Manson Family member is denied parole

While on Google News, I cam across an article about Susan Atkins, one of the murderers in the Manson family. She was recently up for parole again, probably for the last time. According to doctors, she will only live for a few more months because of her brain cancer.

The family of Sharon Tate, of course, agued for keeping her in prison. They are still suffering from the pain of losing a close family member, as well as a family member they never had the chance to meet, her son, whom Tate was pregnant with at the time.

However, family of Atkins wanted her released on compassionate grounds because she is so close to death, and they also say that it is a drain on the state of California to pay for her medical bills.

Atkins was denied parole.

I believe that it would have been kinder for her to be executed. I watched an interview with her once in high school. She hates herself for what she did, and making her stand for parole is torture not only on her, but on Tate's family who is forced to relive their emotions caused by the murder. Of course, I believe that she is a sane person, and should suffer for what she did. But I think that the punishment should just be to sit in prison, denied of what she took away from her victim.

Now that she has brain cancer, I have to wonder. In a few months she will be dead, and Tate's family will have the closure they were waiting for since they heard the news. This will happen whether she is released or not. If Atkins had been released, she would still have been unable to do the things she probably wanted to while in prison because of her health. She and her family would have been able to spend time together, and prepare for her death. Perhaps she would have had access to weapons to kill herself, ending her pain and the pain of Tate's family a little sooner. And of course there was the issue of her medical bills. While in prison, the state, and therefore the residents of California, were paying for doctors, medicine, and basic needs including food and water.

Atkins was no longer a threat to society and keeping her locked up is not going to make the family feel any better. Even though she committed a cold-blooded murder, she is still a human being and deserves her basic rights in her last months alive. People will declare that she did not allow those rights to her victim, and therefore she doesn't deserve them. And no, she does not deserve them. But keeping her in prison will not be best for anyone. It will not bring Sharon Tate back to life and it will not make the family feel better. Tate's family wishes they could have spent her last days with her, and by denying Atkin's family of this, they are making Atkins' family suffer more than they are making Atkins suffer.

This is the article I used as my source.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-atkins16-2008jul16,0,6560440.sto...