Sara Jane Olson, the 1970s militant and longtime fugitive who served seven years in prison for trying to blow up police cars and participating in a murderous bank robbery, was released from prison this morning soon after clock struck midnight and will serve her parole in her home state of Minnesota.
Olson, 62, served about half of her sentence and now enters a one-year parole phase. Where she would serve that parole -- either in California or Minnesota -- grew into a sharp public debate in the days leading up to the release of the former Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) member.
Corrections spokeswoman Terry Thornton said two parole agents picked up Olson "shortly after midnight" and brought her to an office in Madera County, Calif., where she was processed and released to her husband, Gerald (Fred) Peterson.
Concerning the timing of Olson's release, Thornton said it chosen "taking safety into consideration. We were very, very concerned of not only the safety of [Olson] but of our employees as well."
Thornton declined to say whether there were any specific safety worries connected to Olson's case.
"Central California Women's Facility inmate Sara Jane Olson ... was released to parole on Tuesday, March 17, 2009," a statement released this morning from corrections officials began. "Olson petitioned to have her parole supervision transferred to Minnesota upon completion of her sentence, so that she could be placed with her husband and family members. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation approved the request."
In explaining the approval, California corrections officials said, "Studies have shown that family reunification is an evidence-based indicator of protecting the public by decreasing recidivism."
One of Olson's attorneys, David Nickerson, said he was glad his client was freed and being paroled to Minnesota. "I think that's obviously the best place for her. That's where her family is," he said, adding that he has not talked to Olson since her release.
Parolees typically have a week to report to the state in which they will serve their parole, said corrections department spokesman Oscar Hidalgo. Thornton said California knows Olson's immediate travel plans but would not divulge them.
Nickerson said Monday that his client was likely to head to her mother's home in Palmdale in southern California and check in with her parole agent in Los Angeles County. From there, she would fly back to the Twin Cities with her husband.
Olson's conditions of parole imposed by California include prohibitions against contact with former SLA members or codefendants. That list includes Steven Soliah, a brother who was acquitted in the bank robbery, sister Josephine Bortin, a former SLA member, and Michael Bortin, her husband. Michael Bortin was convicted in the bank robbery and paroled three years ago.
California disclosed only one other condition: that she have no contact with any of her victims or their family members.
Corrections officials in Ramsey County, who will monitor Olson during her parole, have yet to receive from California the conditions of her supervision, said Ramsey County corrections spokesman Chris Crutchfield. Depending on California's restrictions, "we may add some conditions as well," Crutchfield said.
Olson has "24 hours from when she arrives in Minnesota [excluding weekends and holidays] to check in with us," he said, adding that he has no idea when she plans to come home.
At Olson's Highland Park neighborhood home this morning, Bachman's left at the doorstep a generous bouquet of flowers. The delivery person persistently knocked, but no one came to the door of the stucco Tudor.
Shortly before 11 a.m., a young man and woman emerged from the home and gathered up the flowers. "The family has nothing to say," the man told reporters. "Thank you for coming."
The two then left in a car.
Minnesota officials earlier approved her request to serve her parole in St. Paul. California officials waited until her release before saying that she was free to return to Minnesota.
On Monday, Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Republican legislators made last-ditch efforts to prevent Olson's return to Minnesota.
Fast-track attempts to put the Minnesota Legislature on record opposing Olson's return were blocked in procedural votes. Also, Pawlenty asked California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in a letter to keep Olson in California to serve her parole. In response, Schwarzenegger responded during a news conference on an unrelated matter that he would let his corrections officials handle the matter.
Police unions in both Los Angeles and St. Paul had urged California to keep Olson there.
Born in Fargo as Kathleen Ann Soliah and beginning life nearby in Barnesville, Minn., Olson for a quarter-century ran from her past as a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army. The SLA was best-known for kidnapping newspaper heiress Patty Hearst. Olson, in her mid-20s at the time, helped hide Hearst until she was freed by rescuers.
Olson went underground after Hearst's rescue, living in Africa, Washington state and eventually the Twin Cities, where she married, raised daughters and became active in community theater and DFL politics.
She was captured in 1999 in St. Paul, after "America's Most Wanted" aired an episode about her.
Olson pleaded guilty in 2001 to two violent felonies in 1975: placing pipe bombs under Los Angeles Police Department patrol cars in two locations and participating in a suburban Sacramento bank robbery, during which one of her SLA cohorts shot and killed a woman who was there to deposit church receipts.
California court documents and an account from Hearst say that Olson entered the bank with a firearm and kicked in the midsection a pregnant teller who was offering no resistance. That teller later miscarried.
Olson's brother, Steven Soliah, was acquitted in the robbery.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482
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