St. Paul's Sara Jane Olson, the 1970s leftist militant who has been imprisoned in California prison for about seven years for plotting to kill police officers and admitting to her role in a murder, is scheduled for release March 17 -- and corrections officials in both states said today that they anticipate she will be allowed to serve her parole period back in Minnesota.
California prison officials sent Minnesota a request Feb. 9, citing a family resident criteria, to let the 62-year-old Olson serve her three years of parole in Ramsey County. Minnesota has 45 days to act on the request.
Minnesota corrections spokeswoman Shari Burt said today no decision has been made as Ramsey County officials review her application and make sure her family lives in St. Paul. Olson's husband. Dr. Fred Peterson, continues to reside in Minnesota.
"If she meets the resident family criteria, that is mandatory acceptance," Burt said, referring rules that govern the Interstate Compact for Adult Offender Supervision - the official process for one state to supervision parolees released from prisons in other states.
If her request is approved, the former Kathleen Soliah would be part of California's caseload and under the state's jurisdiction, but Minnesota would monitor, supervise and provide parole services for her.
"We don't see any issues," Ramsey County corrections spokesman Chris Crutchfield said. "If all goes well, we'll be sending an acceptance to California on Monday."
About this time last year, the former member of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) terror gang was released from the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla and then suddenly returned before she could leave the state. California corrections officials blamed her early release on a calculation error caused by a failure to read an entire transcript and determined that she had another year to serve.
Gordon Hinkle, a California corrections deputy spokesman, said this afternoon that this time he anticipates an unimpeded return for Olson back to Minnesota. "I don't see anything unusual," Hinkle said. "When we got the date wrong [a year ago], she was approved to go to Minnesota."
Earlier this week, state corrections spokeswoman Terry Thornton said the paperwork to determine Olson's "potential release date" of March 17 "has been thoroughly reviewed" in light of last year's mistake.
Olson's attorney, David Nickerson, said today from San Rafael, Calif., that his client "doesn't want to have a screwup like last year. She's worried some glitch will hold up the whole process."
Olson had lived a quiet life in St. Paul as an actress, DFL activist and a mother of three until her arrest in 1999, when her true identity as a 1970s militant emerged. She was convicted in a failed plot to blow up two Los Angeles police cars in 1975 and for participating in a Sacramento-area bank robbery that killed one woman.
She also helped the SLA hide kidnapped newspaper heiress Patty Hearst in one of the most celebrated abductions of the century.
Soon after Hearst was found, Olson became a fugitive, living in Africa and Washington state before settling in the Twin Cities.
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