the state board of parole hearings granted parole to 63-year-old james schoenfeld on the 20th time it considered the possibility of releasing the california man , the fresno bee reported .
schoenfield abducted the children and then kept them ` buried alive ' in an underground trailer while he and his co-conspirators negotiated a $ 5million ransom .
a state parole board granted parole for james schoenfeld today , 39 years after hijacking a school bus full of children and burying them alive in infamous caper inspired by the film dirty harry .