Story highlights Prison moves O.J. Simpson to another cell to protect him from attack

Move comes after Nevada parole board said he should go free

(CNN) Prison officials in Nevada announced Friday they have moved O.J. Simpson to a new cell and away from any inmates who might want to hurt or harass him in the months before he is set to be released.

A Nevada parole board on Thursday decided Simpson should be freed after the former NFL star apologized for his role in a 2007 armed robbery, said he'd been a model prisoner and promised that he'd have no conflicts if released.

Brooke Keast, a spokeswoman for the Nevada Department of Corrections, said Friday that Simpson was subsequently moved out of the general inmate population to special housing.

"His parole could make him a target here. He just has 2½ 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,' " she said, adding many other inmates at the Lovelock Correctional Center, a medium-security prison in the desert, are serving life sentences.

Simpson is now in his own cell.

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