“I think I was the only murderer to leave Atascadero with a clean record – in fact, the psychiatrists did not want to release me – they were about to transfer me to Agnew State Hospital, where I would have been released after many years, and then closely monitored. Remember that I was not yet twenty-one, without any love or sexual experience, and that I had never worked in my life.
At Atascadero, I found myself, a minor, in a psychiatric hospital for hardened criminals. In 1964, the average age of prisoners was thirty-six. According to the law, I should have been sent to Napa State Hospital, an institution with minimal security, but the judge was so outraged by my crimes that he declared ‘not wanting to send this young man to Disneyland.’ That’s why I ended up in Atascadero, with people on average twenty years older than me. Believe me, I grew up very quickly.”
– Ed Kemper about his first incarceration at age 15 for the murder of his paternal grandparents in 1964.
Source : L’Ogre de Santa Cruz (Stéphane Bourgoin, 1998)
Was this photo taken during his incarceration at the atascadero state hospital? He looks hella creepy in photo. Almost like you can see his evil urges and frustrations on his face.
I think this picture was taken when Kemper was arrested after he murdered his grandparents. It was in the newspapers in the days following his arrest.