JAILED prop Russell Packer has agreed to join the Penrith Panthers in the first rugby league deal to be done behind bars.

The Sunday Telegraph can exclusively reveal the former Newcastle forward, currently serving a jail term for assault, has knocked back deals from the Knights, the Broncos and the Rabbitohs, and will join the Panthers next year.

BENNETT WILL UP ANTE IN BID FOR PACKER

LOCKYER SUPPORTS BENNETT’S PURSUIT OF PACKER

An inmate a Sydney’s Silverwater Correctional center, Packer came to terms with the Panthers last week after agreeing to take up a two-year deal from his prison cell.

Packer told his family of his decision in a face-to-face meeting in a hotel near Newcastle last Saturday after the disgraced Kiwi international was granted weekend release and tasted freedom for the first time since he pleaded guilty to assault in January.

media_camera Russell Packer hits Darren Lockyer during a 2011 Test match between the Australian and New Zealand.

The Panther’s have taken a risk by agreeing to offer the player a contract when his sentence expires in January with the NRL capable of blocking the deal by refusing to register the contract.

The 112kg enforcer punched and stomped a man in a drunken off-season attack that saw him slapped with hefty two-year jail sentence without parole after the presiding judge labelled the assault “cowardly and deplorable’’.

The Knights sacked the troubled prop after he was sentenced and shipped off to Oberon Correctional Centre in Sydney’s West.

Packer successfully appealed to have his non-parole sentence overturned in April and is eligible for release on January 5 next year.

Described by Correctional Officers as a “model inmate without a blemish on his file’’, Packer likely early release paved the way for a rugby league return in 2015 and sparked the NRL’s strangest bidding war.

media_camera Former Warriors prop Russell Packer charges forward.

Packer’s former club Newcastle joined Brisbane, Souths, St George Illawarra and Penrith in a quintet of club’s all willing to throw the jailbird a rugby league life-line.

But the Sunday Telegraph can reveal Penrith have won the race to sign Packer with the 24-year-old’s former coach Ivan Cleary out-bidding his rival suitors to snare the inmate.

Packer’s management did not return calls on Saturday and Penrith have not confirmed the deal.

But the Sunday Telegraph can reveal Packer’s partner and two young children have already found a house near Penrith and will relocate from Newcastle late next month, with Packer to join them at the foot of the mountain’s when he is released.

media_camera Russell Packer at the Knights during the pre-season.

Packer has spent much of his time in prison training and had to have shoes specially delivered after wearing out his size 17 runners.

The player who was fined $15,000 by his former club the Warriors for urinating on the field during an NRL match has also completed several rehabilitation programs.

Packer was recently fitted with an ankle-brace and granted weekend release thanks to his good behaviour.

The Broncos were informed that Packer would not be taking up an offer to be reunited with former Newcastle coach Wayne Bennett, who was prepared to resurrect the prop’s career in Brisbane, last week.