Despite the fact that he was officially granted parole on Thursday, O.J. SImpson isn't out of prison just yet. 

The former NFL running back won't actually be released until Oct. 1 at the earliest, which means he's going to be spending at least two more months behind bars. As Simpson begins his final 60 days in jail, prison officials have decided it's best to let him serve out the remainder of his sentence in protective custody.  

According to Brooke Keast, a spokeswoman for the Nevada Department of Corrections, the protective custody move had to me made because Simpson is now a potential target for other inmates. 

"His parole could make him a target here. He just has 2.5 months to go, and we don't want someone trying to make a name for themselves thinking, 'I'm going to go punch O.J. Simpson in the face,'" Keast said, via CNN.com. 

Before his parole hearing, Simpson had been locked up with a cellmate in the general population area of the prison. For the remainder of his sentence, Simpson will be moved to a separate part of the facility. 

"The inmates inside ... they're all felons, there are those that are in there for life, that really have nothing to lose," Keast said, via ABC News. "Now to make a name of themselves, they may think of doing something, acting out against inmate Simpson. We just can't have that."

With such a high-profile inmate on their hands, the last thing prison officials want to see is something bad happen to Simpson during his final two months of incarceration. 

"For us, it's important that he [leaves the prison] safe and healthy, and everything goes smoothly for those next two months," Keast said.

Simpson was granted parole on Thursday after serving almost nine years prison following a trial over a 2007 hotel room robbery where he tried to recover memorabilia from two collectors. The Pro Football Hall of Famer was eventually convicted of several charges -- including kidnapping and armed robbery -- in October 2008, which is also when his prison sentence began. 

If Simpson hadn't been granted parole on Thursday, he could've ended up facing up to  24 more years in prison. The good news for Simpson is that he's not expected to be broke when he leaves prison. Several estimates indicated that he might've pulled in as much as $600,000 from his NFL pension while he was behind bars