Manson Transferred in Wake of Drug Charge

CRESCENT CITY, Calif. — Charles Manson, one of the nation’s most notorious criminals, has been moved to Pelican Bay State Prison after being caught trafficking drugs, authorities said.

Manson, convicted in 1971 of the first-degree murders of seven people, was transported from Corcoran State Prison in Kings County to Pelican Bay in Del Norte County on Tuesday, Pelican Bay officials said.

The 63-year-old Manson was assigned to Pelican Bay’s segregated Security Housing Unit in the wake of being found guilty of trafficking drugs, a felony charge, in June. He also tested positive for drugs twice, state Department of Corrections officials said.

Placement in the Segregated Housing Unit severely limits Manson’s access to other inmates. He will be allowed out of his cell only for treatment sessions, showers and solitary exercise, and will not have a cellmate, said Lt. Domingo Uribe, a prison spokesman.

At the end of his term in the unit, Manson will be reevaluated for a new prison assignment.

Manson first was sentenced to death for the 1969 murders of movie star Sharon Tate, coffee heiress Abigail Folger and three others stabbed and shot to death at Tate’s home. The next night, two others were stabbed to death.

His death sentence was reduced to life in prison in 1977.