Sara Jane Olson, Minnesota doctor’s wife and prison inmate, was released on Monday of this week from Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla. Her freedom was short lived, however, because she was detained and rearrested on Saturday, March 22, 2008, while waiting to board a plane back to Minneapolis.
Olson, whose given name is Kathleen Soliah, has spent the past 6 years in prison. Her original sentence of 14 years was shortened based on prison guidelines that allow for early release. Unfortunately for Olson, the prison administrative board failed to properly calculate her release date. The media picked up on the discrepancy and it appears Olson is still one year away from gaining her freedom legitimately.
Olson was convicted of attempting to bomb Los Angeles police cars in 1975 with the SLA, a radical group. She was also charged with second degree murder for the death of a Sacramento woman during a bank robbery, also in 1975. Olson, then Soliah, evaded arrest until 1999. She was discovered living an affluent life in Minnesota, with her physician husband and their three daughters. She was active in community theater, worked for several charities and was considered an upstanding member of a well to do suburb of Minneapolis.
Olson had been given permission to travel back to her home to serve out her probation when she was rearrested. She was reportedly very cooperative.
March 17, 2009 UPDATE: The 62 year old Olson was set released to her husband, Dr. Gerald ‘Fred’ Peterson, shortly after midnight on Tuesday March 17, 2009 and will serve her parole in Minnesota. Her local community has continued to support the family during Sara Jane’s incarceration and word on the street, per the Minneapolis Tribune, is that they will welcome their friend and neighbor back with open arms.
Governor Tim Pawlenty tried to stop her return to Minnesota in an 11th hour request to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Reports indicate Olson traveled from the women’s prison to her mother’s home in Palmdale, California so that she could meet with her parole officer prior to boarding a plane for St. Paul.
More photos below.