Sara Jane Olson aka Kathleen Soliah Back in Prison

Posted on: March 22nd, 2008 by: Meg

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.

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