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LOS ANGELES -- Charles Manson, who will go before the parole board for the 12th time this week, has not been a model prisoner.
Twice in the last few years, guards at Corcoran State Prison found phones in the notorious killer's possession. Manson called people in California, New Jersey and Florida with an LG flip phone found under his prison bunk in March 2009, the Los Angeles Times reported in 2011. A second cellphone was found a year later. Thirty days were added to his sentence for the first offense, officials said.
Earlier, a homemade weapon was found in his possession.
A parole board will consider whether Manson should be released from prison on Wednesday, though the chances of that happening are pretty slim. The board has rejected parole for Manson 11 times before.
Manson, now 77, refused to participate in his last parole hearing, in 2007, describing himself as a "prisoner of the political system." He also declined to participate in any psychological evaluations that were part of that process.
A prison spokeswoman told The Associated Press on Thursday that Manson has informed local prison officials that he will not be at this week's hearing.
Nonetheless, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office on Thursday said it would vigorously oppose Manson's release. "We consistently (opposed parole) and will continue to do so," spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said.
In 2007 at his last parole hearing, the board concluded that Manson "continues to pose an unreasonable danger to others and may still bring harm to anyone he would come in contact with."
"He refused to cooperate, so the conclusion they drew from the reports is he still remains a danger to the public," Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Patrick Sequeira said at the time. "He was convicted of nine horrible murders. He has expressed no remorse or empathy for any of the victims."
A new photo released by the California prison system shows Manson with long, gray hair and a beard. It was released at the request of CNN.
Manson and other members of his so-called family were convicted of killing actress Sharon Tate and six other people during a bloody rampage in the Los Angeles area during two August nights in 1969. Prosecutors said that Manson and his followers were trying to incite a race war that he believed was prophesied in the Beatles song "Helter Skelter."
Tate, the wife of director Roman Polanski, was 81/2 months pregnant.
Leader of the  cult , who has tried to get parole 11 times, will have another opportunity to seek it again Wednesday, for his life sentence for his 1969 slayings of actress  and six others.  The 77 year old’s last parole hearing occurred in 2007. 

Charles Manson will seek parole Wednesday.

Manson didn’t go to his last parole hearing in 2007, saying that he was a "prisoner of the political system." He isn’t expected to attend the Wednesday hearing either, according to a spokesperson at .

The district attorney’s office in Los Angeles said it strongly opposed Manson’s release. 	

"We consistently (opposed parole) and will continue to do so," spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said.

Manson has hoarded cell phones in his cell, and they were confiscated by the guards. Thirty days were added to his sentence for this offence. In 2009, Manson called people in California, New Jersey, and Florida with an LG flip phone found under his bed.

Guards found a second cell phone a year later, and a homemade weapon was found as well. 

Manson was found guilty of telling a group of his followers to break into the home  and his wife Sharon Tate were renting in a town near . The followers killed Tate and all six of the people at her home.