’s library and has so far been a model inmate after being hauled off to the big house Monday for pressuring her boyfriend to kill himself.
Carter, 22, who is serving a 15month sentence for involuntary manslaughter at the women’s center at the Bristol County House of Correction in Dartmouth, could be moved into the general population as early as today, said Jonathan Darling, spokesman for Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson.
Carter has been residing in the facility’s medical area, adjusting to jail life, which is common for first-time offenders, Darling said Wednesday.
“She was doing OK and she’s just there to help get herself acclimated to a jail setting,” said Darling, who said Carter has been reading a book, the title of which he didn’t know. “We haven’t had any problems with her. She’s been very polite with our staff. So far she’s been a model inmate.”
Carter sent text messages to Conrad Roy III, 17, urging him to take his own life in a case that has attracted widespread media coverage.
So before Carter is handed her tan jumpsuit and moves into her cell in general population, security staff plans to interview some of the other female inmates to “take their pulse of the situation” to make sure Carter is safe, Darling said.
Finding out if a new inmate has any enemies is part of the intake process, Darling said, and is usually done with gang members.
“If there are a bunch of inmates who say ‘she’s evil’ or ‘we want to fight her’ obviously that would change her housing and her classification,” Darling said. “We don’t want any trouble with her or anybody else. We obviously wouldn’t house her in with those women.
“The safety of all inmates is our No. 1 priority,” Darling added.
Carter isn’t Bristol’s first highprofile inmate.
Former Patriots star Aaron Hernandez, convicted of murder, spent 18 months at the Bristol slammer before being moved to a state prison in Shirley, where he committed suicide in 2017.