'That '70s Show' Star Danny Masterson Has Been Sentenced to 30 Years to Life in Prison

The #MeToo movement hasn’t completely stopped Hollywood’s corruption and those who take advantage of women using their positions of power, but it has made major strides by penalizing several culprits. Most notably, it tore down major producer Harvey Weinstein, and now, Danny Masterson has followed suit with his 2023 rape convictions.

In 2020, That ‘70s Show star Masterson, known for playing Steven Hyde, was charged with three rape charges that took place in the early aughts. Three years later in December 2023, he was moved to a maximum security prison to serve time for his crimes. Where exactly is he now and will he ever get out of jail?

He may have been a decent actor in That ‘70s Show, among other projects, but Masterson couldn’t feign innocence regarding his convictions. After a 2022 mistrial with a deadlocked jury, he was retried in April and May 2023, which resulted in two of three rape convictions. The third charge was a hung jury of 8–4 in favor of a conviction, but prosecutors announced in July 2023 that they wouldn't retry the third charge.

For the first two convictions, Masterson was sentenced to an indefinite period of 30 years to life in prison on Sept. 7, 2023, during his sentencing trial. He was first held at Men’s Central Jail in Los Angeles in “administrative segregation” for his safety on June 2, 2023, after his conviction, but before his sentencing.

On Dec. 27, 2023, Danny was moved to North Kern State Prison and later moved to California State Prison - Corcoran, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). The Corcoran prison just so happens to have been the home of one of America’s most famous criminals, Charles Manson.

Manson notoriously led the Manson Family cult and was later convicted of seven counts of first-degree murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder. The charges were for the Manson Family’s August 1969 murders of Abigail Ann Folger, Wojciech Frykowski, Steven Earl Parent, Sharon Tate Polanski, Jay Sebring, Leno La Bianca, and Rosemary La Bianca. He later received two more first-degree murder convictions.

Although Manson was originally sentenced to the death penalty, California banned this in 1972, so his sentence was changed to life in prison. He was denied parole 12 times and on Nov. 19, 2017, Manson died of natural causes in a nearby hospital, although he lived out his final days at Corcoran State Prison.

Although Masterson’s lawyers are appealing his sentencing, it doesn’t seem like it will change anything. In fact, he was even denied bail during an appeals process because the judge feared Masterson could make a run for it. "If defendant’s conviction and sentence are upheld on appeal, he will likely remain in custody for decades and perhaps the rest of his life," Judge Charlaine Olmedo wrote (via Deadline).

"In light of the fact that defendant has no wife to go home to,” she added, referring to Masterson’s divorce from ex-wife Bijou Phillips, “defendant now has every incentive to flee and little reason to return to state prison to serve out the remainder of his lengthy sentence should his appeal be unsuccessful.”

According to the CDCR, Masterson isn’t eligible for parole until June 2042, although he’ll be allowed to have a parole board consultation as early as May 2038, when he’s 62 years old. However, he and the Church of Scientology are potentially facing even more charges from multiple Jane Does who have come forward since the investigation into Masterson began in 2017, so he could be in prison for life.