CORCORAN, Calif. (AP) - A prison panel denied parole Wednesday to mass murderer Charles Manson in his 12th and probably final bid for freedom.
Manson, now a gray-bearded, 77-year-old, did not attend the hearing where the parole board ruled he had shown no efforts to rehabilitate himself and would not be eligible for parole for another 15 years.
"This panel can find nothing good as far as suitability factors go," said John Peck, a member of the panel that met at Corcoran State Prison in Central California.
Also playing heavily into the board's decision was something Manson had said recently to one of his prison psychologists that Peck read aloud.
"'I'm special. I'm not like the average inmate,"' Peck said. "'I have spent my life in prison. I have put five people in the grave. I am a very dangerous man."'
Peck then spoke for the record directly to Manson, who will receive a transcription of the proceedings: "This panel agrees with that statement."
The panel deliberated for 20 minutes before making its decision.
Manson orchestrated a series of gruesome murders on consecutive nights that terrified the city of Los Angeles 40 years ago. His trial with three female acolytes was an international spectacle.
Manson and his followers were convicted in the 1969 slaying of actress Sharon Tate and four others.