Sandra Good Rejects Jersey Parole, She Prefers Prison

ALDERSON, W.Va. — Charles Manson follower Sandra Good refused to leave prison today because corrections officials demanded she stay away from Manson and other members of his “family,” and was to be placed in a halfway house in New Jersey, which she called “a toxic dump.”

“I love my family,” Good said at a news conference after refusing to accept the conditions of the parole. “The U.S. Parole Commission doesn’t even know us.”

The conditions of parole for Good, 41, who served 10 years of a 15-year sentence for threatening corporate and government officials, required her to live at a Camden, N.J., halfway house, despite her desire to return to her native California, and not to associate with Manson followers.

Good, the cross she carved in her forehead in 1969 as a sign of support for Manson still visible, maintained that corrections officials did not ask her what her plans would be once she got to California.

“I did not intend to harm anyone,” she said. “I wanted to get a bicycle, put in a garden and visit Manson. I’ve waited 16 years. I’ve spent 10 years in prison and I have a right to go to my home state.”

Good called the decision by the U.S. Parole Commission a “political move prompted by California politicians.”

Good, an ardent environmentalist, also said she did not want to live in New Jersey, describing it as “almost a toxic dump.”

Officials at Alderson, the nation’s only federal prison for women, said her rejection of parole terms requires the facility to continue to hold her.

Good’s former Sacramento, Calif., roommate, Lynnette (Squeaky) Fromme, also is at the prison, serving a life term for trying to kill President Gerald R. Ford.

Good, who had a child by Manson, will appear before a hearing examiner board in May to answer charges of refusing to accept the special conditions. If she continues to refuse the conditions, it is possible she will serve the remaining five years of her 15-year term at the prison.

In addition to avoiding Manson followers, she was ordered to join a community treatment program at a Volunteers of America halfway house in Camden, N.J., and would have been required to participate in a mental health program.

She also was to agree to travel to Camden, N.J., by government transportation.

She said she was standing by her principles by refusing the conditions. The Manson Family stands for “air, trees, water and animals,” she said.

“Camden, N.J., is probably one of the most polluted states in the country. It’s almost a toxic waste dump,” she said.

Prison Warden Gwynne Sizer said Good made her decision this morning after being informed of the conditions. She said Good was “not happy at all. She feels that the Manson family is the only one she has.”