LOS ANGELES �� Mass murderer Charles Manson, who was hospitalized this week, has been returned to the prison where he is serving his life sentence, a corrections official said.
Manson, 82, had been taken to a hospital for treatment of a serious but undisclosed medical problem. Officials with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation have declined to comment on Manson's condition, citing federal and state privacy laws.
But Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman for the department, confirmed that Manson was back in prison.
"Inmate Manson is at California State Prison-Corcoran," she said in an email, declining to elaborate in a follow-up phone call: "He is at the prison. I don't know how much plainer it can be."
Manson had been admitted to Mercy Hospital in Bakersfield, according to sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter. Officials at the hospital, which often treats inmates for life-threatening illnesses or injuries, would not say whether Manson was there.
Manson and members of his "family" of followers were convicted of killing actress Sharon Tate and six other people during a rampage in the Los Angeles area in August 1969. Prosecutors said Manson and his followers were trying to incite a race war.
Manson was initially sentenced to death. But a 1972 ruling by the California Supreme Court found the state's death penalty law at the time unconstitutional, and his sentence was changed to life in prison with the possibility of parole. He has been denied parole 12 times.
During his four decades of incarceration, Manson has been anything but a model prisoner. Among other things, Manson has been cited for assault, repeated possession of a weapon, threatening staff and possessing a cellphone, Thornton said this week.
