Mass murderer Charles Manson has been taken from his California prison cell to a hospital, according to news reports.

A prison official would only confirm that the 82-year-old Manson was alive on Wednesday and gave no other information.

Manson was convicted of orchestrating the 1969 murders of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and six others. The cult leader attracted disaffected young people who lived in a commune, followed his orders and were ultimately turned into killers.

Both TMZ and the Los Angeles Times reported on Tuesday that Manson had been hospitalised. TMZ said he had been taken to a medical centre in Bakersfield, about 96km south of Corcoran State Prison where Manson was being held.

Two vans from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation were parked outside Bakersfield's Mercy Hospital Downtown, where state prisoners have been treated before. Some news media have gathered across the street from the hospital.

But CDCR spokeswoman Terry Thornton said only that Manson was alive and still assigned to the prison in Corcoran. She declined to say whether he was at the hospital in Bakersfield, citing safety privacy laws.

Tate's sister Debra Tate told The Associated Press that, as a Catholic, she makes "no ill wishes" for the people who killed her sister, and will reserve her feelings until hearing Manson has died.

"I would probably say a prayer for them and shed a tear and ask God to have mercy on their souls, but so far I haven't allowed myself to feel anything because it's unsubstantiated," Tate said. "I'm not allowing myself to feel anything until I know that it's true."

Manson and three female followers, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten, were convicted of murder for killings at two gruesome scenes in the summer of 1969. Another defendant, Charles "Tex" Watson, was convicted later.