Many were outraged that this woman was allowed out of prison after so short a time -- especially given her years on the lam. But it turns out that the state of California miscalculated, and now Kathleen Soliah (I refuse to call her by the name she adopted while on the lam -- let her always be called by the name under which she was know while engaged in terrorism) is back behind bars where she belongs.

Former Symbionese Liberation Army radical Sara Jane Olson went back to prison Saturday after just five days as a free woman.

State corrections officials said they released Olson early because of a "clerical error." They said she must now return to a women's prison in Chowchilla to serve as many as two more years for her role in crimes including the 1975 murder of a Carmichael woman during a bank robbery.

"We understand how sensitive the impact of such an error has on all involved in this case and regret the mistake," said Scott Kernan, chief of adult operations for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, at an afternoon news conference in Sacramento.

Authorities arrested Olson - known as Kathleen Soliah during her SLA days - just before midnight Friday at Los Angeles International Airport. Olson, 61, had spent her brief freedom with relatives in Palmdale. She was minutes away from boarding a plane with her husband to return to family in Minnesota when eight corrections officers stopped her.

Olson's attorney, David Nickerson of San Rafael, said corrections officials "blew it" and had no right to arrest his client, whom they had given permission to serve a year of parole in Minnesota. He said he will mount a legal challenge as soon as court offices open Monday.

"They seem to be saying, 'We were massively incompetent: We gave her the wrong release date,' " Nickerson said. "Well, if they are so incompetent, how should we believe the new release date?"

I've got a solution -- let's make Soliah's release date the day she finishes every single second of her twelve-year sentence.

Now one prominent conservative blogger did express this sentiment.

...itÂ’s hard not to sympathize with SoliahÂ’s children, who must be crushed at this unexpected turn of events.

Yes, Ed, you have expressed outrage at her early release, but I'll reserve my sympathy for this child -- the son of one of Soliah's murder victims.

Jon Opsahl of Riverside, Myrna Opsahl's son, said Saturday he's thankful Olson will have to serve at least one more year, but it's still not enough.

"The judge, on her release, said 'For Sara Jane Olson to spend another day in prison would be an injustice: She's no threat to society.' It was my mother who was no threat to society," Opsahl said.

Soliah's children will get their mother back one day -- Jon Opsahl never will.

We need a change of law in this country -- one which forbids the early release of any terrorist, foreign or domestic.

Posted by: Greg at 04:53 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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