Charles Manson, the 82-year-old killer and cult leader, has been taken from his California prison cell to a hospital, according to unconfirmed reports.

A state corrections official confirmed only that Manson was still alive, following the reports on TMZ and in the Los Angeles Times.

TMZ said he had been taken to a medical centre in Bakersfield, about 60 miles south of Corcoran state prison, where he was being held.



Late on Tuesday night, three vans from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) were parked outside Bakersfield’s Mercy Hospital Downtown, where state prisoners have been treated before.

The CDCR spokeswoman, Terry Thornton, said only that Manson was alive and still assigned to the prison in Corcoran. She declined to say whether he was at the hospital in Bakersfield, citing safety privacy laws that prohibited her from discussing an inmate’s medical situation.



Manson was convicted of orchestrating the murders in 1969 of the pregnant actor Sharon Tate and six others.

Tate’s sister Debra told the Associated Press on Tuesday night that, as a Catholic, she had “no ill wishes” for the people who killed her sister, and that she would reserve her feelings until hearing Manson had died.

“I would probably say a prayer for them and shed a tear and ask God to have mercy on their souls, but so far I haven’t allowed myself to feel anything because it’s unsubstantiated,” Tate said. “I’m not allowing myself to feel anything until I know that it’s true.”



Manson was convicted of leading a cult in which disaffected young people living in a commune followed his orders and were ultimately turned into killers.

Manson and three female followers, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten, were convicted of murder and sentenced to death for the killings at two gruesome scenes in the summer of 1969. Another defendant, Charles “Tex” Watson, was convicted later.



All were spared execution when a US supreme court ruling temporarily banned the death penalty in 1972.

The Los Angeles county district attorney’s office said it had no information on Manson. The office prosecuted Manson and has objected to his release. He was most recently up for parole in 2012 – his 12th application for freedom.

The California state prison, Corcoran, has medical facilities to provide urgent or emergency care as well as inpatient hospital stays.

“In general, inmates are sent to outside hospitals if they need surgical services, emergency care, or diagnostic services of an acute nature,” said Joyce Hayhoe, a spokeswoman for the federal receiver who controls prison medical care. “These services are not provided in state prison facilities.”

In November, the state inspector general, which monitors the corrections system, characterised care at Corcoran as inadequate.