Sirhan Sirhan sent to prison south of San Diego

Sirhan Sirhan, serving a life sentence for the 1968 assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, was transferred Friday to the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in southern San Diego County, prison officials confirmed.

Sirhan, 69, had been imprisoned at Corcoran State Prison in the San Joaquin Valley. No reason was given for the transfer, an official said, noting that transfers are common in the prison system.

Since his conviction, Sirhan has been an inmate at Corcoran, Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga, and San Quentin. His death sentence was commuted to life in prison in 1972.

Under state law, Sirhan receives a parole hearing every five years. In 2011, Sirhan was denied parole at his 14th hearing.

An Arab Christian born in Jerusalem, Sirhan has said he shot Kennedy at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968, because of Kennedy’s support for Israel. Kennedy had been in California campaigning for the Democratic nomination for president.

At his 2011 parole hearing Sirhan’s lawyer suggested that Sirhan was “manipulated” and “hypno-programmed” and did not act alone when Kennedy was shot.

Donovan prison is on Otay Mesa, close to the U.S.-Mexico border. It houses more than 3,500 inmates.

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tony.perry@latimes.com