The grandfather of a US teen who died after his girlfriend encouraged him to commit suicide has slammed her early release from prison.

Michelle Carter was jailed over her role in 18-year-old Conrad Roy III's death in 2014 in a landmark case that grabbed the world's attention.

She was last year sentenced to 15 months in prison following a high-profile court case in Massachusetts that laid bare how she had encouraged him to commit suicide.

She was convicted of involuntary manslaughter after a judge heard how she had encouraged Conrad to kill himself via texts and phonecalls.

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The court heard how Carter, then aged 17, had even ordered her boyfriend to "get back in" his truck after he expressed second thoughts about taking his own life.

Now Carter has been released from her prison sentence four months early today for good behaviour, in a move that has angered her family, the Boston Herald reports.

Grandfather Conrad Roy told the newspaper he was aghast at a Bristol County Sheriff's office's description of Carter as a "model inmate."

He said: “The sheriff should serve the rest of her time.

"He lets her go because she’s a good girl? She’s not a good girl.”

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  Girl who convinced 18-year-old boyfriend to kill himself 'has no conscience', victim's family say

Carter was convicted after prosecutors told a juvenile court how she had encouraged Roy to get back in his carbon-monoxide filled truck in a parking lot about 60 miles south of Boston.

He had told Carter of his plans as he filled his parked truck with carbon monoxide from a generator he had hooked up to it.

She wrote to him: "You're finally going to be happy in heaven. No more pain. It's okay to be scared and it's normal.

"I mean, you're about to die. I thought you wanted to do this. The time is right and you're ready – just do it babe."

• 
  Teen texter who repeatedly messaged boyfriend encouraging him to kill himself is GUILTY of involuntary manslaughter

Carter's 2017 trial highlighted the dangers of cyber-bullying.

But it also promoted criticism from civil liberties advocates who argued the judge overreached by finding Carter guilty for her speech.

Carter opted against a jury trial, leaving her fate in the hands of a judge who found her guilty of involuntary manslaughter.

Carter's legal team made attempts to help her avoid a jail sentence, appealing her conviction.

However Massachusetts' top court last year upheld the conviction, and Carter was finally jailed nearly five years after Conrad's death.

Carter began serving her sentence last February, and in September was denied early release by a parole board, which found she displayed a "lack of empathy."

Conrad's family have reportedly supported a bill in the US aimed at cracking down on incitement of suicide.

Named 'Conrad's Law,' it would make convincing or manipulating someone into taking their own life a crime punishable by a jail sentence of up to five years.

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