he was fascinating because a lot of people think charles manson is a killer. in fact, he directed others to kill. >> manson personally killed just one of the nine victims, the cowboy and aspiring actor, shorty shea. still, manson is thought by most people to be a serial killer. the whole image is one of intense evil, i guess. a frightening character who might slash out at any moment. people almost seem to be afraid of him when they're in his presence. >> i think that's a very accurate assessment, that people are afraid of him and i think he enjoys scaring people. >> hello? >> how do you do, how do you do? >> in 1987, 18 years after the murders, manson agreed to talk with "today" show correspondent heidi schulman at san quentin state prison about the book "manson in his own words" an autobiography of sorts. told to former prison mate nuel emmons. >> if i like this book, there would be a lot of people that probably wouldn't buy it. but if i don't like it, everyone that doesn't like me will probably buy it. >> you said you weren't impressed with it. >> no, not rea

murderer charles manson and robert kennedy's assassin, sirhan sirhan, are among the most notorious inmates. officers were accused of arranging gladiator style fights between rival inmates that often had to be stopped with lethal force. >> officers betting on these fights, who's going to win, who's going to stab who, who's going to kill who, who's going to beat who bad. >> all of the indicted officers were subsequently acquitted. george galaza was warden at the time and had to tackle the daunting task of getting corcoran back on its feet. >> when i got here in 1996, corcoran frankly was under an intensive media barrage. the impact that that had on the staff here, it was tremendous. you cannot maintain a prison like this well if your staff morale is poor. so, the first part of it was getting the staff morale up. the next thing that we focused on was the issue of violence. >> you might have to fight. >> in a prison like this one, because of the types of inmates that we have, violence is a real thing. >> you might have to kill. you might have to stab. >> the inmates generate violence among the

i think we can all agree that rosie o'donnell is not as suited to parenting as charles charles manson. after all, we know he was a family man. so lesbian moms, you listen to rick. whether you got your children through adoption, a surrogate or just tripped and fell on some david crosby sperm, you must do what is best for the kid. lie and tell them that they have a father but that he abandoned them and is now in jail. of course they might ask you when he will be out. just say never, your daddy is on death row for murder. now you're well adjusted. oh and if you hear any noises later it's just mommy and her roommate pam moving heavy furniture. but folks, with rick laying down the truth left and right, he is bound to be misinterpreted by the lame screed media and he has come under fire for something he allegedly said in iowa. >> i don't want to make people's lives better by giving them somebody else's money. i want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn the money. >> stephen: now it sounds like he's saying he doesn't want to make black people's lives better by giving them somebody

. >> this population includes infamous criminals like juan corona, sirhan sirhan, and charles manson. built to hold the most violent offenders in the state, corcoran has seen its fair share of brutality. today a fresh group of inmates arrives at receiving and release, no doubt aware of this prison's reputation. >> when i get on the bus, call their names out to come off the bus, and they're teary-eyed coming to corcoran. it's a shock to them. i guess they have heard a lot about corcoran. >> what do you know about corcoran? >> what i know? i know it ain't no joke. that's what i know. i know this is serious business. >> corcoran is a pretty rough prison here. it's one of the rougher prisons. >> this is how serious it is. it's a life or death situation. it is like that. i don't care what they tell you. it is like that. okay? it is hardcore like that. >> corcoran's general population inmates are split into three main yards. the level one yard consists mainly of low security inmates, many of whom are in on parole violations. "b" yard holds the level three inmates, and "a" yard is home to th

maximum security prison that has housed some of the nation's most infamous criminals including charles manson and the founder of the mexican mafia. despite its reputation, violence doesn't come naturally to everyone at corcoran. >> i don't see myself as being like many of the people here. what i saw the longer i was here is there really is a thin line between them and me. >> before he was an inmate, stefan parro was a librarian. >> i'm here basically because i'm an alcoholic and i've done a lot of drugs, too. drugs are part of my story. >> parro's drug use resulted in a six-year sentence for crimes including burglary. >> at that time i had been married not very long. my wife was pregnant. the fact i couldn't stop drinking and i couldn't stop using, it was difficult to deal with the shame and guilt of all that. >> parro and his wife eventually separated, but he landed in prison for breaking into her home and stealing her credit cards to pay for drugs. >> i readily admitted to it. that was one of the problems in my defense. i had no defense. i said, yeah, i did go in and take the credit cards.