What Oscar Pistorius' House Arrest Will Be Like: Mansion, Training Privileges Possible For Paralympic Convicted For Killing Girlfriend

When South African Paralympian Oscar Pistorius is released from prison and moves to house arrest next week, he'll likely be living in luxury. Pistorius, who was convicted in 2014 for killing his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, was expected to spend the rest of his time at his uncle's Pretoria mansion. There, he'll continue therapy and won't even have to wear an ankle monitor, a correctional services spokesman told the Associated Press.

Pistorius was granted correctional supervision Thursday after serving one-sixth of a five-year prison sentence for fatally shooting Steenkamp on Valentine's Day 2013. He argued he opened fire because he thought there was an intruder in his home, but the Steenkamp family said he shot her on purpose. After a lengthy trial, Pistorius was found guilty of culpable homicide and a separate weapons charge.

Critics have said the rest of Pistorius' sentence will be more like "mansion arrest" than house arrest, just like he experienced while on bail. During that period he stayed with his wealthy uncle, Arnold Pistorius, who is a real estate developer.

The uncle's house is located in a neighborhood where homes sell for up to $1.5 million, the Times Live reported last year. "No other suburb personifies 'old money' and everything good that goes with affluence," broker Ria de Clercq told the South African publication.

The residence itself is rumored to have high walls, three stories, more than 20 rooms, a pool and a gym. Daily Mail reporter Jonathan McEvoy recalled visiting the guarded house -- which sits among the dwellings of "diplomats and embassy staff" -- and wrote that he saw a Mercedes and an Audi parked outside.

While on house arrest for the next four years, Pistorius will not be able to use guns, the AP reported. Other restrictions, including when he can return to track training, were unclear. "His movements will be controlled and there is certainly monitoring, but in that light he will be integrated back into the community, gradually he will be invited to get employment of some sort; he will be invited to do communal services, [and] he will he will take up, I suppose, treatment of some sort," legal expert David Dadic told News24.

Pistorius' freedom could be cut short pending an appeal alleging that the judge on his case misinterpreted the law. Prosecutors were pushing for a murder conviction and a harsher sentence, according to Reuters. A supreme court of appeals hearing was set for Nov. 3.