Manson family member Patricia Krenwinkel has been denied parole, with Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom saying she “still poses an unreasonable danger to society.”
Krenwinkel has spent about 53 years in prison, and in 2009 upon the death of Charles Manson follower Susan Atkins, she became the state’s longest-serving female inmate in California, People reported. Manson died in prison in 2017.
Although Newsom drew a line at Krenwinkel, as of January, Newsom has granted a total of 112 pardons, 109 commutations and 34 reprieves, according to a statement from his office.
However, in this case, he rejected a parole board recommendation to release the 74-year-old, who was convicted of seven counts of first-degree murder in the August 1969 murders that made Manson and his followers infamous.
The recommendation to free Krenwinkel came after 14 previous rejections from the parole board, according to CNN.
“After an independent and thorough review, the evidence establishes that Ms. Krenwinkel is not suitable for parole and cannot be safely released from prison at this time,” Newsom said Friday.
Newsom said that despite her youth at the time of the killings, and her changes in prison, Krenwinkel should not be paroled.
Newsom blocks Charles Manson follower Patricia Krenwinkel’s parole https://t.co/ncqGwMc6dM
— The Sun (@sbsun) October 16, 2022
Should Krenwinkel be paroled?
“Ms. Krenwinkel was not only a victim of Mr. Manson’s abuse. She was also a significant contributor to the violence and tragedy that became the Manson Family’s legacy,” Newsom said in his decision.
“Beyond the brutal murders she committed, she played a leadership role in the cult, and an enforcer of Mr. Manson’s tyranny,” he stated.
Newsom said Krenwinkel has not changed enough to be freed.
Patricia Krenwinkel, California’s longest-serving female inmate and former follower of Charles Manson, will not be paroled. https://t.co/geHxygLqNN
— The Patriot-News (@PatriotNews) October 15, 2022
“Specifically, Ms. Krenwinkel has not developed sufficient insight into the causative factors of her crime and her triggers for antisocial thinking and conduct in the context of maladaptive relationships,” Newsom wrote, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“Krenwinkel fully accepted Mr. Manson’s racist, apocalyptical ideologies, and told the psychologist, ‘He was a survivalist to the max … racist to the max … we all accepted that. I believed in him…. I was in it completely,’” Newsom wrote.
During the 1969 Tate-LaBianca murders, Krenwinkel stabbed Abigail Folger 28 times.
The things Patricia Krenwinkel did to Abigail Folger (Folger Coffee heiress) at the Sharon Tate house and the next night at the LaBianca home back in August 1969 was gruesome and nightmarish. She needs to rot in jail for the rest of her life.
— Curtis Palimeno (@cpalimeno) October 16, 2022
“At her parole hearing, Ms. Krenwinkel accepted responsibility for her direct crimes, yet she continued to shift disproportionate blame to Mr. Manson for decisions and conduct within her control,” Newsom wrote.
Krenwinkel was initially sentenced to death in 1971, but that sentence was changed to life in prison when the state’s death penalty was thrown out.
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