ALBANY – Brinks robbery conspirator Kathy Boudin needs a new place to live when she is freed from prison after two doctor friends in Brooklyn rescinded their offer to house her, a parole official said yesterday.
Charlotte Phillips and Oliver Fein, married physicians, had said they would take Boudin in after she won her parole on Aug. 20. The radical doctors, who could not be reached for comment yesterday, have known her since the 1960s when she was a member of the extremist Weathermen.
But a parole official, who asked to remain anonymous, said the offer was recently rescinded because Phillips and Fein “were concerned about the notoriety.”
“They let us know the residence wouldn’t be available to her,” the official said.
Diane O’Grady, the wife of Sgt. Edward O’Grady – one of the three killed in the 1981 heist – said, “I’ve got a smile on my face.”
The sudden change has delayed Boudin’s release.
“There will be other residences,” the parole official said. “We’re working to find another place that is either already known by the division or proposed by the inmate.”
Parole Division spokesman Thomas Grant said having division-approved housing arrangements in place is one of the main requirements before an inmate is released.
“We want to make sure the community is safe and that she can be reintegrated into that community,” Grant said.
Boudin won parole on Aug. 20, causing a flood of criticism stemming from the heinous crime for which she was convicted.
She has served 22 years on murder and robbery charges for her part in the Brinks heist that left two cops and a security guard dead.
“I’m trying very hard to accept it and process it, but every once in a while I sit down and can’t believe it’s happening,” O’Grady said from her home in Florida.
The two Parole Board members who granted Boudin’s release had cited during her parole hearing her work behind bars, where she earned a college degree and started prisoner parenting and AIDS programs.
She’s due to be released from Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in Westchester by Oct. 1, although it’s possible she could see freedom as soon as next week.
Boudin, who will be under parole supervision for the rest of her life, plans to work as an AIDS researcher, and parole officials are reviewing the job offers she’s received, the parole source said.