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 serki the whole image is one of tense 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 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 really, no. >>

the inmate is charles manson. >> we have some manson memorabilia that charles manson has created sinceur shoots at california state prison corcoran, our crew barely got a glimpse of manson before he covered up his window. a recent mug shot shows how much he has aged since first coming to prison in 1971. but his artwork provides a unique insight into his life behind bars. >> here a scorpion that he's made. basically, taking thread from various types of items, socks and t-shirts and towel, he creates it and uses -- it looks like a marker to color. this is probably one of the items that he makes the most of. spiders. i would assume this is something like a harp. and he's made it out of toilet paper and newspaper. it looks like some dental floss, a small stick, and probably for the coloring, he used kool-aid to get the coloring for it. >> why do you have it? >> he's not allowed to have it. occasionally, we go through and do cell searches and confiscate all items. he doesn't have a hobby card and other inmates try to sneak it out and put it on ebay and sell it. so we go in and dispose of it

if you'll recall in the sixty's when richard nixon made some comments in the press that charles manson was guilty when manson was on trial and his jury was sequestered john ashcroft went to him and said you can't do this this. you know you're the commander in chief you're the president of the united states you are an israeli prejudicing a jury even though the jury was arguably sequestered at that time and would not have heard those comments president obama. you know to fund raisers that he was at a fundraiser with a high dollar funders and someone got him on video saying that you know bradley manning did it which is our group did more prejudicial especially since he is the commander in chief and you're talking about a military jury or a military judge and we have heard of such a policy as such as rich as bitter nixon issued over charles manson so i think that they do have it in for bradley manning the president have a signal it's that much and they are trying to do something rather unprecedented which is say that because he knew that information he may have given to wiki leaks would wi

and charles manson follower tex watson was denied parole, crime victims groups wonder about the next time. >> many of the manson clan have done perfect in prison z they could very well end up being in front of the governor some day who, unfortunately, may at this rate may let them out. >> the governor's office rs says that a court order to reduce the population was not a factor in parole decisions. >> thank you very much. >> coming up, the warning that local mad cow case has nothing to do with bad beef. >> and i'm sandhya patel. here is the headlines. cooler with storms coming through. forget about the spring-like warmth. it's fading away. i'll be back with the accu-weather forecast coming up. >> >>> an 18-year-old woman managed to walk away from this terrible crash with only minor injuries. the chp says the woman lost control of southbound 680 ending up trapped in her car slid underneath a big rig that was transporting the crane. crews freed her from the wreck. the accident snarled traffic for hours. >> marin county health department says mad cow disease is not to blame for the deat

to a tremendous extent now and in our culture right so you've got bill o'reilly is more like charles manson than edward r. murrow now let's talk about something you're very keen to write about and talk about over the years peak resources and i want to ask you is there any connection between the curtailment of civil liberties in the u.s. and this peak resource the peak oil peak water etc well there's certainly a connection between all of these enormous looming issues the failure of capital finance the failure of civil order and the faith that we can run a civil society and the availability of the vital resources that we need to have an economy that continues to grow and produce the ability to do things like service debt so yes that you know these things are all intimately connected and they all end up read down going into the question of whether or not this is a society that has enough confidence that it will be able to keep going carrying this project of civilization into the future right now we're not too sure about that james council has another curious thing there's a washington post sho

>>reporter: while charles manson follower with the son denied parole for the 17th time in 2011 crime victims group wonder about the next time. >> many of the manson clan have done perfect in prison. and they could very well end up being in front of the governor some day who unfortunately may at this rate may let them out. >>reporter: xwvr ochs also says the federal court ordered to reduce the prison population is not a factor in parole decision. this is abc 7 news. >> there is a lieutenant more to get to for you tonight. bay area hospital has a change of heart in life or death matter in undocumented immigrant. we have the story. >> protesting apple. demonstrators in san francisco are pushing for change half world away. what apple is saying about it tonight. >> i'm in the accu-weather forecast center. warmth of winter ended for now. i have details in my forecast coming up. >> from 7 on your side michael finney the return of the jumbo seat with all the potential safety hazard we investigated 5 years ago. stay with us. news safety hazard we investigated 5 years ago. stay with us. news a

but i think it is human nature in people like acidic charles manson latour i that the whole building him. if a guy does your show of people like him there's a tendency to go in that direction. >>gary: that is the in fact the 49ers are due in little now. say you have had to keep its on a full view of our line for years. when this new stadium opened it will not have any effect on view all. and but if you own in business and went to pay $70 for a stake and it was packaged in the heady demand would do say no? it just is not work. capitalism and i had been in allowed people to ski disappointed in foreign lands will not tell you they do not care. >>gary: of joe, it's just when a 16 year old, that maybe the highlights of someone to write and do it is great for the family. they have time to spin. but when you build these guys up will be stuck you may be am looking for something can think about. >>gary: i and you can get people into infantile men and sent a power. >>gary: i do not think anyone age 15, 16 or 70 need a false sense of power. >> cut you are a nice town with incredible stamina. >>

this former senior adviser charles manson told me. suddenly got the point of the queen would been doing her job for 50 years. now that she has reached her 60 year milestone, she is bigger than politics or celebrities are fashioned. yet she has learned to move with the times, making sure the monarchy is responsive without being trendy. her ability to adapt to a changing world is all the more impressive when you consider that she grew up in an edwardian atmosphere. she is the anchor in the middle for people to hang onto them in times of turbulence. her lifelong friend and former top adviser david aarons told me. she lives by the values we all wish to have which is made her life story inspiring for me to write about and i hope that readers are equally inspired. thank you. [applause] >> we have a mic right here in the middle. can you come to the mic? sits right behind you. no, no they can't hear you. >> what was her relationship with diane and a divorce from charles and the situation, the situation with diana and charles? >> that was one

into a maximum security prison that housed some of the nation's most notorious inmates including charles manson prison with a reputation for gangs and violence. we discovered another side of corcoran. one that was tied not to its infamy, but to its location. in the heart of california's most fertile agricultural basin. >> come on, ladies, let's go. >> i had no idea there was a fully functioning dairy farm at corcoran prison before we got there. it was interesting because the inmates that worked on the dairy farm loved their jobs. i think it was the fact that they were around these animals and they were caretaking them and creating something that was valuable. it gave them a sense of purpose that i didn't often see at corcoran. >> this is a good opportunity right here. i live in bakersfield and there's a lot of dairies around there. so hopefully when i get out, the hours i accumulated here give me a job opportunity when i get out. >> i like it. it's better than dealing with the prison. you know? it's a lot better. i enjoy getting away from the yard and working with cows. i like animals. >> it's