After being in prison for 10 months, Cuban graffiti artist Danilo Maldonado has been released.

Maldonado, who goes by the name “El Sexto,” was essentially jailed for trying to poke fun at the leaders of the communist island nation.

While never formally charged, the artist was arrested by state security officers as he attempted to release two pigs that were painted with the names of the country's current president Raúl Castro and former leader Fidel Castro.

Maldonado was taken into custody before the political prank could transpire.

As reported in the Miami Herald, Maldonado described the steps toward his eventual release, saying, “They arrived at 10 a.m. and took me out of my cell, they took me to gather my belongings and handcuffed me. All of this took about 15 minutes.”

The artist said he was silent as the authorities informed him that he would be released and warned him not to make the same immature mistake again. But days passed and he was still in jail. When Amnesty International became aware of the situation, they published an editorial criticizing the Cuban government for not freeing the prisoner as expected.

According to Maldonado, his experience before release was the same as that endured by all other prisoners.

“The conditions are extreme in order to break you,” he said.

Amnesty International’s Erika Guevara-Rosas expressed her enthusiasm over Maldonado’s release, but stressed that the artist should have never been jailed in the first place, saying, “Peacefully expressing an opinion is not a crime.”

After leaving jail, the artist thanked the media, the activists involved in his plight, and the international organizations that had made an effort since his arrest to secure his release.

“Without a doubt, I would still be in jail [without their help] so I thank every person who did something to achieve my liberation,” he said.

Time in jail has not blunted Maldonado’s desire to use his art as a form of protest.

Speaking of his future projects, Maldonado said, “This time I thought about the thing with the pigs, next time who knows what I’ll think of doing.”