The Corrections Department says the convicted sex offender known as "the Beast of Blenheim" will be subject to the most stringent conditions any released prisoner has ever faced.
Stewart Murray Wilson will be released from prison at the beginning of next month to live in an old state house that is being moved on to land owned by Whanganui Prison.
The 65-year-old, who experts fear will reoffend, will be subject to three years of parole conditions that will control his movements and who he associates with, and he will also be subject to GPS tracking.
Corrections chief executive Ray Smith, in a statement on Wednesday, said authorities had worked long and hard to ensure the public would be safe when Wilson was released.
Wilson will live in a small stand-alone house being moved to the grounds of Whanganui Prison. However, it will sit outside the secure fence.
Wilson will have no close neighbours and can be recalled to prison if he breaks his parole conditions.
Whanganui was chosen because it was one of the few places in the country where he has no registered victims.
Wilson's release to Whanganui has outraged some locals, with outspoken councillor Michael Laws saying the move had to be resisted.
"We are not a dumping ground for 'The Beast'... why not change the law to allow preventative detention of this man? Instead they put the district of Whanganui in the gun."
Mr Smith said he was aware of the stress Wilson might cause locals, but authorities were working to minimise the risks.
Wilson was jailed for 21 years in 1996 for sexual offending against women and girls in Blenheim, including rape, attempted rape and bestiality over a 25-year period.
He was sentenced in 1996, before preventive detention laws were introduced, and cannot be held in jail any longer.
Once his three-year parole period is over he will be subject to 10 years of an extended supervision order.
By the time that period is up, in 2025, Wilson will be 78.
