Charles Manson, the cult leader
who sent followers known as the "Manson Family" out to commit gruesome
murders, shattering the peace-and-love ethos of the 1960s hippie era in
California, has been hospitalized, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Manson, 83, was in a Bakersfield, California hospital
and his condition was unclear, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing
Kern County Sheriff’s lieutenant Bill Smallwood.
A spokeswoman for the California Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation declined to comment to the Los Angeles
Times. She cited privacy laws that preclude the agency "from commenting
on protected health information for any inmate in our custody," the
newspaper reported.
State and local officials were not immediately available for comment to Reuters.
Manson, who was serving a life term for orchestrating
one of the most notorious crimes in U.S. history, had been imprisoned
for more than 45 years at California State Prison, Corcoran.
In the 1960s, Manson, an 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.
Among the victims was actress Sharon Tate, the
pregnant wife of filmmaker Roman Polanski. She was stabbed 16 times by
cult members.
Manson was
rushed to Mercy Hospital in Bakersfield in January for what authorities
described only as a serious medical problem, the Los Angeles Times
reported.
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