O.J. Simpson was granted an early release from prison on Thursday following his 2008 conviction for committing a Las Vegas robbery, NBC News reports. Having served the minimum nine years in his nine-to-33 year sentence, Simpson could now be out of prison as early as Oct. 1. Although this ruling allows him to re-enter the real world, there are still strict conditions Simpson must follow while on parole.
According to NBC News, Simpson will be responsible for physically meeting with a parole officer and submitting monthly reports to his supervisor until his term ends. While his parole will expire in September 2022, he has to spend about five years abiding to his release’s conditions. If he fits the parole board’s definition of having good behavior, Simpson could be eligible for a maximum 50 percent reduction in his original sentence.
Since he was detained in Nevada, whether or not Simpson is able to serve his parole elsewhere is debatable. He told the parole board that he wished to return to Florida, where he raised his children, but the state will have to consent to his presence. The state of Nevada will help determine where Simpson may live if Florida doesn’t take him in.
Under parole, Simpson also isn’t allowed to drink, use illegal drugs or possess weapons. Any violations of these rules would lead to his arrest and return to prison. Interestingly, the public may even see Simpson use social media, as the Supreme Court ruled that forbidding ex-convicts from going online would violate the First Amendment.
It’s uncertain what Simpson’s post-prison life will be like, but CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin has his own theory of what it will resemble. “I think it will be a lot like life was between 1995 and 2007," Toobin said. "He was really a pariah. His old life was gone—celebrity pitchman, sportscaster, actor, all gone.”
We’ll have to wait for Simpson’s parole to fall into place to determine how prison has affected him.