SC murderer Susan Smith sentenced ahead of parole hearing | Spartanburg News

A notorious South Carolina mother convicted of killing her two children in a high-profile Upstate case three decades ago has now been punished for violating prison rules in her dealings with a filmmaker, less than a month before her first one Parole threatens.

Susan Smith, now 53, was sentenced this month to internal discipline for communicating with a victim or witness. These are not criminal charges. According to S.C. Department of Corrections records, it was her first disciplinary action in nearly a decade.

Smith spoke to a documentary filmmaker by phone about her crimes and agreed to share contact information for friends, family and victims, including her former husband and the father of the boys she killed, prison spokeswoman Chrysti Shain said. The filmmaker then deposited money into Smith's prison account. Shain did not disclose the amount.

She was charged with the violation in August and convicted at an internal hearing on October 3. She lost her phone, tablet and cafeteria privileges for 90 days starting Oct. 4.

The state prison system does not allow inmates to conduct media interviews by phone or in person, only by writing letters.

Inmates are provided with electronic tablets that allow them to make monitored phone calls and email messages.

“They’re considered a privilege,” Shain said of the panels. “The department will determine when and if inmate Smith will be given the opportunity to receive a tablet again.”

On Nov. 3, 1994, Smith left her sons – 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alex – strapped in her car as she rolled it to John D. Long Lake in Union County, northwest South Carolina, about 30 miles east of Spartanburg .

She initially claimed that a black man had kidnapped her and fled with her children. She and her former husband appeared on local and national television advocating for the boys' safe return.

Smith later admitted to prosecutors what she had done.

Prosecutors sought the death penalty at trial. A jury convicted Smith in 1995, but she was sentenced to life in prison. She will be eligible for parole next month – 30 years after the crime.

Her parole hearing has not yet been scheduled, but she will be eligible for parole on November 4. Last fiscal year, only 1.6% of parole-eligible inmates serving life sentences were granted parole at their hearing.