Charles Manson moved out of prison to hospital: reports

Serial killer Charles Manson was reportedly moved from prison to a California hospital Tuesday.

The notorious serial killer was taken from Corcoran State Prison to a hospital in Bakersfield, Calif., according to TMZ. The hospital is said to be located about an hour from the prison.

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Manson, 82, is said to be seriously ill although it remains unclear what has hospitalized him, sources told the Los Angeles Times.

A spokesperson for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation declined to comment although she told the paper: “He is alive.”

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In the 1960s, Manson, a charismatic ex-convict, assembled a group of runaways and outcasts known as the “Manson Family.” In the summer of 1969, he directed his mostly young, female followers to murder seven people in what prosecutors said was part of a plan to incite a race war.

Members of the cult stabbed heavily pregnant Hollywood actress Sharon Tate 16 times in the early-morning hours of Aug. 9, 1969. Manson’s followers stabbed or shot to death four other people at Tate’s home.

The following night, Manson’s group entered the nearby home of grocery store chain owner Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary, stabbed the couple to death and used their blood to write “Rise,” “Death to Pigs,” and “Healter Skelter,” a misplaced reference to the Beatles song Helter Skelter, on the walls and refrigerator door.

Manson was originally sentenced to death but was spared execution and his sentence converted to life in prison after the California Supreme Court declared the death penalty unconstitutional in that state.

With files from Reuters