Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin — who was convicted of killing George Floyd — was stabbed by another inmate at a federal prison in Arizona on Friday, sources told The Associated Press.
Chauvin was seriously injured in the attack around 12:30 p.m. at the Federal Correctional Institution, Tucson, the Bureau of Prisons said without naming the inmate.
Prison workers performed “life-saving measures” before Chauvin was hospitalized, the federal agency said.
Chauvin’s attacker was also taken to hospital for further treatment and evaluation.
Chauvin was convicted of killing George Floyd.via REUTERS
No employees were injured and the FBI has been notified, the Bureau of Prisons said. Tours at the facility, which houses about 380 inmates, have been suspended.
The stabbing came just a week after the US Supreme Court rejected Chauvin’s appeal of a second-degree murder conviction in the death of George Floyd in May 2020.
Chauvin claims new evidence shows he did not cause Floyd’s death, which sparked nationwide riots and a prolonged debate over race relations in the US.
Chauvin in an undated booking photo after he was transferred from a county jail to a Minnesota Department of Corrections state facility.via REUTERS
His lawyers also argued that Chauvin was denied a fair trial because of the publicity surrounding the case and concerns about potential violence if he is released.
They had advocated keeping their client out of the general prison population and away from other inmates, anticipating that he would become a target.
The former Minneapolis police officer has been serving a 22.5-year sentence at FCI Tucson since he was found guilty by a state court in April 2021 of killing Floyd.
Protests in the summer of 2020 after the death of George Floyd.AFP via Getty Images
FCI Tucson, as well as other federal prisons, has been plagued by staff shortages and security lapses.
A year earlier, an inmate at an Arizona facility’s low-security prison camp pulled out a gun and tried to shoot a visitor in the head. Fortunately no one was injured.
Chauvin’s stabbing also marked the second high-profile inmate attack in recent months at a federal prison.
Disgraced sports doctor Larry Nassar – who sexually abused hundreds of gymnasts – was stabbed at least 10 times in July with a makeshift weapon in his cell at a federal prison in Florida.
The attack on Nassar was not caught by any surveillance cameras.
A month earlier, the infamous Unabomber Ted Kaczynski committed suicide in his North Carolina prison cell.
Bureau of Prisons Director Colette Peters was brought in last year to address the federal prison system’s universal understaffing, escapes, rampant sexual abuse, inmate deaths and other systemic issues.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
