South Carolina sets parole hearing date for Susan Smith; here’s when she becomes eligible

A parole hearing has been scheduled for Susan Smith, the Union County mother convicted of murdering her two toddler sons nearly three decades ago.

The hearing for Smith, 53, is set for Nov. 20 at 6:30 a.m. in Columbia, according to Anita Dantzler, spokesperson for the South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole, and Pardon Services.

A jury found Smith guilty in 1995 after she pushed a car with her two young children, Michael and Alex, into a Union County lake a year earlier. She originally said a Black man hijacked her car with the boys inside. Nine days later, she confessed to fabricating the story. She was sentenced to life in prison. 

Smith, being held at the Leath Correctional Institute near Greenwood, becomes eligible for parole on Nov. 4. The hearing will take place at the parole department’s headquarters. She will attend virtually.  

More: What to know about convicted murderer Susan Smith’s recent discipline, parole eligibility

The Greenville News previously reported that since being incarcerated, Smith had compiled a long list of violations that drew disciplinary actions from South Carolina Department of Corrections officials. 

Most recently, Smith was disciplined for communicating with a documentary filmmaker about her crimes, which is against SCDC policy, according to Chrysti Shain, department spokesperson. Smith was charged with the violation on Aug. 26 and found guilty at an internal hearing on Oct. 3. On Oct. 4, she lost her telephone, tablet, and canteen privileges for 90 days.   

The most prominent of the violations occurred in 2000 when Smith engaged in sexual acts with two corrections officers while at the Women’s Correctional Center in Columbia. Both officers were fired, and Smith was moved to Leath. 

She also was disciplined on four occasions for mutilation or injury to an inmate’s body that was self-inflicted. Smith’s disciplinary report said one of the incidents occurred in April 2009. The others happened in April 2010, June 2012, and October 2012. There also were reports of misuse of another inmate’s PIN and drug use.