Charles Manson in 1969.
Mass murder Charles Manson was denied parole for the 12th time on Wednesday, after parole board members concluded that the 1960s cult leader, now grey-haired but still sporting a tattoo of a swastika between his eyes, had made no attempt to rehabilitate himself. Indeed, he refused to appear at this hearing, nor at his last hearing, in 2007, and described himself as a “very dangerous man” to prison psychologists.
Manson, 77, is currently serving life in prison in California for orchestrating and committing the murders of seven people, including pregnant actress Sharon Tate, in August 1969; the wild-eyed murderer was original sentenced to death, along with his co-defendants, but that sentence was transmuted after the US Supreme Court briefly outlawed capital punishment in the 1970s.
The most notorious murderer of the 1960s will not be eligible for parole for another 15 years, meaning that he will be 92 when he next faces the board. Given that he’s been in prison for more than 40 years and has by no means been a model prisoner in that time – he is currently serving 15 months in solitary for the manufacture and possession of a weapon – it’s unlikely that Manson will ever be freed.
But what about his followers, the infamous Manson Family – where are they now?
Susan Atkins. Atkins was the first of the main Manson Family to die: In September 2009, still in prison, she succumbed to brain cancer, at the age of 61. Atkins was barely in her 20s when she took up with the Manson Family, but she admitted from the stand that while stoned on acid, she viciously stabbed Sharon Tate after she “got sick of listening” to the girl’s begging and pleading. She was not, she said at the time, sorry for her actions. She, like the others, was sentenced to death, but served life in prison instead; later in life, she apologized for her crime and claimed to have found redemption in Christianity.
Charles “Tex” Watson. Manson’s “lieutenant in killing”, Watson, 66, was sentenced to life in prison at Mule Creek in Sacremento, Calif., where he remains today – he was denied parole in November 2011. Watson also claims to have found Christianity: On his website, he wrote, “Manson offered utopia, but in reality, he had a destructive worldview, which Charles ended up believing in and acting upon. His participation in the 1969 Manson murders is a part of history that he deeply regrets…. His distant past is a tragedy from any point of view, but for the previous three decades, his life has testified to the awesome grace of God.” Watson’s site also claims that he is a bio-hazard janitor at the prison and an ordained minister who reaches out to his fellow prisoners.
Patricia Krenwinkel. Krenwinkel claimed that it was love for Manson and desire for his approval that made her chase down and stab heiress Abigail Folger at the Tate home on Aug. 9, 1969, and participate in the stabbing deaths of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. She was also denied parole in January 2011, though the board commended her for making progress towards rehabilitation while behind bars.
Leslie Van Houten. Though described by her supporters and prison staff as a model inmate, Van Houten was again denied parole at her 17th hearing in July 2010. She was 19 at the time she participated in the murders of Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary, though she claimed that Rosemary was already dead when she stabbed her in the back.