Susan Atkins, Charlie Manson follower ill
Former Manson family member Susan Atkins has requested a “compassionate release” from California prisons because she has less than six months to live.
I say…she lived longer than anyone she murdered!
Susan Atkins, known within the Manson family as “Sadie Mae Glutz,” has been in prison since 1971 and has been denied parole 11 times. Her sentence was LIFE. She is California’s longest serving female inmate.
She is now 60 years young and was convicted in the 1969 slayings of actress Sharon Tate her unborn child and four others.
According to historical accounts of the murders, Atkins stabbed Tate, who was 8½ months pregnant, and scrawled the word “pig” in Sharon Tate’s blood, on the door of the home, the actress shared with director Roman Polanski
She had been incarcerated at the California Institution for Women in Corona, California. On March 18Th, they moved her to be hospitalized and is listed in serious condition.
It is rumored that she has an incurable brain cancer and has an amputated leg, since we saw her last.
The compassionate release request has been approved by the prison, which conducted an evaluation, and is under corrections department review.
If the department approves, the Board of Parole Hearings and the sentencing court in Los Angeles also must sign off on the request. There is no set time table for this process and decision to be made.
That fateful night, Susan Astkins, alias “Sadie Mae Glutz,” showed no compassion to Sharon Tate. She told Sharon Tate, as she slit her throat that “she didn’t care for her or her unborn baby.”
All of the killers still remain behind bars. Atkins was also convicted of an earlier murder, of music teacher, Gary Hinman.
Atkins, like Manson, received a death sentence, and the punishment was changed to life in prison when the California Supreme Court ruled the state’s death penalty unconstitutional in 1972.
According to her Web site, Atkins is a born again Christian, who during her incarceration has worked to aid at risk youth, victims of violent crimes and homeless children. Too little too late…in my account, Baby Boomers!!!
Last month, authorities dug for buried bodies at the Inyo County, California, ranch where Manson and his followers once lived, after police became aware that testing had indicated humans might be buried there. But nothing was found. My guess is that they ate them in a drug induced state!
I have no sympathy for “ANY” of the Manson Family.
It is an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. And in this case a life for five lives!
She should be serving 5 consecutive life sentences, with out the chance of parole!
LIFE should be life. Just because the state of California does not want to deal with Susan Atkin’s medical and burial expenses…I say…what about the victims and the victims families?
What say you, Baby Boomers…you were around…you remember how hideous this was. How the Manson family was. How they killed and robbed and with out conscience! Who did Sharon Tate ever hurt? Who did her unborn baby hurt? Or any of the other guests that were there that night?
~The Baby Boomer Queen~
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She took the life of a pregnant woman and her unborn child – showed no mercy – why should anyone show mercy to her today? I’ve seen the pictures of the victims – they suffered greatly. And that litle unborn, murderd babyboy – no first breath, no standing on his two feets, no school – no nothing, no life!! The woman is a psychopath – may she rut in hell, when she soon gets there.
I was 16 when these murders happend – I remember !!!!!!!
Hello F. Hauge
It sounds as though it was something that you will never forget.
Sixteen is too young for such atrocities…
I don’t know if you were in Denmark at the time. But it was a huge shock to those of us here in the states.
I hope the world does not grade or judge us by the hideous acts of the insane few.
Susan will not be getting out. They refused her medical release.
She should be given the same consequence that she gave those that she killed and watched die.
It is an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. 42 years ago, I did not feel that way. Perhaps it is life that jaded me or perhaps the crime that was so carelessly and thoughtlessly carried out, by a mad man and his followers.
And for the families of the people she murdered, I am glad. And as for her family, I am sad.
Thank you for your comment and visit to our blog. I hope to see you soon and often.
Southern smiles and world peace,
Sharon
~The Baby Boomer Queen~
I say let her rot and die. “compassionate release”… she doesn’t deserve one. Good for her if she has accepted the Lord, however it is between her and the Lord if her soul is forgiven. Here on earth however she has a crime to pay for. Why wasn’t she executed? Why exactly has she been aloud to live as long as she has? I am not pro death penalty but situations like this where it was so brutal and heartless ( not to mention that poor baby) I can’t help but wonder why she is still living..
Hello Jay
Thank you for visiting BBAC and leaving a comment…
I say she stays as well…she deserves every ounce of compassion she gave the other people she killed and helped kill.
Did you see my post on the woman that left her child in the car and she cooked to death or the one where a foster then adopted Mom killed two of her wards then beat the other remaining child on a regular basis?
http://babyboomeradvisorclub.com/2-children-found-dead-in-freezer-1-child-found-beaten-starved/
Distracted or Unfit…Mom leaves 2 year old in car for 8 hours, in temps of 149 degrees…
http://babyboomeradvisorclub.com/index.php?s=mother+leaves+child+in+car
This last story…the Mother got away free…no jail time not even arrested…read the article and tell me what you think…
Sharon
~The Baby Boomer Queen~
Her sentence was not life – it was life with possibility of Parole. She did not stab Sharon even once, her confession to that has been proven false over and over.
Charles Watson stabbed Sharon Tate. And now we have the sister of Tate who does not even sem to have a clue who did what playing amateur dramatics in telling fictions to the media like that Atkins slit Sharons throat. I’d say someone is about to get the pants sued off them. Stop the witchhunt – h8 isn’t prevention.
Atkins Parole Sabotage Prone – Victims Object
Homicide Acceptance Lighthouse Organisation (HALO)
Victim rights group HALO fear that the mythology and the hysteria
which have grown up around the Manson murders, dictate that dying
Californian inmate Susan Atkins can’t receive a fair Parole hearing
next month. And that victims are in for another earful of vengefully
motivated horror fiction concerning events in Cielo Drive. Ethical
conduct is sought from media.
HALO believes that fundamental principles of healing, in the aftermath
of murder for both homicide victims and society, require that
processes of acceptance in regard to the offence and of Justice for
the offender, be based upon truth.
Susan Atkins has repeatedly expressed remorse within 17 parole
hearings, 27 mental health, and 18 Counsellor reports, done endless
soul searching and offered her victims restoration meetings. However,
a campaign spawned by professional haters of letters and blogging to
deny this, and to spread a prejudicial web of vile disinformation
about the case, dominates public perception. Californian prisoners are
legally without voice.
Susan Atkins has therefore, and also due to reluctance to minimise
events or distress victims by correcting details, been relentlessly
impugned by the mass media for “made up” exacerbating factors. For
crimes she did not commit. She has variously and repeatedly been
accused, by trash journalists within a sensationalising mass media, of
stabbing a pregnant woman to death, of slitting her throat or cutting
a baby out of her.
She has been held accountable by ill informed Americans for 40 years
for stabbing Actress Sharon Tate to death with gorey embellishments,
all because she was tired of her begging and pleading. A diabolical
crime.The problem with this, is that none of the accusations in the previous
paragraphs are remotely true. They were based on false confessions,
made at a time Susan wasn’t in her right mind. Irrefutable multiply
sourced evidence has since proved beyond doubt that none of the above
claims (given impetus by her false confession, embellished by others)
are true.
Yet these are the rabble rousing myths that America uses to justify
denying compassionate Parole to Susan, who is terminally ill. Now
characterised forevermore, due to entrenched misconceptions, as a
merciless and brutal hands on killer. Atkins was certainly culpable
for her role in the Manson murders, but her role was far less active
than commonly believed.
The U.S. media owes all homicide victims around the civilised world an
apology, for broadcasting and reinforcing disturbing and fictional
accounts of the death of Sharon Tate – after the full facts were
known. Such reports instill horror and bitterness in homicide victims
surviving relatives. And may encourage them to have all sorts of
inaccurate fantasies about how cruelly their own relatives may have
suffered.
It is indecent, insensitive and unethical to seek to increase ratings
by dramatising real crimes with fictional horror add ons. Offensive is
a word that to already traumatised victims does not even begin to
describe the impact.
In serving 40 years Atkins has effectively served the sentence due to
the more active offenders (Krenwinkle and Watson, or the crime boss
(Charlie Manson). No other offender under the same sentence as her of
life “with possibility of Parole”, aside from Manson’s remain in the
clink. Offenders with similar culpability levels were typically
released after 15 years.
Many people whose case facts were far more heinous than Susans have in
fact been released long ago. Case law of this century now incorporates brainwashing or mind control as a mitigating factor (DC Sniper Lee
Malvo, Karen Robidoux). So Susan or an equivalent would have received
a discount on the average sentence, if the same crime as hers was to
be committed today.
There would likely be much less chance of that though, as Susan has
worked hard to explain the risks of cults and a lifestyle on the
fringe to at risk young people. HALO thanks her for the murders her
work has assuredly prevented. Given Atkins is rehabilitated and has
met all of the Parole Boards requirements, it can only be Political
machinations thwarting Atkins more recent Parole bids. Schwarzenegger
seeking to curry votes has stepped up as a “condemnator”, indicating
he failed to properly examine the merits of Susans case as closely as
the opinion polls.
If the Governor buys in to hysteria, which treats all Mansons as
equally culpable (as one offender), then what hope does the Justice
system have of ever carrying out it’s complex ordained work of
weighting scales to account for individual blame. Based on the Manson
Families special status of being untouchables within the Justice
system, all thieves should then be treated the same way, whether it is
a carrot stolen by a 10 year old, or a billion dollar rip off
ochestrated by a trusted Corporate Lawyer.
A Yale law review says that when evidence of rehabilitation is
“overwhelming,” and “the only evidence related to unsuitability is the
gravity of the commitment offense [which] is remote” and the conduct
is unlikely to recur, parole (for those so sentenced) should occur.
These criteria are met and added to this is the need for compassionate
release given Susan Atkins failing health. Prisons are not built to
contain people until death because they once claimed to have done
terrible things, things we now know they did not but had sought to own
the blame of others for. Her family members should not be punished any
more excessively than they already have been over her actions. Theyare entitled to say goodbyes in privacy with dignity.
Halo requests, on behalf of that part of the homicide victims lobby
which engages in self healing work, that in coming weeks the media
avoid cut and paste type coverage that repeats discredited information
about this case (as detailed above). Such information severely
jeopardises a fair Parole hearing, and exposure to such fiction is
traumatic for homicide victims around the world. Correct pertinent
case facts are available at link below.
Victims would rather hear accurate properly researched stories that
deal with the realities of murder cases, as it is only from them that
broader society which often lacks direct homicide experience, can
learn to avoid recurrences. Recovery and restoration starts with
reality. Regression comes from embittering rumours, which corrosively
make victims fall down.
Further Information
http://www.freesusanatkins.net Website dedicated to Atkins myth busting
http://www.susanatkins.org/ The Helter Skelter page demythologises murder
It is over for Susan Atkins; she died on September 24th and is in a better place.
I had been following Susan’s request for compassionate parole for a couple of months. To be truthful I am quite surprised at the hatred and bitterness of the people that are against her release. This disturbs me and the first thing I think is “The lady doth protest too much, methinks”. I wonder why there is so much intolerance and name calling from people that have no connection to the murders or the murderers.
I also am finding a lot of misinformation being put out. I have never read “Helter Skelter” nor seen the movie, and I have no intention of ever doing this. I am wondering if most of these rants are based solely on this fictionalized account of the events. There is a wealth of information available on the web. It is a shame that it is not being used.
I think that the entertainment industry had a big hand in this. Every couple of years the movie “Helter Skelter” is aired. When I see the advertisement for it I make the comment that Charles Manson is coming up for parole again; and sure enough within a month there is a note in the paper that Charles Manson has been denied parole.
Do I think that Susan Atkins killed Sharon Tate? No I do not. I have read Susan Atkins “The Myth of ‘Helter Skelter’”, http://www.susanatkins.org/6-Myth.html and was impressed. In this document she explained the whole chain of events that led to her incarceration from early teen to the present. I did not know what to expect when I started to read it, but I do know how I felt after I read it. It was an attempt to explain not to shed guilt or to blame somebody else. She did say that she did not kill Sharon Tate, and this has been verified by other people.
Do I think that Susan Atkins participated in the murders? Yes I do. She admits to holding Sharon Tate down as Tex Watson stabbed her. Should she have gone to prison? Yes she should have for a long time.
We as human beings are capable of doing horrendous things. Our history has shown that. Adolf Hitler was capable of seducing a whole nation who then turned a blind eye toward his slaughter of six million people. Then we have the Taliban, Pol Pot, Papa Doc Duvalier, and bin Laden all in current history. Looking back through history it gets even worse.
Several years ago I bought a book that I thought was going to be a light hearted look at history. I was very wrong. It was basically an overview of the horrific things that people have done to other people in the name a God and Country. This is where I first came across the Norse favorite the “bloody eagle”. Also György Dózsa, who led a peasants’ revolt against the Hungarian landed nobility and was condemned to sit on a heated smoldering iron throne with a heated iron crown on his head and a heated sceptre in his hand and while suffering he was set upon and eaten by six of his fellow rebels, who had been starved beforehand. This is just two examples.
Then of course we cannot forget about the Catholic Church’s Inquisition and burning at the stake and other methods of doing away with the heretic, or the Roman Empire’s punishment of crucifixion, then of course there are the other more mundane ways to remove an individual like stoning. But wait some of these punishments have occurred recently. These are not just punishments from ancient history.
Our young men, who months before were teenagers growing up in America with no thoughts of killing anybody are thrown into the military, given a gun, taught how to kill, then put into a position where they have to kill, and they do kill. Yes, this then becomes an exercise in self preservation, but explain Mi Lai in Viet Nam, and No Gun Ri in Korea. The soldiers that participated in these were not monsters or cold blooded killers.
For those who think that they could/would never do anything like this, and who talk about moral compasses and also to show the dynamics of what was happening to the people of Charles Manson’s Family I ask that you read about the Stanford Experiment, http://www.prisonexp.org/30years.htm and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment. This was an experiment conducted in 1971 in which college students were put in a position as a guard or a prisoner to test people’s reactions to power dynamics in social situations. Within days the guards had become sadistic in an effort to break down the prisoners. All students could walk out at anytime during the experiment, but nobody did. Psychology Professor Philip Zimbardo abruptly ended the experiment after six days. It was scheduled to be a 14 day experiment. Dr. Zimbardo even admitted that he should have ending it much sooner. If this could happen to well education, intelligent and well adjusted college students in a controlled situation in a matter of days, what could somebody like Charles Manson do to teenagers looking for acceptance.
Another other area that I want to mention is that the average time a murderer spends in jail is under 8 years, some are longer and some are less. This is not until they are executed; this is when they are released. I call your attention to the following: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Shanda_Sharer. It is a very horrific murder of a 12 year old girl. I will caution that if you read this it is very gruesome and it does go into details about the murder. After you read this remember that one of the participants was released on parole on April 28, 2006 after severing 14 years of a 50 year sentence. The girl murdered was virtually an unknown and in fact I had never heard about it until I started to read about Susan Atkins. The point is this murder was more gruesome then the Tate murders but one participant was already released and the other participants are expected to be released also. Shanda’s parents did not have the multimillion dollar backing of the entertainment industry.
I think that Susan Atkins should have been released a long time ago. She was a model prisoner who had worked to help other prisoners even helping to save the lives of two prisoners. Everybody that had worked with her said that she is no longer a threat to society and she is not the same person that entered jail in the early 70’s. She had met all requirements for parole and she should have been paroled especially when she was terminal. Even Vincent Bugliosi agreed that she should have been released.
We can hate people for what they have done and that is ok, but this hatred should not be allowed to go so far as to lock them out of any possibility of a second chance. The girls that murdered Shanda Sharer are getting a second chance, and except for William Callie, the US soldiers at Mi Lai were never punished. I am not bringing this up to try to reduce Susan’s guilt. I am only saying that giving the right circumstances we are all capable of horrible things. Everybody needs to understand that. Yes you can all say that I am wrong; that you would never do anything like that. I am sorry to say that history, and the behavioral sciences prove you wrong. We need to understand that and allow some compassion in our lives toward those who have fallen. Nobody knows what they can or will do giving the right or wrong set of circumstances.
Rachael & Dennis
You have both spent a lot of time & energy in your quest to downplay Susan Atkins involvement in crimes she was convicted of. A jury of her peers found her guilty 8 (eight) counts of 1st degree murder.
It’s a moot point now that it is over but I must say…
I THANK GOD you failed.
Mattinna
I am not downplaying anything. I said “I am not bringing this up to try to reduce Susan’s guilt”. I was just trying to show that we are all capable of doing horrible things.
Why do you thank God I failed? I wasn’t trying to do anything. Susan Atkins is dead so nothing i say is going to change anything. I don’t understand your animosity.
Dennis
My comment about Thanking GOD that you failed was meant towards Rachael and her attempt(s) to have Susan Atkins released. Feeling this way does not mean I am full of animosity, bitterness or hatred .
Being a model prisoner, finding GOD & doing good deeds is not a free pass out of prison. Downplaying her involvement (Rachael) does not change the fact that she was found guilty of 8 murders. Does that mean that she personally stabbed & murdered 8 people? NO it doesn’t. Does having cancer (I don’t wish that disease on anyone) mean that she should have been granted compassionate release? NO. The fact that other notorious murderers have been paroled does not mean that she should have been. Yes we are all capable of doing horrible things but we don’t.
Mattinna
Just because you haven’t does not mean that you won’t. You nor I do not know what the future holds. The college students involved the Stanford Experiment did not think that they would act the way that they did and neither did Dr. Zimbardo.
Doing good deeds and finding God is not a free pass out of prison but when an individual has met the requirements for parole and is recommended by the warden and individuals that evaluated her I think that she should have been paroled. I especially think that she should have been paroled when she was terminal, not for her but her husband. At the last parole hearing she was almost gone. That was not Susan Atkins laying on gurney.
Why do you think that it was ok to parole other people but not Susan?
dennis
Dear Racheal Dennis,
I agree with the other person THANK GOD YOU HAVE FAILED and you have failed and failed miserably, I also hope atkins (I do not capitilize here name in total disrespect) suffered horribly with her cancer. I’m sure she is doing well with satan in hell. Don’t worry the world is a much better place now that atkins is where she should be. My only hope is that Manson and the rest of his trash filth “family” will join the her in hell soon.
Susan Atkins WAS EVIL PERSONIFIED—-AND A LOUSY MANIPULATOR.
TAKE IT FROM SOMEONE WHO KNOWS BEST: SOMEONE WHO WAS WITH THE SKANK IN PRISON.
SHE NEVER , NEVER DID PAY AN IOTA FOR HER CRIMES. PRISON WAS ALWAYS AN EASY RIDE FOR HER—SHE HAD HER WAY, AND SHE HAD VISITS—FROM THE MANY DUMB-ASS MEN IN HER LIFE, 3 OUT OF 7 DAYS A WEEK.
sHE GLADLY TOOK THE LIVES OF MANY PEOPLE—INCLUDING A BABY BOY—WHO HAD EVERYTHING TO LIVE FOR. SHE HAD NO MERCY THEN, AND HAD NONE UNTIL THE DAY SHE DIED.
AN EASY PRISON LIFE AFFORDED HER AN ATTITUDE THAT EVERYONE SHOULD BOW DOWN TO HER.
SHORTLY AFTER I BECAME AQUAINTED WITH HER, SHE VERY READILY DISPLAYED THAT ATTITUDE.
ONE DAY I HAPPENED TO PASS BY HER ON THE YARD, AND APPARENTLY FAILED TO GREET THE QUEEN. SO SHE STOPPED DEAD, LOOKED AT ME AND MADE THE MOST SARCASTIC COMMENT AND RUDEST GESTURE SHE COULD—AND THAT WASN’T THE LAST TIME.
SHE WAS FREQUENTLY RUDE AFTER THAT—AND BLUNTLY SO.
EVEN LESLIE VAN HOUTEN—YES, LESLIE, HERSELF, PERSONALLY TOLD ME THAT ATKINS STILL-STILL- HAD NOT LEARNED A DAMNED THING IN ALL HER YEARS IN PRISON.
LESLIE, ON THE OTHER HAND, HAS ALWAYS BEEN HELPFUL, DOWN-TO-EARTH, AND VERY REAL. SHE HELPED ME WHENEVER SHE COULD. APPARENTLY LESLIE HAS DONE WRONG, BUT LEARNED A LOT, AND HAS SHOWED FOR IT. SHE NEVER TRIED TO MARRY ANY OF THE SICK, MORBID CELEBRITY SEEKERS—UNLIKE SUSAN ATKINS( WHO, BY THE WAY, PERMANENTLY GOT THE CONJUGAL VISITS OF ALL LIFERS CANCELLED, FOR GOOD, WHEN SHE CHOSE TO SELFISHLY GO HAY-WIRE DURING HER OWN CONJUGAL VISIT).
I COULD STATE A WHOLE LOT MORE, BUT FOR ANYONE WITH COMMON SENSE, THAT IS UNECCESSARY.
AND FOR ALL OF YOU WHO SIMPLY “CAN’T UNDERSTAND ALL THE HATE DIRECTED TOWARD HER”: YOU ARE ALL JUST AS EVIL AND HATEFUL AS HER—AND FAR TOO STUPID TO BE ALLOWED TO RUN AROUND LOOSE.
IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT, THEN PLEASE KISS MY ASS. THANK YOU.