Australia ? David Hicks, the first inmate at the Guantanamo Bay detention center to face a U.S. military tribunal, was flown back to his hometown in Australia on Sunday to serve out the remainder of his sentence in a maximum security prison cell.

The former Outback cowboy and kangaroo skinner pleaded guilty in March to providing material support to al-Qaida, including attending terrorist training camps in Afghanistan.

Under a plea deal, he was sentenced to nine months in prison – a fraction of the life term he could have received – and was allowed to return to Australia to serve out his term.

Accompanied by police and prison officials, Hicks was flown from the U.S. military camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in a jet chartered by the Australian government and landed early Sunday at the heavily fortified Edinburgh air force base on the outskirts of Adelaide.

Shackled and wearing an orange jumpsuit, Hicks was then taken to the Yatala Labor Prison, where he will serve the final seven months of his sentence in a high-security wing alongside the prison’s most dangerous criminals.