Posted on 08/14/2006 7:08:26 AM PDT by wallcrawlr
Sara Jane Olson, a former Symbionese Liberation Army member serving a 13-year sentence for the attempted bombings of Los Angeles police cars, says she survives time behind bars by writing letters, working on the prison yard and hiding her past from other inmates. She was discovered living in St. Paul, Minn., in 1999.
In letters and interviews with the Los Angeles Times, Olson said living in what she called "enforced idleness'' at the Central California Women's Facility has altered her in many ways.
"I'm older — oh, who am I kidding, I'm old — and I've become really paranoid,'' said Olson, 59. "I've also become very good at masking my emotions. It scares my daughters, when they see my face, but in here, it's just what you do to survive.''
While awaiting her release in 2009, Olson said she also does not discuss her past, and few inmates are aware of it.
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Before she arrived in prison, Olson thought the experience would be educational. She recalled that Father Philip Berrigan, an activist priest from Baltimore, once suggested that all middle-class people should spend time in jail to "know what goes on.''
Today, Olson said, "I can still see his point, but I wouldn't wish this experience on anyone.''
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
This loathsome, treasonous bitch should still be in prison or dead.
I'd like to respond to this but I'm too....overcome with....tears!
Boo-hoo! I get really tired of these folks who carry on about how bad prison in the U.S. is. If she wants a real prison experience, maybe she should have spent some time in a jail in Turkey.
She's lucky she didn't get a life sentence for murder.
"Before she arrived in prison, Olson thought the experience would be educational."
She would.
You don't hear Keith Ellison talking about her much these days...
"...Father Philip Berrigan, an activist priest from Baltimore, once suggested that all middle-class people should spend time in jail to "know what goes on.''
Special Memo to Father Berrigan:
Not all middle-class people plant bombs in police cars.
Sara Jane Olson is in jail for a reason.
It's because she's committed crimes.
Not because she's a member of the middle class.
At this point she really should be grasping that this guy didn't have good advice on ANY subject.
You mean this ogre actually will be a free woman in just three years? What kind of justice is that?
Hang on, let me check something...
...yep. Give-a-damn's still busted and I can't get a repairman.
}:-)4
Justice would be her getting the same basic experience the SLA provided to Patty Hearst.
I would make part of her parole that she has to tour every eco-lib campus in the pacific northwest and talke to stupid, " women of the cause" and tell them what prison is like.
Ho Hum
/care
creepy pic of the day
Ah Sara Jane, I sympathize with you about the getting old part. I just turned 60.
I've been living my life, oh, probably a lot differently than you over the years. I just turned 60. God willing and the stock market don't tank, I'll be retiring from a lifetime of productive work in 536 days, healthy, happy, and financially secure.
But in looking at lost opportunities in my life, I never did get a chance to get to know "what was going on" inside jail. I imagine it's been quite a revolutionary adventure for you!
"I've also become very good at masking my emotions. It scares my daughters, when they see my face, but in here, it's just what you do to survive.
I bet it scares them! I bet they wonder every day if you passed something malignantly genetic on your descendants and your grandchildren are doomed to wind up in prison too. That's SCARY!
As far as the "getting paranoid" part, the best advice I can give you is make friends with your personal demons and get over your sense of denial about prison. You're home baby, home...
"She recalled that Father Philip Berrigan, an activist priest from Baltimore, once suggested that all middle-class people should spend time in jail to "know what goes on.''
I think it may have been Phillip Berrigan, I talked to while in jail during the Mayday demonstrations in 1971, but I've had trouble finding out if it was him or his brother.
It's too bad the Democrats have really abandoned her, after all the hard work she did for them while she was on the lam...
I notice that the reporter didn't think that was as newsworthy as some of her other charitable works.
Oh well, one less Democrat vote, at least until she's dead.
(Not a threat, there's no prohibition against a dead felon voting according to the DFL).
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