Mackenzie Shirilla Says She Doesn’t ‘Need to Be Rehabilitated’ in Jail Call (Exclusive)

NEED TO KNOW

• Mackenzie Shirilla told her mother she does not believe she needs rehabilitation while discussing her future behind bars in a jail call obtained by PEOPLE

• Shirilla is serving two sentences of 15 years to life in prison for a fatal crash prosecutors said was intentional

• In the undated phone call, Shirilla and her mother discussed what prison life could look like after her 2023 conviction

Mackenzie Shirilla told her mother, Natalie Shirilla, that she does not believe she needs rehabilitation while discussing her future behind bars in a jail call obtained by PEOPLE.

The undated phone call was recorded while Mackenzie was being held at the Cuyahoga County Jail following her conviction in the July 2022 crash that killed her boyfriend, Dominic Russo, and their friend, 19-year-old Davion Flanagan.

The 21-year-old is now serving two sentences of 15 years to life at the Ohio Reformatory for Women in Marysville, Ohio, after prosecutors said she intentionally crashed her car into a brick wall at nearly 100 mph amid what they described as a toxic relationship between the couple.

During the call, Shirilla and her mother discuss what prison life could look like after her conviction, including visitation, school programs and other resources available to inmates.

“I like how they try to make it, like, enjoyable there,” Mackenzie says. “Like, I don’t even like, I don’t want to enjoy life there, but, like, it’s just sad. Like, I don’t know.”

Her mother responds that prison is meant to be rehabilitative.

“See, that’s how jail is supposed to rehabilitate people, but I don’t need to be rehabilitated,” Mackenzie says. “Like I don’t know that.”

Mackenzie Shirilla in court; Shirilla’s mugshot
Credit: WKYC Channel 3/Youtube; Ohio Reformatory for Women

Natalie goes on to say that prisons are intended to help inmates rebuild their lives through education, work opportunities, mental health support and other programs ahead of their eventual return to society.

“Not you, but people that have been convicted of crimes like actual criminals,” she tells her daughter.

Later in the conversation, Mackenzie, who will be eligible for parole in 2037, also talks about her fear of not having a family if she’s eventually released from prison.

Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.

“I feel like I want to live off the grid, like, and I’m just — I’m just I’m thinking about like how I’m just gonna be like old when I get out of jail and like, I don’t know, like I’m not gonna be able to have kids or like a family and sh– like that,” she says in the call.

Mackenzie and her family have always maintained she suffered a medical episode at the time of the crash and that it was an accident.

Her case has resurfaced in the public spotlight after Netflix released its new documentary The Crash on May 15, which features interviews with both Mackenzie’s family and the victims’ loved ones.

Read the original article on People