Derek Chauvin required “life-saving measures” from prison staff in Arizona on Friday after he was stabbed by another inmate – in a facility that was supposed to be safer for him.
The former Minneapolis police officer, 47, was sentenced to 22 years in prison for the murder of George Floyd in May 2020.
He was initially imprisoned in Minnesota but was transferred to Arizona last August for his own protection.
The Bureau of Prisons confirmed that a man was attacked around 12:30 a.m. Friday at the Federal Correctional Institution in Tucson — a medium-security prison that suffers from security lapses and staffing shortages.
Derek Chauvin, 47, was stabbed and seriously injured in prison in Arizona on Friday. He needed “life-saving” attention from prison staff. Chauvin is pictured via Zoom on March 17
Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 22.5 years in prison for Floyd’s murder after he pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes
Chauvin is seen in Minneapolis in September 2020, four months after the death of George Floyd
They did not give his name, but AP sources confirmed it was him.
Keith Ellison, the Minnesota attorney general who oversaw Chauvin’s prosecution, told the Star Tribune on Friday evening that he had been told that Chauvin had been stabbed but had survived and was in stable condition.
“I am saddened to hear that Derek Chauvin was the target of violence,” Ellison said.
“He was properly convicted for his crimes and, like any incarcerated person, should be able to serve his sentence without fear of retaliation or violence.”
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said Chauvin’s attack should not be applauded.
“Violence is barbaric and tragic and should never be a cause for celebration,” he said after being informed of the attack.
“Today’s news provides cause for quiet reflection as the world continues to process the trauma of George Floyd’s murder.”
“It’s clear this still resonates with the people of Minneapolis and their police.”
Serious questions are now being asked about how Chauvin came to be targeted in prison in order to provide him with greater security.
In Minneapolis, he was held at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Oak Park Heights – and was kept largely in solitary confinement for his own safety.
Chauvin, a 19-year veteran of the Minneapolis Police Department, faced extreme violence in state prison from other inmates he may have arrested as an officer.
While in the maximum-security prison in suburban Minneapolis, he often spent most of his day in a 10-by-10-foot cell.
Correctional officers in the Minneapolis suburb of Oak Park Heights make patrols every 30 minutes around the clock to check on inmates, according to the facility’s website
Chauvin had been placed in an administrative segregation room like this one at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Oak Parks
Chauvin spent 15 months in the Minnesota Corrections Facility in Oak Park Heights (a prison cell pictured).
Chauvin was housed at the strict Minnesota Correctional Facility in Oak Park Heights until August 2022 (pictured)
Experts said Chauvin would likely be safer in the federal system. It typically houses fewer violent inmates and is less likely to meet with inmates he arrested or investigated as a Minneapolis police officer.
“It is dangerous to be an officer in any prison,” Tom Heffelfinger, a former U.S. attorney, said after Chauvin was convicted.
“It’s even more dangerous in state prison because of the type of inmates there.” There are gangs, for example.
“And police officers just don’t do well there.” Those risks are reduced in a federal prison.”
Eric Nelson, who was Chauvin’s trial attorney, had pushed to keep him out of the public eye and away from other inmates, believing he would become a target.
In Minnesota, Chauvin was held in solitary confinement primarily for his own protection, Nelson wrote in court papers last year.
U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson, when sentencing Chauvin in July 2022, suggested placing him near his family, who live between Iowa and Minnesota.
However, federal officials are not bound by court requests.
The Tucson facility where Chauvin is being held. He was transferred there in August 2022
The Federal Correctional Institution in Tucson (pictured) houses 266 inmates, both men and women, as part of a larger complex that includes a maximum-security prison and a minimum-security satellite camp
Derek Chauvin was transferred from a state prison in Minnesota to a federal facility in Arizona
It was unclear why Tucson was ultimately chosen.
The Tucson facility houses 266 inmates, both men and women, and is part of a larger complex that includes a maximum-security prison and a minimum-security satellite camp.
The Tucson prison’s inmate orientation manual states that inmates are responsible for, among other things, sweeping and mopping the floors of their cells and removing trash.
The prison offers recreational programs that include “organized and informal games, sports, physical fitness, table games, hobby crafts, music programs, intramural activities, social and cultural organizations, and films.”
There are medical personnel on site, but serious injuries – like Chauvin’s – would require transport to a local hospital.
A spokesman for Banner University Hospital, one of two Level 1 trauma hospitals in the city, said it could not confirm his admission and could not provide an update “due to notices of privacy practices for this patient.”
Chauvin’s attorney has not yet responded to ‘s request for information, and the Pima County sheriff’s press secretary said he could not comment.
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Chauvin’s appeal of his murder conviction.
Separately, Chauvin is making a long-term effort to overturn his federal guilty plea, claiming new evidence shows he did not cause Floyd’s death.
George Floyd was murdered by Chauvin after he was arrested in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020, on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill
No employees were injured in Friday’s attack and the FBI was notified, the Bureau of Prisons said.
Visits have been suspended at the facility, which has about 380 inmates.
Chauvin’s knife attack is the second high-profile attack on a federal prisoner in the past five months.
In July, disgraced sports doctor Larry Nassar was stabbed to death by a fellow inmate at a federal prison in Florida.
It’s also the second major incident at the Tucson Federal Penitentiary in just over a year.
In November 2022, an inmate at the facility’s low-security detention center pulled out a gun and attempted to shoot a visitor in the head. The weapon, which the inmate should not have had, misfired and no one was injured.
The Bureau of Prisons is struggling with a chronic shortage of correctional officers.
At times, teachers, case managers, counselors, facility staff and secretaries were deployed to staff shifts.
According to a 2023 report from the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General, about 21 percent of the 20,446 congressionally funded correctional officer positions — equivalent to 4,293 guards — were vacant as of September 2022.
The death of George Floyd in May 2020 shocked the United States and sparked protests against police brutality around the world
Floyd, who was Black, died on May 25, 2020, after Chauvin, who is white, stood for nine and a half minutes on the street outside a supermarket where Floyd was suspected of trying to pass a counterfeit $20 stamp Knees pressed on his neck had bill.
Bystander video captured Floyd’s fading cries of “I can’t breathe.”
His death sparked protests around the world, some of which turned violent, and forced a nationwide reckoning with police brutality and racism.
Three other former officers who were at the scene received lesser sentences at the state and federal levels for their roles in Floyd’s death.
Chauvin’s stabbing comes as the Federal Bureau of Prisons has faced increased scrutiny in recent years following the prison suicide of wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein in 2019.
It’s another example of the agency’s inability to ensure the safety of even its most senior prisoners following the Nassar stabbing and Unabomber Ted Kaczynski’s suicide at a federal hospital in June.