Long Island native Danny Masterson transferred to high-security California state prison that once housed Charles Manson
![This mug shot provided by the California Department of Corrections...](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.newsday.com%2Fimage-service%2Fversion%2Fc%3ANTkwNmU4YTQtNmQ1Yi00%3AYTQtNmQ1Yi00NmRlMDE5%2Fetmast240202_photos.jpg%3Ff%3DLandscape%2B16%253A9%26w%3D770%26q%3D1&w=1920&q=80)
This mug shot provided by the California Department of Corrections on Dec. 27, 2023, shows inmate Danny Masterson. Credit: California Dept. of Corrections and Rehabilitation via AP
“That ’70s Show” star and Long Island native Danny Masterson, convicted in May of raping two women, has been transferred from one California state prison to a high-security facility that has housed the notorious likes of Charles Manson and Sirhan Sirhan.
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation records show that Masterson, 47, who was raised in Garden City and East Williston, was moved from North Kern State Prison in California’s Central Valley, north of Los Angeles, to Corcoran State Prison, further north still. He had been admitted into the state prison system on Dec. 27, following his incarceration at a Los Angeles County jail upon his conviction.
Multiple reports, citing prison public information officials, say the move took place Jan. 29. The public information office at California State Prison, Corcoran, did not answer its phone or provide voicemail during two Newsday calls Thursday morning.
The prison, opened in 1988, is a minimum- to maximum-security facility housing more than 3,100 inmates.
Past prisoners have included cult leader Manson, who was the mastermind of the Tate-LaBianca murders in Los Angeles in 1969 and spent years at Corcoran and at other prisons before his death in 2017. Serial killer Juan Corona, who murdered at least 25 migrant workers, spent nearly a half-century at Corcoran before dying in 2019. Sirhan, serving a life sentence for the 1968 assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, is a former Corcoran inmate.
Following Masterson’s 2020 arrest on charges of sexually assaulting three women between 2001 and 2003, a first jury reached a mistrial in November 2022. In a second trial, ending May 31, 2023, Masterson was found guilty of two counts of rape, with the jury deadlocked on the third. He had been free on $3 million bail, but the judge, deeming the actor a “flight risk,” revoked it and ordered his immediate incarceration.
On Sept. 7, Masterson was sentenced to 30 years to life. Prison records show he will be ineligible for parole until June 2042. Masterson’s lawyers have said they will file an appeal.
While the star’s wife, model-actor Bijou Phillips, with whom he has daughter Fianna, 9, had stood by him in court and showed support during the trial, she filed for divorce on Sept. 18. The following month, Masterson signed over to her all physical and legal custody of their child.
Masterson is the older brother of actor Christopher Masterson, a star of “Malcolm in the Middle,” and the older half brother of actor Alanna Masterson, who played Tara on “The Walking Dead.” Neither has commented publicly on the sentencing or the move to Corcoran.
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