Susan Smith is approaching her first shot at parole this fall, 30 years after she drowned her two young sons, but reports of her romances from behind bars show she still sees humans as “disposable,” one expert said.

Smith, now 51, is scheduled for her first parole hearing on Nov. 4, three decades to the date after she confessed to drowning her 3-year-old, Michael Daniel, and 14-month-old, Alexander Tyler, in a South Carolina lake. 

Prosecutors had said Smith was driven to kill her boys a week after her ex-boyfriend and prospective affair partner, Tom Findlay, penned a letter about her sons being an obstacle.

“Susan, I could really fall for you. But like I have told you before, there are some things about you that aren’t suited for me, and yes, I am speaking about your children,” he wrote, according to Deseret News. 

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Licensed clinical and police psychologist Dr. Katherine Kuhlman told Fox News Digital that Smith’s behavior is symptomatic of Dependent Personality Disorder (DPD), which she said was likely a contributing factor in Smith’s 1994 crime and is showcased to this day by her litany of romantic correspondences.

DPD is characterized by a “need for others to be responsible for the most important aspects of their life,” according to the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. People with DPD have “difficulty disagreeing with others because they fear the loss of support or approval.”

Over the past three years, Smith has courted nearly a dozen suitors over monitored jailhouse messages and telephone calls, according to the New York Post. Many of them have offered her financial security should she be released from prison, and conversations with many have taken breathy, sensual turns, the newspaper reported.

Most recently, one of those men told the outlet that he first fell in love with the inmate, then felt “duped.”

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Michael Daniel Smith, 3, and his 14-month-old brother, Alexander Tyler Smith, are shown in a family photo. Their mother, Susan Smith, was convicted in their deaths.

“She always wanted something from me,” the South Carolina man, who corresponded with Smith for 18 months before cutting ties with her, told the Post.

“We’re not men to her; we’re marks,” he said. “She’s always figuring out what she can get.”

“To her, it looks like humans are disposable,” Kuhlman said. “Her kids are disposable, relationships are disposable. Once they no longer serve her, she’s done…the question is whether she’s intentionally manipulative or if it’s a product of this disorder she’s suffering.”

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Toys are pictured at a small memorial beside the spot where Michael and Alexander Smith were drowned in 1994.  (Photo by William F. Campbell/Getty Images)

Kuhlman told Fox News Digital that there is “not a lot of treatment” available for personality disorders – especially not while incarcerated. 

“There’s no medication that can treat it,” she said. “It’s a mindset that becomes ingrained in somebody typically starting in their younger childhood years. They can learn to try to manage it…but treatment of personality disorders is pretty intensive.”

“Prisoners are not operating at that intensive level of treatment,” Kuhlman continued. “They’re more focused on making sure that depressed people don’t kill themselves and keeping people calm.”

“She could [tell the parole board] that she was working through it, but I’m not sure that would be possible,” Kuhlman said.

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Legal identity photograph of Susan Smith. She was convicted on July 22, 1995 of murdering her two sons, 3-year-old Michael Daniel Smith, and 14-month-old Alexander Tyler Smith. (Photo by Brooks Kraft LLC/Sygma via Getty Images)

With a parole hearing slated for Nov. 4, Smith seemed hopeful in one recorded phone call. 

“It’s time for me to get out,” Smith reportedly told one suitor over the phone earlier this year. “I’ve done my time. I’m ready to go.”

But criminal defense attorney Philip Holloway told Fox News Digital that her chances of an early release are “unlikely.”

“I expect that she would be denied parole – the facts of this case are horrific,” Holloway said. “I see it’s unlikely that she would be released into society.” 

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Holloway mentioned Smith’s lengthy record of prison misconduct. According to the South Carolina Department of Corrections, Smith lost canteen, visitation and telephone privileges for drug use twice in 2010 and again in 2012. Also in 2010, Smith lost privileges for self harm.

“[Her record] would suggest that there is an inability that remains in her, the inability to conform to rules and regulations in things that we expect,” Holloway said. “We have societal norms and rules and laws that we are all expected to abide by – if she is not able to follow the rules and live within the expected guidelines that are given to her [in prison], I don’t see any reason to expect any different if she is released into society.”

David Smith holds up a picture of his murdered sons Michael and Alex and smiles after his ex-wife, Susan Smith, was sentenced to life imprisonment on two counts of murder in Union, South Carolina.  (Reuters)

Smith’s jail time romances shouldn’t play a role in the parole board’s decision, Holloway said – instead, surviving relatives of her slain children could impact the board’s decision with statements opposing her parole. 

David Smith, the father of the two murdered children, has since remarried and fathered two additional children. He and his family reportedly intend to oppose Smith’s release.

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“David still thinks of his boys every day, and doesn’t ever want Susan to get out,” one of the man’s relatives told The Messenger. “She belongs in jail… she is exactly where she needs to be – in prison. And we will do what it takes to keep her there.” 

Smith has confirmed her intention to show up at the hearing, the Post reported. Meanwhile, the South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services has notified victims’ families about the upcoming hearing.

The Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia (FCPS) is launching a pilot program for several middle schools to prohibit students’ cellphone access during the school day, starting in the 2024-25 school year.

Seven schools will participate in the pilot program: Frost Middle School, Irving Middle School, Jackson Middle School, Poe Middle School, Robinson Middle School, Thoreau Middle School and Twain Middle School.

The schools “will be phone-free during the school day in order to limit classroom disruptions and improve student engagement and learning,” FCPS said on its website.

During the week of September 2, students attending schools in the pilot program will receive a cell phone storage pouch, called a Yondr pouch, which is magnetic and prevents students from using their phones, including for social media, text messages and phone calls.

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Students will be responsible for their own Yondr pouch and will bring it with them to school every day.

Upon arriving at school each morning, students will safely lock their phone in their Yondr pouch and carry it inside their backpack. Airpods must be secured in the pouch or placed in the students’ backpacks while smartwatches must be turned off or put on airplane mode.

In situations where there is a family emergency, parents may contact the school’s front office.

“The purpose of the pilot program is to create a more engaged learning environment for students, free of distraction from cell phones and social media,” FCPS said on its website. “Studies show that students who use their cell phones during instructional time focus less, learn less, and achieve lower grades.”

Students will be responsible for their own Yondr pouch and will bring it with them to school every day. (Getty Images)

The new cellphone policy will be enforced bell to bell each day at school.

Students will hold onto their phones throughout the day but will not use them until their pouches are opened at the end of the school day at a Yondr unlocking station.

If a student forgets their pouch, they must store their cellphone in the front office for the school day, and it will be returned to the student after school.

In the event that a student damages or loses their pouch, school staff will collect the phone or pouch and send it to the front office for the remainder of the school day, and the student will be assessed an $18 replacement fee.

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During the 2024-25 school year, seven schools will be participating in the pilot program. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato, File)

This comes after Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed an executive order last month directing the Virginia Department of Education “to draft guidance for public school divisions to adopt local policies and procedures establishing cell phone-free education.”

“The necessity of implementing cell-phone free education in Virginia’s K-12 public schools is increasingly evident,” Youngkin wrote in the order. “Parents, public health professionals, educators, and other stakeholders across the Commonwealth are expressing concern over the alarming mental health crisis and chronic health conditions affecting adolescents, such as depression and anxiety, driven in part by extensive social media usage and widespread cell phone possession among children.”

“Cellphone-free education will significantly reduce the amount of time students can be on phones without parental supervision,” he added.

Other school districts in Virginia and elsewhere, including California, New York, Texas and Georgia, have also begun implementing policies restricting cellphone use during the school day, with many utilizing the Yondr pouches.

A Florida inmate who was captured last week after faking an injury and escaping a hospital was able to flee from custody because the deputy tasked with guarding him was “likely sleeping,” according to authorities.

Flagler County Deputy Tyrique Harper resigned on Tuesday before the start of a former internal investigation into how 29-year-old Anthony Romine escaped from AdventHealth Palm Coast Hospital, prompting the facility to go on lockdown and a massive manhunt for the inmate, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

“Witnesses indicate that Deputy Tyrique Harper was likely sleeping during the time of the escape and the inmate was not properly restrained in accordance to policy,” the sheriff’s office said.

Harper had been relieved of law enforcement duties immediately following the escape on July 27 while a preliminary review of the incident was being conducted.

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Romine was initially arrested on July 3 on a felony warrant for petty theft, violation of his pre-trial release and counterfeiting. He was later taken to a hospital after claiming he fell, an injury that investigators eventually determined he had faked in an effort to escape and return to Ohio, where he is originally from, authorities said. 

Anthony Romine, 29, seen after his capture and before his escape on security video.  (Flagler County Sheriff’s Office)

The manhunt lasted about seven hours until a Flagler County Sheriff’s K-9 team tracked Romine to a wooded area by a gas station in Flagler County. He was hiding underneath some foliage and underbrush, and video footage shows a K-9 dragging a screaming Romine out from the bushes.

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“Fortunately, Romine was apprehended, and no additional crimes were committed by him in his escape attempt,” said Mark Strobridge, chief of staff of the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office. 

Strobridge said that Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly, pictured above, expects all deputies to follow the office’s policies, which includes not falling asleep on duty. (Flagler County Sheriff’s Office, File)

“Sheriff Staly expects all deputies will follow our policies and not sleep while on-duty,” Strobridge continued. “Our Agency motto is ‘An Honor to Serve, A Duty to Protect,’ and that did not occur in this incident by Deputy Harper.”

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After Romine’s capture, felony escape was added to the list of charges against him, as well as battery on a law enforcement officer without violence. 

Fox News’ Louis Casiano contributed to this report.