GREENWOOD — A chorus of “Welcome home!” greeted Tiffany Janae Carroll as she walked into the party thrown in her honor.
Friends and family wrapped her in hugs and whispered words of encouragement: “One day at a time” and “I’m so glad you’re back.”
The roughly 60-person gathering on Monday marked almost a week since the 38-year-old Greenwood mother returned to her hometown after spending nearly six years in prison for killing her abuser. Now, Carroll hopes to be fully reunited with her children and help other victims of domestic abuse who may share her experiences.
The state parole board, in a 4-2 vote Nov. 19, approved Carroll’s release following a years-long effort by her family, her second grade teacher, and two GOP legislators. She walked out of the women’s prison in Columbia six days later.
Inside the law office of one of Carroll’s supporters, state Rep. John McCravy, well-wishers clutched plates of pink- and red-frosted cake and clasped hands in prayer circles with Carroll as she greeted neighbors she hadn’t seen in years — and even some people she’d never met who prayed for her release.
Because of those efforts, Carroll was able to spend Thanksgiving at her aunt’s home in Simpsonville with her five children — ages 6, 9, 15, 16 and 18 — eating turkey, fried chicken and her grandmother’s specialty macaroni and cheese.
“I just have no words,” Carroll’s aunt Brenda McCullough told the group. “Thanksgiving was so wonderful. The kids were so glad to see each other. It was just like they’d never been apart all this time.”
Carroll spent the Monday after the holiday getting her identification card as she works to have her driver’s license renewed. She starts work Wednesday at Granny Hands and Landis catering company.
Her goal is to have all of her children home with her — hopefully by next summer.
“I just want to get all my kids under the same roof in the same household again,” Carroll told the SC Daily Gazette.
The two youngest children, both boys, live with another family member in Greenwood. Her 18-year-old daughter lives on her own, while her 16- and 15-year-old daughters live with family in Columbia.
Carroll said her daughters visited often while she was incarcerated. She saw the boys just once.
But Carroll feels as if they’ve picked up where they left off, loving her unconditionally. Her oldest daughter reached out and interlinked fingers with her mother as she visited with Greenwood friends she’s been separated from.
Carroll pleaded guilty but mentally ill to manslaughter in December 2019 for fatally stabbing her then-partner, 27-year-old William Jamal Johnson.
She was allowed to spend Christmas Day with her children and turned herself in the next day to begin her 15-year sentence.
Johnson repeatedly physically abused Carroll. Law enforcement officers responded to their home eight times between May 2016 and Johnson’s death, court records show.
She left twice, but as is common in cases of domestic abuse, she returned. She planned to leave again that day in September 2017, when the couple started arguing.
“That day, it was just too late,” Carroll told the Gazette.
At her first parole hearing, Carroll told the board that “he leaped out at me and hit me again.” She’s said she doesn’t remember what happened next. At some point she got a knife from the kitchen, cut him on the arm and ankle and stabbed him in the chest.
After realizing what she’d done, Carroll tried to save Johnson’s life, applying pressure to his wounds. He died at the local hospital.
A month before Carroll’s sentencing, a psychologist diagnosed her with post-traumatic stress disorder and major depressive disorder linked to severe domestic violence, also known as “battered woman syndrome.”
At sentencing, then-Circuit Court Judge Letitia Verdin (now a state Supreme Court justice) permitted Carroll to be eligible after serving 25% of her 15-year sentence, leading to the efforts for her release that began in 2022.
While in prison, Carroll said she befriended others who aren’t getting out early, including a woman serving a 30-year sentence for a similar crime with no possibility for parole.
Carroll said that’s why she wants to start a nonprofit to help other women plead their case for release.
She’d also like to work toward changes in state law for battered women, though she’s not yet sure what. And she hopes to share with others what she learned in prison programs about recognizing signs of abuse and anger management skills.
“When someone abuses you, they find ways to make you dependent on them, make you feel alone, make you feel like everyone is against you,” she said. “You don’t realize how serious it is.
“I wish I had had that knowledge that I have now,” Carroll added.
In addition to nonprofit work, Carroll also hopes to return to school, taking night classes in business management with the goal of one day opening a daycare.
She said the worst part of prison was being away from her children. She loves being a mother.
“I’m kind of a big kid myself,” she said.
The separation led to sleepless nights and times of lost hope. She said it was faith and the support of her community that helped her get through.
Now out of prison, she said, she refuses to let her time inside define her.
Jessica Holdman writes about the economy, workforce and higher education. Before joining the SC Daily Gazette, she was a business reporter for The Post and Courier.
SC Daily Gazette is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
