Manson Family Parole Recommends…Who’s Next?

It’s not like we all haven’t considered this possibility – I’m sure the victims’ surviving family members have this thought haunt their very dreams at night – but when it actually comes to pass, it does give one pause, maybe no longer from fear of the past but from fear of the future, and maybe not from fear of Bruce Davis but from fear of who’s next?!

“Hey Charlie, guess what, I’m gettin’ released this year!”

A birdie in MsBurb’s gut was yelling the mathematical equation out at me all this last month…

“321 prison years divided by eight convicted Manson Family murderers = 40+ years per killer + California’s over-flowing prison system + California’s less-than-over-flowing budget = ‘It’s My Lucky Year!’ release possibilities for all of Manson’s Charliemites!”

I know, Davis is 67 (68 this October 5th), Charlie is 75, Tex is 65 and the list of ageing Mansonites goes on and on.

As I outlined in my most recent four-part series on Davis, the double First Degree sentences, especially for Hinman, were always questionable in my eyes, considering he never even touched Gary and did not strike any fatal blows to Shea.

But the tremors in my tummy now have more to do with the “others”, the ones who are housed in over-populated prisons, in a state with no money, all ageing, all far less threatening than your average West L.A. gang-banger of 20.

My TLB2 Guest Author, Dan, just said to me, “Ya gotta figure it would happen sooner or later.” and I know in my mind that he’s right…but the little girl of six inside me wants to close her eyes and run away from the truth.

*Sigh*…I don’t know.

Maybe releasing these killers-of-old will actually bring more closure to these crimes than jailing them ever did…but I doubt very much that feeling is expressed by the victims’ surviving family members.

But all killers kill, all murders bring heart-ache and rage and all convicts get out, sooner or later, alive or dead. It’s just the way of this world, and especially the way California will act in the coming years considering the economic circumstances in which they find themselves. Do you release the ageing Devil who you know or free the younger, recently murdered Devil who you don’t? And if this is the case, do even the two Charlie's - Manson and Watson - have a release date in their future?

*Brrrrrr!!!*

Susan Atkins died in prison, and in my opinion, rightly so, for that woman was a classic case of sociopathy if there ever was one, that beyond the supposed rehabilitation and crocodile-tears contrite remorsefulness always seemed to lurk deep within her soul the capacity to manipulate any situation and use and abuse any person she may have felt laid in her way to whatever sadistic and greedy goal she set for herself. People such as Sadie, whether 21 or 61, are dangerous offenders, maybe not old-age killers, but dangerous nonetheless.

And if she had lived, in the political and economic climate in which California finds itself, would we be talking about her release instead of Davis’, I wonder?

*Brrrrrr!!!*

Psychiatrists for decades have said that a sociopath cannot be rehabilitated, that psychotherapy only better hones their skill-set of manipulation and destruction. And who of the remaining imprisoned Manson Family murderers are sociopathic, I wonder, who claim and demonstrate rehabilitation but are actually anything but…?

Many have speculated over the years that the two most likely candidates for parole would be Bobby Beausoleil and Leslie van Houten, and the thought of their release is anything but easily swallowed. Van Houten claimed to all and sundry in The Family, that the more she stabbed Rosemary LaBianca, the more fun it was. And Bobby, according to Deputy District Attorney Jeff Jonas, who handled both the Davis and Beausoleil trials and subsequent Hearings, stated, 

“…I had the same happen to me [wives of Davis & Beausoleil asking Jonas when enough time served was enough] with Mr. and Mrs. Boussalet (sic)….When I told her [Barbara, Mrs. Bobby Beausoleil] what I thought about Boussalet the response was entirely different [as compared to Davis]. They – both parties disagreed, but the Boussalets, mind you this is a couple who had produced pornography in the institution, and who had basically after I gave my indication, filed a claim against the County of Los Angeles for violating the civil rights against me, and who has – who has totally basically denied involvement in the Manson family, Boussalet is still in denial, and who I think probably maintains some type of control in this institution because coincidentally, as soon as he left this institution he tested dirty at Soledad immediately, as soon as he was transferred. he tested dirty, fought that all the way, and he also did a miral (sic) up there which supposedly depicted helter skelter that offended the black inmates…I’m showing you the difference the disparity and attitudes [between Davis and Beausoleil]….”

Do these actions speak well of these future parole date recipients?
I have a hard time swallowing my own thoughts at this moment but, ahem, gulp, *Pause*…even Patricia Krenwinkel seems a better candidate than van Houten because I believe she may be the most sincerely remorseful of the bunch. That being said though, Pat would have to be released on a permanent monitoring basis or halfway house as her deep-seated anti-social tendencies could pose future problems, in my opinion.
And of course, as we meander down the road of grizzly killers, we end up at Charles “Tex” Watson and Charles Manson…*sigh*…the possibility of their release boggles my mind and I’m sure the minds of the Commissioners of the Board of Prison Terms as well. I won’t delve into the reasons against their release as no one wants to read MsBurb’s tirades that long, right?!
Several TLB2ers always drive home this idea of “rehabilitation”, that the American, or better yet, Californian penal system is so hung up on punishment that rehabilitation is never in the mix. These “Rehabites”, I shall call them, seem to conveniently forget that there are two more “R’s” to the prison system beyond the Rehabilitation “R” – Retribution and Remorse. And quite honestly, with sociopaths, the former can never be satisfied because the latter can never be genuine.
For MsBurb, the Jury is still out on whether or not Manson, Watson, Beausoleil, Krenwinkel, and van Houten are all sociopaths but beyond that debate lies Retribution for the victims’ families, and is forty years considered enough time served?
I imagine that this will be the question soon asked and answered by all affected as the cell doors “Clang Bang Clang” open for Bruce Davis this year.
Maybe old MsBurb is glad she won’t be pondering that question as she looks out over the next door neighbour’s yard of Mr. & Mrs. Bruce & Beth Davis.