LOCKED UP FOR LIFE: LYLE MENENDEZ PAROLE DENIED — JUST LIKE BROTHER ERIK

The Menendez brothers just got a double dose of bad news. In back-to-back parole hearings that played out like a grim soap opera, both Lyle and Erik Menendez were told the same thing: you’re not going anywhere.

First came Erik, 54, on August 21. Ten hours of testimony, excuses, and appeals went down in flames as the parole board slammed him for a prison rap sheet that reads like a shopping list of trouble — drugs, smuggled cellphones, fraud, and gang connections. Add in what officials called a “failure to grasp the gravity” of the bloody murders of their parents, and the verdict was sealed: parole denied. Erik won’t get another shot for three years.

Then came Lyle, 57, the very next day. His hearing stretched for hours, but the board’s message was déjà vu all over again. No parole, no release, no mercy. His prison record didn’t help, and like his brother, he failed to convince the panel that three decades behind bars had brought true insight or rehabilitation.

The brothers, convicted in 1996 for blasting their parents to death in their Beverly Hills mansion, were originally sentenced to life without parole. That changed in May when a judge resentenced them to 50 years to life under youth offender laws, technically making them parole-eligible. But “eligible” doesn’t mean “free” — and this week, the system slammed the door shut.

Still, their lawyers aren’t done. A pending habeas corpus petition claims new evidence and abuse allegations could reopen the case. And, in theory, the governor could step in with clemency. But those are long shots at best.

For now, the Menendez brothers remain where they’ve been for 35 years — locked up, side by side, serving life sentences that look more permanent by the day.