Sunday, March 23, 2008

THE CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT OF SARA OLSON

By now you've probably read that Sara is back in prison. She was, if you don't know, detained by California Department of Corrections officers as she prepared to board a flight home to Minnesota. She was escorted to her mother's house for the night and then taken to prison Saturday morning.

I hesitate to say anything for fear of inflaming an already delicate situation. However, surely the authorities in California must understand what has happened, for whatever reason, amounts to cruel and unusual punishment not only of Sara but of her family. Sara obviously is no threat to society. Many will benefit from her freedom. No one will benefit by her being incarcerated any further. I can only hope there is a judge in California with the courage to let Sara go home to her family and bring all this to an end.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Why are scarce state resources being used to imprison Sara Olson after her release on Monday? Her imprisonment serves no useful social purpose. She is not a danger to society. Why are the powers of the state being used to execute the vengeance of the Police Protective League?

While anyone would grieve the loss of their mother, does incarcerating Sara (whatever the disputed facts of the case may be) bring back Jon Opashl's mother? Does her further incarceration allow him to say "I'm sorry" or "I do love you" to her? Does tearing Sara away from her daughters bring Jon's mother back to him?

I hope that somehow the justice system will finally work to free Sara to go back to doing all the good things she was doing when she was arrested in 1999.