Paralympian Oscar Pistorius is set to be released from jail on probation on August 21, according to South African prison authorities, after spending what would be 10 months of incarceration for shooting his girlfriend, model Reeva Steenkamp.
Pistorius, who was sentenced to five years in prison last October for culpable homicide, the South African equivalent to manslaughter, will be eligible for release to house arrest having served a sixth of his sentence and shown good behavior.
"He's behaving very well," Acting National Commissioner of Correctional Services Zach Modise told the Associated Press. "He hasn't given us any problems."
Due to his physical disability, Pistorius has been held since October 21 in the hospital ward of Kgosi Mampuru II prison in Pretoria. On Monday, June 8, Modise told reporters that the prison's parole board met last week "and approved the placement of Oscar Pistorius under correctional supervision with effect from 21 August 2015."
Pistorius shot and killed Steenkamp through a locked bathroom door at his Pretoria home on Feb. 14, 2013. All throughout his trial, he maintained that he thought she was an intruder that broke into his home during the early hours of the said date.
Meanwhile, Steenkamp's parents are outraged by the early release. In a statement submitted by their lawyer Tania Koen on Monday, the family said that incarceration of 10 months for taking a life "is simply not enough."
"We have forgiven Mr. Pistorius even though he took the life of our precious daughter Reeva," said the family in the statement. "We do not seek to avenge her death and we do not want Mr. Pistorius to suffer; that will not bring her back to us. However a person guilty of a crime must be held accountable for their actions."
Pistorius, 28, known as the Blade Runner, became a star in the sports arena after competing in the Paralympics and Olympics on prosthetic limbs. He was born without the fibulas in both his legs, and had surgery to amputate both below the knee while he was still a baby. He went on to become one of South Africa's best known athletes, and was the first amputee to compete against able-bodied athletes at the 2012 London Olympics.
