SACRAMENTO, Jan. 23 — Ever had an urge for a heart-to-heart talk with Charles Manson?

How about some couch time with Sirhan Sirhan?

An entrepreneur from San Luis Obispo has asked the state Department of Corrections to let him install 900-prefix telephone lines in the cells of some of California’s most notorious murderers.

The unidentified businessman would pay the state $50 per hour for the privilege. Callers would be charged by the minute when they reach out and touch someone by punching up a number
such as 1-900-DIAL-SIRHAN.

“This is not the kind of enterprise we’re interested in at all,” said Fred Mills of the state’s Free Venture prison jobs program.

Yes, Mills admitted, the state would make money. And so would the inmates.

“It’s not what we want,” Mills said. “It would be like rewarding criminals … Letting them make money on their crimes.”

Sirhan, who assassinated U.S. Sen. Robert Kennedy, is being held at the state prison in Soledad. Mass-murderer Manson is kept under high security in Corcoran. Both are serving life terms.

The “900” proposal surfaced Tuesday during a hearing on the state’s new inmate-work program which was approved by voters as Proposition 139 on November’s ballot. For the first time in more than a century, prisoners will be allowed to work for private employers. The inmates will be paid minimum or prevailing wages. Part of their salaries would help pay for crime victim programs plus their room and board.

Since November, Mills said, inquiries have come in from a number of sources — mostly small businesses involved in assembly, shipping, and recycling concerns. Another would have inmates making brooms.

It may be some months before any of them are in operation. First, the department must finish refining its regulations for the program. Then contracts will have to be negotiated with interested firms.

Even then, there may not be many lifers working in the program who have committed sensational crimes.

The state wants to teach job skills to inmates who will have a chance to use them on the outside some day, Mills explained. And it is doubtful that Sir-han and Manson will ever be set free.

By STEPHEN GREEN