If the people in power are as barbaric as those who commit the crimes, what have we accomplished and where does the cycle end?

And while they're at it, Free Leslie Van Houton, too.

I hope the woman is let out to die with some dignity.  You can only punish so much.

I remember as a kid being really scared of the Manson story, and I had only heard dribs and drabs, because I was so young. Then I saw a tv program where they interviewed Atkins and she seemed very rehabilitated and helped a lot of other women in prison turn their lives around. Sad story all the way around.  It may have been 60 minutes, not sure.

She doesn't have much in the way of quality of life left and should at least breathe some fresh air and have a glimpse of the life she gave up before she dies, even if it is in a hospital.

I do not want a government, a police officer or a prosecutor who treats crime as a personal affront, whose emotions are engaged in the outcome of the legal process.  That only leads to the necessity of the Innocense Project, etc.

As for Manson's comments about the 'girls' looking old, perhaps the best thing that could be said about him is that he was always at base a misogynist. It went downhill from there.

Perhaps releasing Susan Atkins for her final days might be considered an extension of that kind of mercy.

Brain cancer can be a very tough way to go. She probably doesn't have much time left as it is. How does it hurt us, as a society, to exercise mercy and compassion, as well as justice?

LA Times

If so I wonder if there's any chance she'll ever get out, given most people's thoughts the Manson murders and just letting murderers out of prison.  It seems politically fairly risk (despite Bugliosi's statement).

people die in jail every day of the week, what makes her so special?

i'm curious jeralyn, what level of heinousness would qualify, in your mind, for permanent incarceration, till the day they bury you, regardless of what you do on the inside of jail?

If Susan Atkins is to be paroled based on age and health, we need to be prepared to apply the same standards to other aged felons, not just pop icons who don't look all that scary.

     I am not an unfeeling or uncaring person. If anything, I am too feeling I am also a two-time brain cancer survivor. My heart goes out to anyone who must battle this disease. Unlike Sharon Stone, I do not believe our judgement is dealt to us on this realm but on a higher plane. Susan Atkins was spared the death penalty by an unconventional legality that prevented her sentence from being carried out. This is also true of her co-defendants in the Tate-LoBianca Murders. I am not an advocate of the death penalty any more than I am an advocate of murder or killing an expectant mother and her unborn baby with intentional maliciousness. In all these years has Atkins determined the appropriate penitence for her crime?  Why must it be left to us? Is toilet cleaning equal to what she did? She not only committed murder but she followed her wickedness with psychological torture on the victims families throughout her trial. Everyone finds God in jail. Sometimes, I am sure criminals are the only ones going to heaven. You know, it is no small irony that Sharon Tate's mother, Doris Tate died of a brain tumor, also. She fought her entire life to keep her daughter's murderer's in prison for their rest of their lives.  Maybe Mama is having the final say in this matter. I think that is the voice to remember, To me, the verdict is clear, Doris has made the statement. She attended all of the parole hearings and did this in honor of her daughter's memory. This one is for Doris.
This brain tumor survivor stands for Doris Tate!

I wish the best to both the Tate family and Susan. I pray that both Sharon and Susan will become friends in the Paradise one day.

Let her stay in prison.