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California corrections authorities on Monday
began investigating the premature release of former Symbionese
Liberation Army member Sara Jane Olson, who was imprisoned for a
murder committed by the radical group and attempted bombings of
police cars in the 1970s.

      State Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman
Terry Thornton said the probe was being handled by the department's
internal affairs division.

      Olson, 61, was released March 17, a year early. She was
intercepted at Los Angeles International Airport Friday night and
returned to prison on Saturday.

      In 2001, Olson pleaded guilty to attempted bombings of Los
Angeles police cars in the 1970s. Two years later she pleaded
guilty to second-degree murder in the 1975 shooting death of a
customer during a bank robbery carried out by the SLA in
Carmichael, near Sacramento.

      Olson was not captured until 1999. She had changed her name from
Kathleen Soliah and eluded authorities for 25 years, married a
doctor and raised three children in St. Paul, Minn.

      State corrections officials blamed a clerical error that was
caught after the Sacramento County district attorney's office, the
news media and top aides to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger began
questioning Olson's release.

      "There is a full investigation under way to make sure this
doesn't happen again in the future. If the investigation reveals
any misconduct or polices weren't followed, we will hold those
people accountable," said Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Lisa Page.

      Much of the confusion over Olson's release was because her
crimes date from the days when parole boards determined when an
inmate was ready for release, corrections spokesman Bill Sessa
said.

      In 2002, a special board changed Olson's old open-ended prison
sentence from Los Angeles County into a 14-year sentence to conform
to current law. A judge later reduced that sentence to 12 years.

      Olson subsequently was sentenced to a six-year, open-ended term
under a plea agreement in Sacramento County for the killing during
the bank robbery.

      The parole board translated that sentence into an additional two
years in prison, but it was erroneously entered into Olson's record
as being served simultaneously with the prison term from the Los
Angeles crime. It should have been entered as an additional two
years, bringing Olson's total sentence for the two crimes to 14
years.

      Prisoners typically serve about half their sentences. Olson
served six years in prison, when she should have served seven,
Sessa said.

      "Somewhere along the way, it was overlooked 
that it was
supposed to be consecutive," he said.

Gallery

Sara Jane Olson back in custody; officials blame math error

Former SLA member Sara Jane Olson released from Calif prison

California corrections authorities on Monday began investigating the premature release of former Symbionese Liberation Army member Sara Jane Olson, who was imprisoned for a murder committed by the radical group and attempted bombings of police cars in the 1970s.

Calif. probes early release of Sara Jane Olson

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