LOS ANGELES , California ( CNN ) -- Former Manson family member Susan Atkins has requested a `` compassionate release '' from prison because she has less than six months to live , a California prisons spokeswoman said Friday . Susan Atkins , Califorina 's longest-serving female inmate , is shown in her most recent mug shot . Atkins , 60 , was convicted in the 1969 slayings of actress Sharon Tate and four others . She had been incarcerated at the California Institution for Women in Corona , California . But Atkins , the state 's longest- serving female inmate , has been hospitalized since March 18 and is listed in serious condition , state corrections department spokeswoman Terry Thornton said . Because of privacy laws , Thornton would not disclose the nature of Atkins ' illness . Atkins ' husband and attorney , James Whitehouse , was quoted as saying she has been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer , according to a blog called Manson Family Today . She also has had a leg amputated , the Los Angeles Times reported Friday , citing sources close to the case . The compassionate release request has been approved by the prison , which conducted an evaluation , and is under corrections department review , Thornton said . If the department approves , the Board of Parole Hearings and the sentencing court in Los Angeles also must sign off on the request . There is no timeline for a decision to be made , Thornton said . Atkins , known within the Manson family as `` Sadie Mae Glutz , '' has been in prison since 1971 and has been denied parole 11 times . According to historical accounts of the murders , Atkins stabbed Tate , who was 8½ months pregnant , and scawled the word `` pig '' in blood on the door of the home the actress shared with director Roman Polanski . `` I do n't want to seem like a heartless creature , but in all my years , I never considered this could happen , '' Debra Tate , the actress ' sister , told the Riverside Press-Enterprise . `` She showed no compassion . She told my sister as she slit her throat that she did n't ( care ) for her or her unborn baby , '' Tate added . Sharon Tate and three houseguests were slain in August 1969 by killers who burst into her Benedict Canyon home . A teenager who was visiting the home 's caretaker in his cottage on the property also was killed . The following night , Leno and Rosemary LaBianca were slain in their home in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles . The two-day crime spree sent shock waves throughout Los Angeles . All of the killers remain behind bars . Atkins also was convicted in the earlier murder of music teacher Gary Hinman . Atkins , like Manson , received a death sentence , and the punishment was changed to life in prison when the California Supreme Court ruled the state 's death penalty unconsitutional in 1972 . Vincent Bugliosi , who prosecuted Atkins , told the Los Angeles Times that she `` has paid substantially , though not completely , for her horrendous crimes . Paying completely would mean imposing the death penalty . '' But , he told the paper , given her terminal illness , `` I do n't have an objection to her being released . '' According to her Web site , Atkins is a born-again Christian who during her incarceration has worked to aid at-risk youth , victims of violent crimes and homeless children . Last month , authorities dug for buried bodies at the Inyo County , California , ranch where Manson and his followers once lived , after police became aware that testing had indicated humans might be buried there . Nothing was found , police said .
Susan Atkins seeks `` compassionate release '' from prison . She is serving life sentence for role in Manson family murders of late 1960s . Web site quotes husband as saying she has terminal brain cancer . Request is under consideration , corrections official says .