Josef Fritzl could be free in a year after being jailed for using daughter as sex slave

One of the worst human beings on Earth could soon be a free man

Josef Fritzl, the man who kept his daughter locked up for more than two decades and used her as a sex slave, could be released from prison as soon as early 2023, despite having been given a life sentence. News of the now 87-year-old's sentence concluding comes following his release from psychiatric detention after Krems Regional Court ruled that he was no longer a danger to others or himself, according to Austrian outlet The Local. Fritzl, now known as Mayrhoff, was jailed back in 2009 and kept in Krems-Stein prison - a detention centre for prisoners with mental illness - ever since; he has now been moved to a regular facility under a standard 10-year probation period. The decision is yet to be fully confirmed and must await a decision from a panel of three judges, as court spokesman Ferdinand Schuster said it would be subject to an appeal to the Higher Regional Court (OLG) in Vienna. Nevertheless, should he be granted his freedom, Fritzl will have spent ten fewer years imprisoned than his daughter, Elisabeth, who he raped and systematically abused for 24 years. [caption id="attachment_331330" align="alignnone" width="1200"]

Credit: Getty - Fritzl at the time of arrest and the discovered entrance to his secret bunker[/caption] Elisabeth, who now also goes by a different name, was just 18-years-old when she was declared missing by her mother, Rosemarie, back in 1984. Fritzl told police he believed she had a ran away to join a cult when in fact she was locked away 20-feet below the house in a specially-designed soundproof basement of Fritzl's own his making. Now 56, Elisabeth was forced to give birth to seven children at the hands of her abusive father: three of them had to live in captivity with her; one died not long after childbirth and another three were raised by Fritzl and his wife. The Austrian is said to have been suffering from dementia for some time now and his general health is gradually deteriorating. Though he is up for release next year and has expressed a desire to live his final days "in anonymity", it is unlikely the panel will grant him probation given his crimes.