Patricia Krenwinkel’s parole has been recommended twice by the California Board of Parole Hearings and reversed both times by Governor Gavin Newsom, most recently on October 13, 2025, when he concluded she “currently poses an unreasonable danger to society.”1Los Angeles Times. Newsom Denies Parole for Manson Follower Patricia Krenwinkel She remains at the California Institution for Women in Corona, where she has been held for more than 56 years, making her the longest-serving female inmate in the California prison system.
Why She Is Serving Life
Krenwinkel was convicted in January 1971 on seven counts of first-degree murder for her role in the Tate-LaBianca killings carried out by followers of Charles Manson on August 8 and 9, 1969. At the Cielo Drive home of actress Sharon Tate, she chased 25-year-old Abigail Folger with a knife and stabbed her 28 times. The following night she participated in the murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, later confessing to stabbing Leno with a fork and using the couple’s blood to write “death to pigs” on a wall.2NPR. Manson Family Member Patricia Krenwinkel Recommended for Parole She was 21 at the time.
She and her co-defendants were originally sentenced to death. In February 1972, the California Supreme Court struck down the state’s death penalty in People v. Anderson, and Krenwinkel’s sentence was automatically commuted to life with the possibility of parole.3Stanford Supreme Court of California Resources. People v. Anderson, 6 Cal.3d 628 When voters reinstated the death penalty later that year, the change did not apply retroactively.4Horvitz & Levy. 50 Years Ago, the California Supreme Court Temporarily Ended the Death Penalty That commutation is the reason she has parole hearings at all.
Fourteen Denials Before a Recommendation Ever Came
Between the 1970s and 2017, Krenwinkel was denied parole 14 times.2NPR. Manson Family Member Patricia Krenwinkel Recommended for Parole On at least two occasions she stipulated to her unsuitability or withdrew from consideration.5LAist. Manson Family Guide: Where They Are Now
In December 2016, her attorney Keith Wattley introduced a new argument: that Krenwinkel had been a victim of intimate partner battery by Manson at the time of the murders. Under California law, parole commissioners must give “great weight” to whether abuse influenced an offender’s criminal behavior. The Board of Parole Hearings postponed its decision to investigate whether she met the criteria for battered women’s syndrome. Krenwinkel testified that her relationship with Manson had turned into “fear” and alleged he was abusive and trafficked her for sex. The board denied parole in June 2017 after completing that investigation.6KCRA. Parole Denied for Manson Follower Krenwinkel in California
The 2022 Recommendation and Newsom’s First Reversal
In May 2022, the Board of Parole Hearings recommended Krenwinkel for release for the first time. Under the California Constitution, the governor may independently review parole decisions for inmates serving indeterminate life sentences for murder, examining the full record to determine whether release would pose an unreasonable risk to public safety.7State of California. Executive Report on Parole
Newsom reversed the recommendation, finding Krenwinkel remained an “unreasonable risk of danger to public safety” and had “not developed sufficient insight into the causative factors of her crime.”8OPB. Manson Family Member Patricia Krenwinkel Recommended for Parole
The 2025 Recommendation and Newsom’s Second Reversal
On May 30, 2025, at Krenwinkel’s 16th parole hearing, a board panel again recommended her release. The panel concluded that the 77-year-old posed “little risk of reoffending,” citing her advanced age and a “spotless behavior record while incarcerated.”9Reuters. Manson Family Follower Patricia Krenwinkel Recommended for Parole Laws enacted since her 2017 denial required the panel to weigh both that she committed the murders at a young age and that she is now an elderly prisoner.10KCRA. Parole Recommended for California Follower of Charles Manson
Debra Tate, the last surviving member of Sharon Tate’s immediate family, created an online petition urging Newsom to reverse the decision. It gathered more than 116,000 signatures.2NPR. Manson Family Member Patricia Krenwinkel Recommended for Parole Tate told reporters she had requested a meeting with Krenwinkel roughly 19 times without success and criticized Krenwinkel for not knowing the names of all her victims after 55 years. Anthony DiMaria, nephew of victim Jay Sebring, told the board: “Parole Patricia Krenwinkel, once her victims are paroled from their graves.”11CBS 8. Governor Overturns Parole of Manson’s Patricia Krenwinkel
On October 13, 2025, Newsom reversed the recommendation. He acknowledged Krenwinkel’s “excellent disciplinary history” and the college degrees she had earned in prison, but concluded that “these mitigating factors are outweighed by negative factors that bear on her risk for future dangerousness.”1Los Angeles Times. Newsom Denies Parole for Manson Follower Patricia Krenwinkel He cited a 2025 psychological evaluation that found “deficits in self-awareness” and a “tendency to externalize blame” for her role in the murders, and said she “lacks the requisite insight she needs to be safely released.” On the elderly parole and youth offender provisions, he found that neither her age and declining health nor her age at the time of the crimes met the threshold for release.12CBS News. Ex-Manson Follower Patricia Krenwinkel Again Denied Parole
Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman supported the decision, saying Krenwinkel “did not fully take blame for what had occurred.”13ABC7. California Governor Gavin Newsom Denies Parole for Manson Family Follower Patricia Krenwinkel
What Her Legal Team Argues
Wattley called the October 2025 denial “purely political” and said state psychologists have concluded for 40 years that Krenwinkel is at low risk of future violence. According to Wattley, nine consecutive psychological evaluations have found she no longer poses a public safety risk.14Los Angeles Times. Manson Follower Patricia Krenwinkel Recommended for Parole and Awaits Review by Gov. Newsom1Los Angeles Times. Newsom Denies Parole for Manson Follower Patricia Krenwinkel13ABC7. California Governor Gavin Newsom Denies Parole for Manson Family Follower Patricia Krenwinkel
Krenwinkel earned a bachelor’s degree in human services, completed college-level education, participated in self-help and substance abuse programming, and has worked in service dog training.5LAist. Manson Family Guide: Where They Are Now12CBS News. Ex-Manson Follower Patricia Krenwinkel Again Denied Parole She has renounced Charles Manson. Her attorney has described her as “both a perpetrator and survivor of violence” who has “fully accepted responsibility” for her actions.
The Van Houten Precedent
The path her legal team may look to is the one taken by fellow Manson Family member Leslie Van Houten. Van Houten was recommended for parole five times beginning in 2016, and successive governors blocked each recommendation. In May 2023, a California state appeals court granted her petition for a writ of habeas corpus, ruling there were “no grounds” for her continued incarceration and characterizing the governor’s prior reversals as based on “unsupported intuition” rather than evidence.15KOSU. A Former Manson Family Member Is Free After Her Parole Was Reversed 5 Times Newsom chose not to appeal. Van Houten was released on July 11, 2023, after 53 years.16NBC News. Manson Family Killer Leslie Van Houten Freed on Parole Her attorney, Nancy Tetreault, said the ruling “underscores that the law must be applied evenhandedly regardless of the inmate’s notoriety.”17NPR. Leslie Van Houten Manson Murder Freed Prison Parole
The important distinction for Krenwinkel: Van Houten’s release came through a court order that overruled the governor, not through the standard parole process. Krenwinkel’s two board recommendations have both died at the governor’s desk, and there is no indication her legal team has obtained a similar judicial override.
What Happens Next
Krenwinkel’s next parole hearing is scheduled for October 8, 2026.18Cielodrive.com. Patricia Krenwinkel Parole Hearings Until then, she remains at the California Institution for Women in Corona, a facility whose aging long-term population faces limited age-appropriate infrastructure and difficulties with standard prison schedules.19CDCR. California Institution for Women Whether the pattern of board approval followed by gubernatorial reversal is broken next by a different governor, a different psychological evaluation, or a habeas petition modeled on Van Houten’s remains open.