Oscar Pistorius May Not Be Released From Prison on Friday

A South African judge has put a hold on Oscar Pistorius’s release from prison for the culpable homicide of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Pistorius may not be released this Friday after 10 months in jail, the judge said, citing confusion over protocol.

As The Guardian reports:

But Michael Masutha, the justice minister, has referred the matter back to the parole review board, sowing legal confusion and doubts over the release date.

Mthunzi Mhaga, spokesman for the Justice Department, said the date would have to be reviewed again because the athlete was approved to be moved to house arrest too soon.

It’s unclear if the parole board will be able to meet before Friday to review Pistorius’s case.

As the BBC reports, Pistorius can be released under “correctional supervision” because he has served a sixth of his sentence. But there’s a technicality here: “One sixth of a five year sentence is 10 months and at the time the decision was made Mr Pistorius had served only over six months of his sentence,” the Department of Justice and Correctional Services said in a statement, explaining that the decision to give Pistorius parole him “was made prematurely” before he was “eligible to be considered at all.”