Hello-

At the moment I wait to see if CA Governor Gavin Newsom will continue to fight to keep former Manson cult killer Leslie Van Houten behind bars.  Although he blocked her parole recommendation, an appellate court panel overruled his decision.  The only option the Governor has at this point is to decide by July 10th whether to ask the Attorney General to have the CA Supreme Court review this decision- otherwise Leslie Van Houten will walk away a free woman very soon!!!

In addition to my reaching out right now to the members of the public who have signed my petition at www.NoParoleForMansonFamily.com to prevent her release to thank you all, I would like to bring to your attention something that affects us all- the failure of the CA prison system's rehabilitation program.  The rehabilitation programs offered are not adequate to provide the proper tools to inmates with truly deep psychosis to function properly in today’s free society.

The CA prison rehabilitation program is a multimillion dollar a year industry that is obviously ineffective. I think it’s time to let the public know that our politicians are ripping us off and threatening our lives at the same time. This recent CBS report: https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/cdcr-inmate-recidivism-report-questions-unanswered/   - shows that only 1.6% of inmates released that had attended rehabilitation programs were deemed by the Public Policy Institute of CA to be less likely to be arrested again.  The PPIC was hired by the CA Board of Prisons to review it's own programs, & the conclusions they draw show these programs are not doing what they are intended to.  We are releasing inmates with 50% time served the second they enter the prison.

We have to acknowledge the limitations of the available prison assessments in predicting the risk of future violent criminal behavior & the reality of the effectiveness of the rehabilitation programs on which much of Ms. Van Houten’s petition is based. I serious doubt that the treatment & rehabilitation offered during the period of Ms. Van Houten’s incarceration would have been sufficiently effective to achieve the degree of fundamental change in her risk of reoffending that would provide reasonable assurance of public safety.

While her effort is noteworthy, the list of completed programs & treatment Ms. Van Houten provided to the Board Of Parole lacks critical proof of substantive personal change. What’s missing is proof of any changes in her understanding of herself or the impact of what her crimes have done to others, or whether any reported behavioral changes would survive beyond the highly structured environment of the institution to which she has been confined by the decision of the jury. Unfortunately, the account she provides of her rehabilitation activities seems better characterized as a collection of “participation trophies” than evidence of profound and lasting personal change.  

As we wait to see whether Governor Newsom continues to fight to keep Leslie Van Houten in prison, I urge each of you to please take a moment to educate yourself on the facts that these "rehabilitation" programs we hope are doing what they are intended to do are, completely failing, 

Sincerely,
Ms. Debra Tate
(Sister of Sharon Tate)
www.noparoleformansonfamily.com
www.sharontate.net
Youtube:  www.youtube.com/@debratate478
Twitter- @debra_tate9
Facebook- @TFLegacy