Susan Atkins is the woman who, as part of the Manson murders, stabbed Sharon Tate and her eight month fetus to death, drank Tate’s blood, and then used that same blood to write “Pig” on a door.  Following her trial, she was sentenced to death, a sentence automatically commuted into life imprisonment when California did away with the death penalty.

Atkins, however, is finally receiving her death sentence, not from the State of California, but from God:  she is dying from a brain tumor. What horrifies me is the fact that her doctor and prison officials are seeking a compassionate release for her so that she can die outside of prison, rather than within it.  Why in the Hell does she deserve this type of courtesy?  She was part of one of the most horrible murders in 20th Century American history.  She was supposed to have died in the electric chair, and now she’s being offered the chance to die in comfort. I don’t like it.

Given that the request comes from the prison doctor and prison officials, however, I do wonder if they simply don’t want to have to impose on the prison system the burden of caring for her and dealing with ramifications of her death.  Just as parishes in old England tried to get rid of poor people, so their welfare would not become the parish’s responsibility, I suspect that the California prison system wants Atkins off its hands and just placed as a general burden on the California taxpayers.

UPDATE:  The parole board unanimously denied the requested “compassionate” release.