California correctional officials have released a new photo of Charles Manson. No, we don’t know why either.

Charles Manson is primarily famous for two things. Firstly, there was his involvement in a series of gruesome showbusiness murders that shocked the word and effectively brought an end to the dream of the 1960s ideal. And secondly there’s his influence on a number of embarrassingly cackhanded indie bands.

Seriously, if Charles Manson had never been born there’d be no Mansun, no Marilyn Manson, no Kasabian and 'The Spaghetti Incident' by Guns N’ Roses would be almost five full minutes shorter. These alone are perfectly acceptable arguments for Charles Manson never to be released from jail.

And, you know, all the murder stuff helps as well. But apparently Charles Manson is due a parole hearing in three years’ time, which could be why correctional officials at California’s Corcoran State Prison have decided to release a brand new photograph of him. Or maybe they just felt like it. Really, nobody’s really bothered to explain why. Reuters reports:

California corrections officials released a new photograph of imprisoned mass murderer Charles Manson on Thursday, showing the balding, gray-bearded killer at the age of 74. The picture, which was taken at Corcoran State Prison in Central California, also reveals a glum Manson still bearing the swastika he carved into his forehead during his sensational 1970 murder trial.

If the photo is, as we’ve suggested, being released to show the world what Charles Manson now looks like on the off-chance that he gets parole in 2012, it’s probably a little bit redundant. True, we now know to keep away from him if we see him on the street, but that’s mainly due to the fact that he’s got a bloody great swastika carved into his own forehead - a sign of either a) clear mental instability or b) the world’s most unfortunate monobrow-trimming accident. Either way, we’ll avoid him thanks.