Miller Transferred to Prison in Minnesota; Wife Protests

Convicted spy Richard W. Miller was moved out of California early Wednesday to a small federal prison facility in Minnesota to serve two life terms as the first FBI agent ever found guilty of espionage.

The pre-dawn move brought a protest from Miller’s estranged wife, Paula, who charged that officials at Terminal Island federal prison had denied Miller a chance to say goodby to his children before transferring him out of state.

“I went there Monday with six of our eight children to say goodby and I begged them to let us see him,” Paula Miller said. “They told me he wouldn’t be gone for at least a week.

“I was afraid of this very thing,” she added. “Richard warned me not to believe what they were telling me. I should have known it would happen.”

Miller, 49, who has expressed concerns for his safety in prison because of his FBI background, was flown to the Federal Medical Center in Rochester, Minn., about 70 miles south of Minneapolis.

A prison official there described the facility as a new “medium security” institution opened two years ago with an inmate population of 305.

He said the facility’s functions are split between providing mental health services to about 130 federal prisoners and housing 175 more inmates who “have no special needs.”

Other sources said the Rochester facility houses a high number of white-collar and nonviolent criminals and is considered a relatively safe location for Miller.

Concern for Security

Miller’s lawyers, Joel Levine and Stanley Greenberg, said they had expected Miller to be moved out of California for security reasons sometime soon, but had no idea he would be moved Wednesday morning.

“I’ve never heard of the place, quite frankly,” Greenberg said. “But prison officials have told us they wanted to put him in an area where he’s not so notorious, and this sounds like what they wanted.”

A prison official at Terminal Island said standard security rules were followed in moving Miller without notification to his family until his safe arrival at Rochester and denied that any assurances had been made to Miller’s family that he would not be moved until later.

Miller, found guilty June 19 of passing a secret FBI document to the Soviet Union, told The Times in an interview Tuesday that he expected to be moved within the week, saying that prison officials wanted him out of California for reasons of “personal safety.”

Daughter Approves

One of Miller’s children, Angelena, 14, said Wednesday that she was pleased with the selection of the Minnesota site because it seemed like a “safe” location.

“That’s good,” she said. “They don’t have any ax murderers there, so he doesn’t have to worry.”