Rumours are circulating on social media that notorious killer Charles Manson is to be released on parole due to prison overcrowding.
Despite the popularity of these rumours, they do not appear to be based on truth. In fact the rumours have been spreading online since 2014 when then spoof-news website EmpireNews.net posted an article that claimed Manson was granted parole by the California Board of Parole, authorised by Governor Jerry Brown.
According to California Board of Parole Hearings Commissioner John Peck, prison overcrowding forced the prison board to re-evaluate prisoners that are elderly or those with serious illnesses. In February a panel of federal judges ordered California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) two more years to reduce chronic prison overcrowding that has cost the state billions of dollars.
That story wasn’t true, as was evident enough by the disclaimer on the EmpireNews.net website that “outed” their content as satirical –
Empire News is a satirical and entertainment website. We only use invented names in all our stories, except in cases when public figures are being satirized. Any other use of real names is accidental and coincidental.
However, as is often the case, these rumours rarely disappear and often the spoof articles get picked up by other websites (that do not feature any disclaimers) and subsequently given a new lease of life.
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In 2017 the same story was copied onto the website Breakingnews365.net in a condensed format and again spread virally, despite not providing any sources nor any evidence whatsoever. The revised version of the hoax also claimed that Manson was to be re-homed in a small home in Johnson County, or Joshua in Texas.
It’s all nonsense. Such a decision would inevitably gain mainstream media press attention given the notoriety of Charles Manson’s crimes. In reality Manson has filed for parole a number of times, which have continually been denied, the last time in 2012. His next parole hearing is scheduled for 2027, when – if still alive – Manson will be 92 years old.