What's Wrong With Charles Manson? Cult Murderer Taken From California Prison To Hospital

Mass murderer Charles Manson was reported seriously ill Tuesday and taken from Corcoran State Prison in California to a hospital in Bakersfield.

Sources told the Los Angeles Times Manson, 82, suffered an undisclosed medical issue but the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation declined to comment because of federal and state privacy laws but did confirm Manson remains alive.

TMZ reported Manson was suffering from gastrointestinal issues.

Manson is serving nine life sentences for the Manson Family murders of actress Sharon Tate and six others Aug. 8-9, 1969, in a bid to start a race war that he called Helter Skelter in tribute to the Beatles song. Bloody messages were left at the two crime scenes.

Tate, the wife of director Roman Polanski and 8 1/2 months pregnant, was killed in her Benedict Canyon home. Also killed at Tate’s home were Jay Sebring, 35; Voytek Frykowski, 32; Abigail Folger, 25, a coffee heiress, and Steven Parent, 18, a friend of Tate's caretaker. The killers scrawled “Pig” on the front door in blood.

The following night, three of Manson’s followers killed Leno and Rosemary LaBianca in their Los Feliz home.

Manson was convicted of first degree murder and conspiracy, along with Charles “Tex” Watson, Patricia Krenwinkle and Susan Atkins. They initially were sentenced to death but the punishment was reduced to life in prison when the state Supreme Court overturned the death penalty in 1972. Leslie Van Houten was convicted in the LaBianca murders.

Krenwinkel, 69, came up for parole last week but a two-member parole panel delayed a decision on her release, calling for an investigation of evidence Krenwinkel meets the criteria for battered women’s syndrome. Krenwinkel is the longest serving female inmate in California.

The California Supreme Court last month denied a hearing for Van Houten. The California Board of Parole had recommended her release but Gov. Jerry Brown overturned the decision.

The Times said Manson has racked up hundred of rules violations while in prison, including having a cellphone and homemade weapon. He has been denied parole a dozen times, the last time in 2012. He comes up for parole again in 2027.