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Tired, Tense: Pistorius Survives First Night of Five-Year Jail Term

Oscar Pistorius spent his first night of a five-year jail term in a single cell in the hospital wing of a prison in South Africa's capital, Pretoria.
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JOHANNESBURG — Oscar Pistorius spent his first night of a five-year jail term in a single cell in the hospital wing of a prison in the capital, Pretoria, said a prison official.

He seemed confused and tired when he entered the Kgosi Mampuru facility, prison commissioner Zebilon Monama told the South African Press Association. Monama said Pistorius was tense as wardens took his fingerprints and the prison chaplain met with him soon after his prison number was issued on Tuesday.

"After he saw the chaplain our psychologist went to see him just to try to talk to him," said Monama.

Pistorius had a medical examination before being locked in his cell in a separate wing of the prison where the double amputee Paralympian joins eight other inmates with disabilities and will be under routine 24-hour observations with two nurses on duty.

"Now the hospital section of the center accommodates two offenders with prosthetic legs, two blind offenders and five offenders on wheelchairs: Nine in total," correctional services spokesman Manelisi Wolela said in a statement.

Pistorius was sentenced to five years in prison Tuesday after he was found guilty of culpable homicide for the shooting death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

The celebrity athlete is required to serve a minimum of 10 months of his 5-year sentence in a prison cell that activists describe as comfortable compared to the cells of able-bodied inmates.

IN-DEPTH

— The Associated Press