O.J. Simpson has been moved into protective custody over safety concerns at a Nevada prison in the wake of winning parole, according to a report Friday.
Simpson, 70, was transferred out of general population and into a separate part of Lovelock Correctional Center as a precaution, given the attention surrounding his case, Department of Corrections spokeswoman Brooke Keast told ABC News.
The pro-football Hall of Famer’s new jail digs are the same size as before — just without a cellmate and in a quieter wing, Keast said.
“The inmates inside . . . they’re all felons. There are those that are in there for life that really have nothing to lose,” Keast explained. “Now to make a name of themselves, they may think of doing something, acting out against inmate Simpson. We just can’t have that.”
Simpson was granted parole Thursday after serving nearly nine years for an armed Las Vegas hotel heist of sports memorabilia in 2007. He could be released as early as Oct. 1.
“We have to keep him safe for two more months,” Keast said.
A four-member Parole Board ruled Simpson was unlikely to commit future crimes.
But the family of Ron Goldman isn’t buying it.
Fred Goldman, whose 25-year-old son was slain along with Simpson’s ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, in 1994, told CBS News Friday that The Juice isn’t “worthy of the right to be out among decent people.”
“I would prefer to see him back in jail,” Fred said.
He and daughter Kim also slammed Simpson’s performance at the 77-minute parole hearing, during which he claimed he has become a “better Christian.”
“I believe without a doubt he’s the same person. I think he showed it clearly during the parole hearing,” Fred said. “His snickering about things, the arrogant looks when they’re reading things, the way he snapped at one of the commissioners on the Parole Board. I think he’s exactly who he always is.”
The Goldmans were just as disgusted as Nicole Brown Simpson’s sister Tanya Brown over Simpson’s remark that he “basically spent a conflict-free life.”
“ ‘Conflict-free’ except for the wife-beating of . . . Nicole,” Fred scoffed.