The decision to transfer Josef Fritzl – who kept his daughter captive for 24 years and raped her thousands of times – to a regular prison has been overturned by an Austrian court, local media reports.

The Vienna Higher Regional Court (OLG) overturned the decision, made in January, to move the 88-year-old to a regular prison, news agency APA report.

The initial ruling was made on the basis that Fritzl no longer posed a danger.

Read more: Who is Josef Fritzl?

It would have also likely paved the way for him to be released from prison into a nursing home.

Ferdinand Schuster, spokesman for the lower court in the town of Krems an der Donau, reportedly said the decision by the OLG was based on the fact that the most recent psychiatric report on Fritzl had to be updated.

“Unlike the court of first instance, the OLG came to the conclusion that the necessary facts for a decision on a conditional dismissal have not yet been clarified,” APA quoted a report from the court as saying.

The OLG has ordered the lower court to establish more facts before reaching a fresh decision which is expected in April.

Fritzl, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2009 for crimes including incest, rape, and enslavement – has been in psychiatric detention in a high-security unit at Stein prison.

He has since changed his name to one that has not been made public.