In August 1969 she slit the throat of a pregnant woman begging for mercy. Today, she’s hoping she has better luck when asking for the same from the government.

A former member of the Manson family, Susan Atkins, 60, has requested a "compassionate release" from prison on the grounds that she is terminally ill and has less than six months to live, Department of Corrections spokeswoman Terry Thornton told wowOwow.

The Golden State’s longest-serving female inmate, Atkins was convicted in 1969 for the murders of actress Sharon Tate (who was eight months pregnant) and four others. Perhaps the most gripping detail from the case file was that, before leaving the crime scene, Atkins wrote "PIG" in blood on Tate’s front door.

Atkins received the death sentence, which later was commuted to life in prison at the California Institution for Women in Corona, CA, where she remained until she was hospitalized in March. She’s listed in serious condition and, while Thornton declined to comment on her illness, it’s been reported that she has been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.

According to Thornton, the prison did an evaluation of Atkins’s release request and found that she met the two necessary criteria — she is terminally ill with an incurable condition that would cause death in six months AND she has a supportive family with the means to care of her – to be recommended for review by the corrections department. If the corrections department makes a positive recommendation, the decision then goes to the sentencing court, which will do one of three things: deny the request, recall the original sentence and re-sentence to a lower term (which could result in a full discharge) or recall the original sentence and place her under parole supervision.

The Los Angeles Times’s op-ed says that Atkins should not be granted the release. What are your thoughts on this?

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