Monday, November 16, 2020

Manson Girls Escape Attempt from SBI


 

 Manson Girls Escape Attempt from SBI
By Deputy Chris Miller(retired)
Los Angeles Sheriff’s Museum
original article


....  Three of the Manson Girls, Susan Atkins, Leslie Van Houten, and Patricia Krenwinkel were arrested and confined in the Sybil Brand Institute for Women while they were on trial for murder. When the three Manson girls arrived at the Sybil Brand Institute for Women known as SBI, Deputy Sheryl Endresen was working there as a senior deputy.  She supervised the deputies who worked the module that housed the Manson girls.  The three girls were housed in separate cell blocks until they were sentenced.

Once they started receiving publicity on T.V., and in the newspapers for the murders they committed, the girls started acting differently.  They walked around like they were super stars,  bragged about the killings they were involved in and what a rush it was to stab someone.  They even sold their autographs to other inmates.  The Manson girls’ attorney kept submitting and receiving court orders for special privileges for them.  One example is Leslie Van Houten who was allowed to visit with her child (???) in the SBI Captain’s office.  When the Manson Girls received a visit they would be placed at the front of the line.  All inmates were limited on the number of books they could keep it their cells but the Manson girls were allowed to keep extra books.

            Charlie’s girls carved “x’s” in their foreheads after Charlie told them to do it to draw attention to themselves.  Right after they carved the “x” in their foreheads, they walked into the mess hall with bandages over the “x.”  Once they appeared in court and the information about the “x” carved in their foreheads was common news, they walked around the jail with their foreheads and the “x” exposed.

   After the Manson Girls were convicted of murder and sentenced to death, they were moved to the bottom floor of SBI to module 5001.  After being confined there for a short period, they planned on escaping on New Year's Day.  The 5001 cell block of SBI was a module with two rows of single person jail cells.  The single cells were considered special housing that housed high security and mentally unstable inmates.   The three Manson girls were allowed recreation time together in the dayroom on both A.M. and P.M. shifts.

Another inmate who was housed in a cell on the same row as the Manson girls told her module deputy that she wanted to speak to Deputy Endresen.  The inmate told Deputy Endresen that the Manson Girls were planning something.  Deputy Endresen notified her sergeant about her informant’s statement.  The sergeant requested additional deputies and they searched the module.  The search did not reveal anything that the Manson girls were planning.  The informant inmate talked to Deputy Endresen again and said, “I am telling you, the Manson girls are planning something.”

On December 31, 1972, Deputy Endresen decided to search again but this time decided to also search the dayroom.  She searched the dayroom and at the end of the search she decided to check the bars on the window. When she checked the bars on the second window over, six of the bars came loose in her hand. She discovered that the bars had been cut and removed and then replaced using soap.  The girls were planning on escaping the next morning.  The dayroom was on the ground floor so they could just climb out the window to the ground without having to climb down the building.  After they crawled out the window they were going to walk to the bottom of the hill to the freeway and Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme was going to pick them up there.

Deputy Endresen discovered that the single hack saw blade used to cut the bars was hidden in the spine of a book that was stacked among other books in Susan Atkins cell.  A second hack saw blade was found in the cell door rolling mechanism.  To place the cut bars back in place they mixed soap with flakes of paint that matched the paint on the bars.  This concealed the location where the bars had been cut.

During a further search, deputies discovered several hundred dollars in twenty dollar bills.  The bills were hidden inside cigarettes.  The tobacco had been removed from individual cigarettes and then the twenty dollar bills were rolled up and placed into the rolled up paper where the tobacco had been.  Tobacco was then placed back in both ends of the cigarettes, concealing the cash.  At that time, inmates were not allowed to possess $20 bills.  This money was going to be used by the inmates after they escaped.

After the escape attempt, the Manson girls were separated and housed in different areas of the jail.  This was the first time, red wristbands had been placed on female inmates at SBI.  The red wristbands indicated that the inmates were high profile and must be escorted anytime they left their cell.  Shortly after that, the Manson Girls were transferred to the California Institution for Women.  In 1972 the California Supreme Court abolished the Death Penalty so the Manson girls’ sentence was commuted from the death penalty to life with the possibility of parole.  

The Manson Girls were all returned to SBI so that they could attend court and be resentenced to life in prison.  Upon their return, the girls bragged to Deputy Endresen that when they were confined in SBI during their trial that they were getting letters that contained LSD on the back of the postage stamps.  The girls also told her that their attorney was the one who brought them the hack saw blades to cut the bars and the twenty dollar bills for after their escape.  As Susan Atkins was being loaded on the bus to return to Chino Prison, she turned to Deputy Sheryl Endresen and told her that she was going to have her killed for discovering the cut jail bars and preventing their escape.  






55 comments:

orwhut said...

Thank you, Star. If I ever knew about the escape attempt, I'd forgotten.

Doug said...

I had forgotten about this escape attempt myself. I do remember the attempt made by Gypsy and Mary (?) that Susan spoke of in her first book. The one that Susan backed out from.

Thanks for this info.

Fayez Abedaziz said...

This article took me to what the CIA was doing in some of their ridiculous and at times, deathly programs, like-MK-Ultra
In the 50's then to the 60's.

Do people that are a bit familiar with the programs MK-Ultra and Operation Chaos in the 60's, especially to do with LSD and purposely causing division and violence during the good old days of ant-Vietnam war demonstrations and other so-called ones, you know, the ones loosely referred to as anti-establishment, do we, are we not suspecting that- they knew!
They, the CIA and FBI knew what was going on at Spahn and at communes in Taos and others in California.
The CIA basically began the spread of LSD in the U.S., among the public.
Hell, they were filming the crowds at Altamont and the one before, at Monterrey. (the concerts)
There were a couple of guys giving free tabs of acid to whoever said yeah at both of these. The 'trippers' were the ones being filmed.
So, how does this relate to our fun loving, giggling gals at Sybil Brand?
If the plans to escape got to the point where all that was done, by the time they were discovered, well...no one saw or heard anything?
That got me thinking of what I said above, not that they are related, still, the word is- SUSPICION.
You see, not only did the agencies, such as the CIA and FBI, snoop, often illegally, they even had kids in state schools (we used to call 'em reformatories) given LSD as guinea pigs. The kids, teens like our old friend brother Charlie (Manson) didn't know that they were dosed. Same in prisons, though some criminals said they would take the acid for promised favors.
The article says that the girls bragged about having acid on the back of the stamps on the envelopes and so, we assume that they tripped on licking 'em. Really?
I took acid in '68 and in '69. Never heard of that, in those days.
Look, I'm really just conveying how there has been too much of what just about any Detective would say: "buddy, we don't like coincidences...if we did, we'd never solve most cases." Two of 'em actually said that to myself and a friend one day, in a restaurant when I began a friendly joking conversation with 'em and asked some questions. They had badges on their belts, so I knew they were Detectives. In L.A.
The more I think back at the late 60's and of situations like Spahn, the changing culture, along with what I touched upon, briefly above, the more I am rather puzzled and thinking beyond the 'given' 'coincidences,' so to speak.
Yeah, the scene at Spahn was spied upon, I'm convinced. Thanks

Peter said...

But if you believe an election might have been rigged, you're the nutjob.

Robert C said...

I'd never heard of that escape attempt, starviego, but if true then good one.

I have no problem with you believing Spahn was 'spied on', Fayad, but the rest is miscreant spreading of fact with fantasy. I knew numerous people, and we can include writer Ken Kesey, who experimented in the drug programs and they were all fully told what would happen and how prior to initiation.

Peter said; " But if you believe an election might have been rigged, you're the nutjob. "

Sorry Peter but you qualify. Get some help.

Well .... two elections ago the Repubs DID gerrymander voting to try and get a Repub victory. The Demos were not so easily suckered this time.

starviego said...

"They ... bragged about the killings they were involved in and what a rush it was to stab someone."

If the prosecutors had gotten wind of this, wouldn't they have subpoenaed the witnesses who heard this and used it against the defendants? Didn't the defense attorneys warn the girls of the dangers of loose lips while awaiting trial in jail? Weird.


"The girls also told her that their attorney was the one who brought them the hack saw blades to cut the bars..."

This doesn't make any sense either. Would an attorney have risked his freedom and his job for this? What did they expect would happen if they had been successful in their escape attempt? They would have been caught and then face more charges for escaping! That's hardly helping your client.....

Robert C said...

Pretty much agreed, starviego.

I even wonder about women let alone men being able to remove those bars with hacksaws in enough time to avoid being spotted. I mean, it's really labor intensive.

Unknown said...

^^^^exactly.^^^^^

Matt said...

Peter said...
But if you believe an election might have been rigged, you're the nutjob.


These are the times I wish Blogger had a Like Button.


grimtraveller said...

The girls also told her that their attorney was the one who brought them the hack saw blades to cut the bars...

Red flag no.1. The women didn't have "an attorney." They each had their own attorney. During the trial, Leslie Van Houten had 3, one of whom ended up as DA of LA county !

grimtraveller said...

starviego said:

If the prosecutors had gotten wind of this, wouldn't they have subpoenaed the witnesses who heard this and used it against the defendants?

With Pat's fingerprint, Susan's Grand Jury testimony after she recanted {and Ronnie & Virginia} and Dianne Lake to slamdunk Leslie, they wouldn't need it. They didn't need it. Pat & Leslie {and Susan just before she died} could attest to that.

Dan S said...

Not too hard to cut metal bars with a hack saw blade. It would take at most an hour per bar. They would have to cut each twice. Given a week with an hour of privacy in the room a day would be reasonable

Dan S said...

We've rigged elections in other countries and straight up murdered the winner if we didn't like him, so nothing our overlords try surprises me.
I find it harder to believe trump got even ONE vote than that somebody rigged the election. Regardless of which side of the aisle you're on (and don't forget there's a bipartisan consensus anyway) Trump is an obvious charlatan and even a down right boob

Dan S said...

Last non family post (for now) i swear:
U.S. election tampering:
Italy
Philippines
British Guiana
Dominican Republic
Chile
El Salvador
Nicaragua
Haiti
Yugoslavia

kraut_iznota_knotsy said...

Oh, those cantankerous "Manson" gals ...
so fulla' piss & vinegar - and always up to somethin'!
LOL

orwhut said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
orwhut said...

Deputy Endersen wasn't bad looking.

Speculator said...

I would say she looks bloody hot - just didn’t want to be the first to say it ;-) !! To be honest, quite a few of the lady officers I’ve seen in photos with the Manson girls look similarly attractive. Was it the era for part-time models to do prison work too :-) !!!

orwhut said...

Figured it was time to lighten up. I can't help about the guards. About all I remember seeing on the case, when it was fresh, was Sadie and her mustache.

Speculator said...

Maybe that’s why the guards look so good - given what their accompanying 😂!!!

starviego said...

orwhut said...
"Deputy Endersen wasn't bad looking."

She can frisk me anytime!

Speculator said...

Steady now - best get back to the more serious subject of Atkins moustache 🤢 😂

grimtraveller said...

starviego said...


She can frisk me anytime!

She'd be close to or over 80 now !
"Anytime" isn't relative. It's any time {including tomorrow !!}.

Dan S said...

I find it harder to believe trump got even ONE vote

You've said this a couple of times now and while I appreciate a figure of speech, come on, whether you like him or not, you don't represent the opinions, beliefs, likes and tastes of the entirety of America ! You're not America's style council.
How can a sitting president not even rate one vote ?

Trump is an obvious charlatan

In reality, actual reality, few "leaders" of countries are actually so terribly inept that they can't do some good in post.

Doug said...

I had forgotten about this escape attempt myself

I'd not even heard of it.
If true,it's weird how it never comes up at parole hearings. Flaming Nora, Tex gets written up for accepting an apple in 1973 and it still gets brought up today but an "actual" escape attempt......
If true, why is Leslie always flagged as having an exemplary record and come to think of it, Pat too ?

starviego said...

starviego said...
"The girls also told her that their attorney was the one who brought them the hack saw blades to cut the bars..."

Didn't Squeaky say at one time that one of the girls in jail was having sex with her attorney? That might explain the hacksaw blades. Who was it? I vote for Sadie/Fitzgerald. Charlie said she had certain talents.

orwhut said...

Star,
I see that the source for the escape attempt article is "By Deputy Chris Miller(retired)Los Angeles Sheriff’s Museum"

Do you have any information on Deputy Miller like whether he/she worked
at SBI or when the article was written and whether it was ever published?

grimtraveller said...

starviego said:

Didn't Squeaky say at one time that one of the girls in jail was having sex with her attorney? That might explain the hacksaw blades. Who was it? I vote for Sadie/Fitzgerald

Unless one of the women in jail had perfected the art of astral projection {in which case, one would wonder why they didn't project themselves out of jail to the bottomless pit or Ecuador} that is somewhat doubtful.
It is, however, on record by the author Jess Bravin and Pat at her last parole hearing that Paul Fitzgerald was having sex with Squeaky.
It is left to the imagination and cynical supposition as to who derived the most benefit from the arrangement, if true.

starviego said...



orwhut said...
"Do you have any information on Deputy Miller like whether he/she worked
at SBI or when the article was written and whether it was ever published?"

All I know is that the article is posted here:
https://lasdretired.org/lasd-historical-articles/

orwhut said...

Thank you, Star. That site has some interesting titles.

Ajerseydevil said...

Where's the post on the anniversary of Mansons passing

Gorodish said...

orwhut typed:

"Do you have any information on Deputy Miller like whether he/she worked
at SBI or when the article was written and whether it was ever published?"


According to his FB page, retired LASD Deputy Chris Miller started with the Los Angeles Sheriff's dept. on Sept.10, 1974. Back then, California sheriff deputies fresh out of the academy were assigned to county jails for a year or two before they were assigned patrolman duties.
I believe this story is a bit of a fabrication; an embellishment on the Gypsy/Brunner escape attempts of 1973/74 which were chronicled by Susan Atkins in CoSCoG. The dates appear to have been altered to fit the story, and some of the facts (Van Houten's child?) are downright goofy. The only attorney sleazy enough to smuggle saw blades would be Daye Shinn, and I doubt even he'd be that stupid. From everything I've ever read, Krenwinkel and Van Houten were compliant prisoners once they got to the slammer for life. I think Miller got the story from either Endresen or one of her colleagues, and over the years it got twisted into another "Bill Vance pubic hair vest" story spun by L.E. Sorry, I'm not buying it.

starviego said...

Gorodish said...
"The only attorney sleazy enough to smuggle saw blades would be Daye Shinn, and I doubt even he'd be that stupid."

Yet wasn't Charlie also caught with a hacksaw blade? Didn't Kenny Como use a hacksaw blade in one of his escapes?

starviego said...

Gorodish said...
"I believe this story is a bit of a fabrication; an embellishment on the Gypsy/Brunner escape attempts of 1973/74 which were chronicled by Susan Atkins in CoSCoG."

The Gypsy/Brunner escape attempt happened at the California State Prison, Frontera, which is located in San Bernardino County, and thus would not have been guarded by Deputies from LA County.

orwhut said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
orwhut said...

An interview with Deputy Endresen might shed light on the accuracy of the story. I can't do it for fear that she hasn't aged any better than I have.

Dan S said...

Did you look as good in the first place?

Dan S said...

Grim: no, the guy really is a joke. He ran the county as well as he did his college.
And to orwhut, sorry about the snarky response; basically i was just trying to say she looks great in that picture

Gorodish said...

starviego typed:

Yet wasn't Charlie also caught with a hacksaw blade? Didn't Kenny Como use a hacksaw blade in one of his escapes?

Are you saying attorneys smuggled the hacksaw blades to them too?

The Gypsy/Brunner escape attempt happened at the California State Prison, Frontera, which is located in San Bernardino County, and thus would not have been guarded by Deputies from LA County.

OK, let's check your story again: "On December 31, 1972, Deputy Endresen decided to search again but this time decided to also search the dayroom. She searched the dayroom and at the end of the search she decided to check the bars on the window. When she checked the bars on the second window over, six of the bars came loose in her hand. She discovered that the bars had been cut and removed and then replaced using soap. The girls were planning on escaping the next morning."

Krenwinkel, Atkins, and Van Houten were housed in the Special Security Unit of CIW Frontera since April 1971. Gypsy and Brunner joined them there in 1973, after being convicted in the Hawthorne robbery. So I'll throw your question back at you, Sherlock: Why was LASD Deputy Sheryl Endresen guarding them in a state prison?

And even if the 12/31/1972 turns out to be a sloppy typo, why, with all the hysteria that the TLB trial generated, would nobody have heard about an escape attempt by Charlie's Angels? Sorry, my nostrils remain firmly pinched by my fingers at this tale.

orwhut said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
orwhut said...

Dan S,
No offence taken.
and
No I didn't look as good in the first place.

Now a question for you. Are you and Deb S related? I notice you share a last name. (-:)

starviego said...

Gorodish said...
"Are you saying attorneys smuggled the hacksaw blades to them too?"

Manson's Hinman/Shea trial, Oct '71
LADA files Box54-4 pg349 On Oct. 20, 1971
Kanarek: ...I have been told that a person named Kenneth Como has allegedly escaped from the County Jail... I allege it, without being able to prove it, that at this particular time, this was deliberately allowed to take place, or accomplished by --
The Court: The escape?
Kanarek: Yes. ...it is incredible of belief, with the surveillance --
The Court: I agree with you. ....
Kanarek: ...he was allowed to, in order to generate publicity against Mr. Manson at this particular time.

The hacksaw blades were smuggled in by somebody. Did the covert operators actually encourage this, so they would have reason to renew public attention on Manson to keep the fear level up(catapulting the propaganda)?

Gorodish said...

starviego typed:

Kanarek: ...I have been told that a person named Kenneth Como has allegedly escaped from the County Jail...

The source: Irving Kanarek.....'nuff said.

The Court: The escape?
Kanarek: Yes. ...it is incredible of belief, with the surveillance --
The Court: I agree with you. ....


The judge's snarky remark...,'nuff said.

starviego said...


Blogger Gorodish said...
"Krenwinkel, Atkins, and Van Houten were housed in the Special Security Unit of CIW Frontera since April 1971. ... And even if the 12/31/1972 turns out to be a sloppy typo... "

I agree that the timeline is way off. Which means they got the date wrong.... or the whole thing was made up out of the whole cloth. The story seems pretty specific, though. Hmm....

orwhut said...

Blogger Speculator said...
Was it the era for part-time models to do prison work too :-) !!!ight

Speculator,
You could be onto something. If the story is made up, where could Deputy Endresen have come from but a model agency?

Bobby said...

But if you believed the Russians elected the 2016 winner your not a nutjob.

Bobby said...

Thanks for sharing your opinion of Trump. What I can't comprehend is how a guy , a non politician gets elected is thought of as you say. Where as a guy with 50 years of track record gets elected 🤔 well you know what I'm getting at.

Bobby said...

Well to fair Trump didn't have the advantage of all degrees Joe claims to have had

starviego said...


https://j6u6c3s7.stackpathcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/EscapeOfKennethComo_April2017Dispatcher.pdf
Como had numerous hacksaw blades smuggled to him. This allowed him to continue cutting the cell bars even after one or two of the hacksaw blades were found in a cell search. To ensure that he had hacksaw blades in different locations. .... Como didn't say how the hacksaw blades were smuggled into the jail but some deputies think that his attorney brought them in since he was the only outside person who had contact with Como. It is also possible that the hacksaw blades came in through the soles of Como's shoes. ...

Does anybody know who Como's attorney was at this time(Oct '71--after the Hawthorne shootout in July of '71)?

Gorodish said...

starviego typed:

Does anybody know who Como's attorney was at this time(Oct '71--after the Hawthorne shootout in July of '71)?

Como's attorney was Richard A. Walton of Los Angeles. (Source is cielodrive.com") Looks like he was in trouble with the state bar in 1970. Here's the link.

Peter said...

Wasn't Fitzgerald banging Squeeky? Maybe he brought them in.

Doug said...

Fitzgerald was dating VIXEN Erica Gavin. Gavin speaks to Squeaky and, others staying in Erica and Paul's home...

http://ericagavin.com/archive2016/the-manson-family-experience.html

starviego said...

Gorodish said...
"Como's attorney was Richard A. Walton...."

Thanks for the info.

Chris B said...

On youtube there is a documentary about the Arian Brotherhood that passes comment with regard to their association with Manson. Visiting girls would bring in knives hidden in their vaginas.

REF Manson and the hacksaw blade. He spoke about this being a deliberate means to get busted when moving. This would result in being put in the safer situation of solitary rather than straight into general population.

imperium_amore said...

Anyone care to speculate how things would have been different if the girls escaped?

grimtraveller said...

Leslie wouldn't be getting recommended for parole.

Ron said...

How true