File Photo: Convicted mass murderer Charles Manson is shown in this handout picture from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation dated June 16, 2011 and released to Reuters April 8, 2012. REUTERS/CDCR/Handout via REUTERS

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Convicted mass murderer Charles Manson is at the California prison where he is serving a life sentence, corrections officials said on Saturday, following recent reports that the hippie-era cult leader had been hospitalized.

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials said Manson, 82, was at California State Prison, Corcoran, which is about 60 miles (97 km) north of Bakersfield in central California.

“We never said he was anywhere else and the law does not allow us to comment on an inmate’s medical issues - which should not be taken as confirmation that this inmate was recently in a hospital,” Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokesman Jeffrey Callison said in an email.

The Los Angeles Times and other media, citing unnamed sources, reported earlier this week that Manson had been transported to a hospital in Bakersfield for treatment. On Wednesday, a state prison official had declined to confirm the media reports or provide details on Manson’s location or specifics on his medical condition.

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.