VACAVILLE, Oct. 18 — Charles Manson has been moved to a tight-security psychiatric ward in the California Medical Facility here because of death threats against guards and other “abnormal and bizarre behavior,” a prison spokesman reported.

Manson, serving a life sentence for masterminding the 1969 murders of actress Sharon Tate and six other persons, had yelled “Die! Die! Die!” at prison staff members, spokesman
Bill Taylor said.

Manson also refused to eat, saying his food had been “tampered with or poisoned,” Taylor stated.

“He was generally incoherent,” the spokesman said. “We have no idea what started it.”

Taylor and correctional counselor Gerald Walsh both reported Manson is calm now. Psychiatrists gave him a “psychiatric clearance,” meaning he is not actively psychotic, according to Taylor.

Prison officials will decide tomorrow whether to return Manson to Willis Unit, where he was allowed to mingle with some other prisoners before being moved Oct. 9, the spokesman said. He was moved to Vacaville from Folsom Prison May 10 for psychiatric evaluation.

He is in a small, double-doored cell in S-3 Wing, the most secure part of Seguin Unit, Taylor said. Seguin Unit is the in-patient psychiatric hospital of the state prison system.