Los Angeles ? Susan Atkins, a member of the Charles Manson “family” who admitted ruthlessly stabbing pregnant actress Sharon Tate to death in the cult’s 1969 murder spree, has died in prison less than a month after a parole board turned down a bid for compassionate release. She was 61 and had brain cancer.

Atkins, who eventually came to call the crimes a sin, died late Thursday, according to the California Department of Corrections.

Corrections spokeswoman Terry Thornton said that at the time of Atkins’ death she had been in prison longer than any woman currently incarcerated in California.

Atkins’ final chance at freedom was denied on Sept. 2. Terminally ill, she was brought to a parole board hearing on a gurney and slept through most of it, but managed to recite religious verse with the help of her husband, attorney James Whitehouse.