SACRAMENTO, Calif., Nov. 28 – Convicted mass murderer Charles “Tex” Watson, the former top lieutenant of cult leader Charles Manson, is serving a life sentence at California’s most comfortable prison, though the state parole board twice has recommended moving him to a tougher institution.

But Watson’s 20-year stay at the California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo, where he operates a non-profit Christian ministry, might be nearing an end.

Prodded by an Orange County man obsessed with the Watson case, the California Legislature’s foremost prison authority, state Sen. Robert Presley, D-Riverside, has demanded that the Department of Corrections move Watson.

Corrections officials refused to discuss in detail why Watson has remained at San Luis Obispo for two decades despite strong recommendations that he be treated like similar convicts, who periodically are moved to different prisons.

“He was put here for a number of factors related to our ability to house him successfully, without causing any problems for other inmates and for Tex Watson,” Associate Warden Ed Martin said.

Prison officials declined to reveal what their response will be to an Oct. 31 letter from Presley to Corrections Director James Gomez, in which Presley said he was dissatisfied by the department’s explanation.

John Gillis, chairman of the Board of Prison Terms, said prisoners usually are moved when the parole board recommends it, and he doesn’t understand why Watson is an exception.

Watson, 46, arrived from San Quentin’s death row after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned his death-penalty conviction for leading the Manson gang on a 1969 murder spree in which actress Sharon Tate and six others died.

Watson’s next parole review is scheduled for spring. After reviews in 1987 and 1990, Board of Prison Terms commissioners said Watson had it too easy and was too comfortable with San Luis Obispo staff and routines.

The panel was successful in getting Watson removed from his longtime position as chaplain’s assistant, where commissioners felt he was manipulating other prisoners.

While incarcerated, Watson has married and fathered three children. He also founded a state-incorporated Christian ministry that distributes audiotapes and tracts in exchange for donations. The “Abounding Love Ministry” raises enough money to help support his wife and children, Watson said at his 1990 parole hearing.

Activists in the crime victims’ rights movement are outraged that Watson receives what they consider preferential treatment.

“I think Watson and all the people who murdered our children should not be allowed to get married and have children and get special privileges,” Collene Campbell of San Juan Capistrano said. Her brother, Orange County auto-race promoter Mickey Thompson, was murdered in 1989.

Activist Bill Nelson, who has written a book and produced videos about the Watson case, objected that “this guy gets himself ensconced in San Luis Obispo for 20 years. And as much as anyone can do it, he is living the good life in prison.”

Prison experts say that inmates, especially those serving life terms, are eager to be tranferred to San Luis Obispo. It provides the widest variety of vocational, educational and psychological treatment programs; offers inmates dormitory housing instead of cells; and boasts a temperate climate.

Watson, who has been rejected for parole 10 times has resisted transfer.

By MARC LIFSHER