Ed Kemper will be 77 on December 18th. I'm sharing this information because I read that he has had a few strokes, is in a wheelchair and suffers from Alzheimer's disease now. I was curious about what his life has been like. Apparently, he still gets hundreds of letters a week. He's still considered a high risk to reoffend.

In the California Medical Facility, Kemper was incarcerated in the same prison block as other notorious criminals such as Herbert Mullin and Charles Manson. Kemper showed particular disdain for Mullin, who committed his murders at the same time and in the same area as Kemper. He described Mullin as "just a cold-blooded killer... killing everybody he saw for no good reason." Kemper manipulated and physically intimidated Mullin, who, at 5 feet 9 inches (1.75 m), was a foot shorter than he. Kemper stated that "[Mullin] had a habit of singing and bothering people when somebody tried to watch TV, so I threw water on him to shut him up. Then, when he was a good boy, I'd give him peanuts. Herbie liked peanuts. That was effective because pretty soon, he asked permission to sing. That's called behavior modification treatment."

Kemper remained among the general population in prison and was considered a model prisoner. He was in charge of scheduling other inmates' appointments with psychiatrists and was an accomplished craftsman of ceramic cups. He was also a prolific narrator of audiobooks for a charity program that prepared material for the visually impaired; a 1987 Los Angeles Times article stated that he was the coordinator of the prison's program and had personally spent over 5,000 hours narrating books with several hundred completed recordings to his name. Kemper was retired from these positions in 2015 after he experienced a stroke and was declared medically disabled. He received his first rules violation report in 2016 for failing to provide a urine sample.

While imprisoned, Kemper has participated in a number of interviews, including a segment in the 1981 documentary The Killing of America, as well as an appearance in the 1984 documentary Murder: No Apparent Motive. His interviews have contributed to the understanding of the mind of serial killers. FBI profiler John E. Douglas described Kemper as "among the brightest" prison inmates he interviewed and capable of "rare insight for a violent criminal." He further added that he personally liked Kemper, referring to him as "friendly, open, sensitive, [and having] a good sense of humor." However, Kemper's discussions with Robert Ressler changed how the FBI conducted interviews with serial killers. According to Ann Burgess, Kemper told Ressler at the end of one of their interviews, "The guard isn't coming back. They're on change of shift. He's not going to be here for 30 minutes. In that time, I could snap your head and leave it on the table. I'd own the prison then. I killed an FBI agent." After the guard came back, Kemper said he was joking. Regardless, FBI agents were required to conduct interviews in pairs and could no longer do this alone.

Kemper is forthcoming about the nature of his crimes and has stated that he participated in the interviews to save others like himself from killing. At the end of his Murder: No Apparent Motive interview, he said, "There's somebody out there that is watching this and hasn't done that—hasn't killed people, and wants to, and rages inside and struggles with that feeling, or is so sure they have it under control. They need to talk to somebody about it. Trust somebody enough to sit down and talk about something that isn't a crime; thinking that way isn't a crime. Doing it isn't just a crime; it's a horrible thing. It doesn't know when to quit, and it can't be stopped easily once it starts." He also conducted an interview with French writer Stéphane Bourgoin in 1991.

Kemper was first eligible for parole in 1979. He was denied parole that year, as well as at parole hearings in 1980, 1981, and 1982. He subsequently waived his right to a hearing in 1985. He was denied parole at his 1988 hearing, where he said, "Society is not ready in any shape or form for me. I can't fault them for that." He was denied parole again in 1991 and in 1994. He then waived his right to a hearing in 1997 and in 2002. He attended the next hearing in 2007, where he was again denied parole. Prosecutor Ariadne Symons said, "We don't care how much of a model prisoner he is because of the enormity of his crimes." Kemper waived his right to a hearing again in 2012. He was denied parole in 2017, and after declining to attend a parole hearing in 2024, Kemper was denied parole again. He is next eligible in 2031. Following his 2024 parole hearing, it was reported that Kemper was wheelchair-bound and suffered from diabetes and coronary heart disease. A psychiatric evaluation conducted in April 2024 classified him as a "high risk" to reoffend.