Mackenzie Shirilla is behind bars at the Ohio Reformatory for Women — and she is not going anywhere for a long time.
She was convicted in a 2023 bench trial of 12 felony charges, including murder, after driving her Toyota Camry at over 100 mph into a brick wall in Strongsville, Ohio, in July 2022. The crash killed her boyfriend, Dominic Russo, and her high school friend Davion Flanagan, both of whom were passengers in the vehicle. Shirilla, then 17, was the only person to survive despite sustaining severe injuries.
She was sentenced to two concurrent 15-years-to-life terms and will not be eligible for parole until October 2037. Her case reentered the pop culture conversation this year after Netflix released The Crash, a May 2026 documentary in which she breaks her silence about the fatal wreck.
Where Is Mackenzie Shirilla Incarcerated?
Shirilla is serving her time at the Ohio Reformatory for Women, a state prison in Marysville, Ohio. Authorities — and later a judge — determined that Shirilla, who tested positive for marijuana at the time of the incident, had intentionally sped up and steered the car into the wall, purposefully causing the deaths of Russo and Flanagan. Neither passenger was wearing a seatbelt.
Shirilla has consistently maintained her innocence, insisting she did not mean to kill Russo or Flanagan and claiming she cannot remember the crash.
Mackenzie Shirilla Has Complained About Being Bored Behind Bars
Life inside has not been what Shirilla expected. According to a jail audio call obtained by TMZ on June 1, 2026, Shirilla complained to her mother, Natalie Shirilla, about her downtime and lack of access to the commissary — the in-facility store where incarcerated people can buy snacks, hygiene products, writing materials and more.
“How am I going to make this one book stretch?” Mackenzie asked, adding that she was not planning on “reading the same book over and over again.”
She also told her mother they needed to “figure out this iPad s**t ASAP” so she could communicate with family and friends from prison.
At one point, Mackenzie vented about how slowly the day was moving. “Like it’s only 3:30, how is it only 3:30?” she said. “For real I did not even know it was 3:30 I thought it was like 5. It’s 3:30.”
When her mother asked whether she could get a job to help pass the time, Mackenzie claimed she did not think it was allowed. “No, ‘cause of the charges that I have, they don’t let people with charges like me get jobs, so I’m told. I haven’t asked the staff yet though,” she said. “But I probably can’t get a f**king job cause I’m on the seventh floor. They’re probably not gonna let me get a job.”
She added that she was “so irritated” and wanted another book or cards to occupy her time. “Like literally there is nothing for me to do in my room, nothing,” she said.
Mackenzie Shirilla Landed a Prison Job After Her Complaint
Nearly two weeks after the phone call surfaced, Macknezie found a way to fill some of that empty time. A prison spokesperson confirmed to Us on June 11, 2026, that Mackenzie is now working as a food service worker at the Ohio Reformatory for Women.
The pay is modest — inmates at the facility can earn up to $24 per month — but the assignment gives her a routine outside of her cell for the first time since her incarceration.
Mackenzie Shirilla’s Prison Infractions Have Piled Up
The food service gig is not the only thing filling Mackenzie’s days. Prison records obtained by Us show that Mackenzie has faced multiple disciplinary actions since her incarceration, ranging from contraband to sexual misconduct on video calls.
In October 2024, Mackenzie was written up for possession of altered clothing and four “nude magazine pictures.” Prison officials restricted her commissary access for 30 days.
In December 2024, she was placed on a 30-day recreation restriction after she was caught “dancing” outside the gym instead of exercising.
In January 2025, guards wrote her up for having “a packet of unknown medication” and a personal photo of herself “containing drug use.” “Shirilla admitted to using the meds and that they weren’t hers. Also she had a personal photo of herself containing drug use,” the guard noted. She was restricted to her cell for 30 days.
Officers also accused Mackenzie in September 2024 of hiding dozens of contraband items — from bags of nuts, boxes of jello and marshmallow fluff to “dangle earrings made from charms stolen from the kindware room,” “bottles of mixed pills” and a “large stack of very tiny Monopoly money.”
Some of the most eyebrow-raising violations involved video calls. In April 2025, Mackenzie was penalized for having more than “100 video visits” with an “ex inmate that was released” who was not approved to contact her. She was hit with a one-month electronics restriction.
Then in September 2025, guards reported that “multiple inappropriate things took place” during one of her video visits, including Mackenzie showing her breast to the visitor, who at various points showed a dildo and undressed on camera. Mackenzie pleaded guilty to unauthorized use of an electronic device and violation of visitation rules, earning a 60-day ban from video visits.
Mackenzie has also repeatedly clashed with prison staff over her wardrobe. During one April 2025 confrontation with a male guard about an altered hoodie, she allegedly quipped, “If he got a boner from the way I’m dressed that’s his fault.”
An August 2025 report noted that another inmate was seen “removing her hand from IP Shirilla’s buttocks region” as part of “consensual sexual contact,” resulting in seven days of restrictions.
Mackenzie Shirilla’s Story Is the Subject of a Netflix Documentary
Mackenzie’s case reached a much wider audience in May 2026, when Netflix released The Crash. Mackenzie appears from prison in the documentary and expresses remorse for the deadly wreck.
Her former inmate Mary Katherine “Kat” Crowder, however, told NewsNation that the version of Mackenzie viewers saw in the film does not match the woman she knew behind bars.
“When Mackenzie first walked out in the documentary, my jaw dropped because that was not the person that I saw in prison when I was with her. She walked around in a very light demeanor,” Crowder said. “It was never this dark, smug, tough girl act that was in this video trying to portray some sort of remorse.”
For now, Mackenzie will have plenty of time to sort out her image — roughly a dozen more years before she is even eligible to ask for parole.
This story was compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists.
