“Oscar will be released on parole by the end of August,” a Pistorius family member who asked not to be identified told Reuters Monday. Pistorius started his five year sentence in October last year.
South African prison officials have recommended Pistorius be released from prison on Aug. 21 to go under house arrest. Acting National Commissioner of Correctional Services Zach Modise says that a prison committee recommended Pistorius be released from the prison in Pretoria after serving one sixth of his five-year sentence. A decision by the parole board is pending.
Modise said the committee made the recommendation on the basis of the double-amputee Olympic athlete’s good behavior in the jail in the South African capital, Pretoria.
Correctional Services spokesman Manelisi Wolela said the conditions of Pistorius’ house arrest won’t be made public.
Pistorius was acquitted of murder last year for killing Steenkamp in 2013 by shooting her multiple times through a closed toilet door in his Pretoria home. The runner claimed he mistook Steenkamp for a nighttime intruder.
Pistorius would again face the possibility of a murder conviction and a minimum of 15 years in prison if a panel of judges at the Supreme Court of Appeal overturns the original decision in his murder trial.
