Updated

California's director of adult prisons is recommending that former Charles Manson follower and convicted murderer Susan Atkins be denied a compassionate release on the basis of terminal illness.

A prison spokeswoman says director Suzan Hubbard made the decision Wednesday.

Officials at the California Institution for Women had recommended that she be released to die in the care of her family.

The 60-year-old Atkins was held at the facility for decades before a move to a hospital to treat her brain cancer.

Hubbard's recommendation is advisory. The Board of Parole Hearings must decide whether to take up Atkins' case, and her original sentencing court in Los Angeles County would make the final decision.

Atkins confessed to killing pregnant actress Sharon Tate during a murderous rampage with other Manson followers in 1969.