By The Diary
Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of killing George Floyd, has been transferred to a federal prison in Texas, nearly nine months after being stabbed while incarcerated in Arizona, the Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed Tuesday, August 20.
Derek Chauvin, 47, is being held at the low-security Federal Correctional Institution in Texas.
He was previously in Arizona at FCI Tucson serving concurrently a 21-year federal sentence for violating George Floyd’s civil rights and a 22-and-a-half-year state sentence for second-degree murder.
Transfer to low security prison confirmed
“We can confirm that Derek Michael Chauvin has been transferred to the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Big Spring on August 20, 2024,” a Federal Bureau of Prisons spokesperson said in a statement, Reuters reported.
On November 24, 2023, Derek Chauvin was stabbed 22 times by former gang leader and FBI informant John Turscak while he was jailed in Tucson, the US Department of Justice said in December of that year. Chauvin was seriously injured but survived.
Turscak faces charges of attempted murder, assault with intent to commit murder, assault with a dangerous weapon and assault resulting in serious bodily injury for the stabbing of Chauvin. But he has a 30-year sentence for crimes committed while he was a member of the Mexican Mafia prison gang.
The other officer was released from prison
Thomas Lane, the other former Minneapolis officer responsible for pinning Floyd’s legs down as he struggled to breathe, has been released from federal prison in Colorado, the Bureau of Prisons said. Lane, 41, was serving a three-year sentence for accessory to murder, CBS News noted.
The death of George Floyd, who was 46, in 2020 sparked protests around the world against police brutality and racism after Chauvin, a white man, knelt on the black man’s neck for more than eight minutes while Floyd pleaded that he could not breathe.
African-American officer J. Alexander Kueng knelt on Floyd’s back, and another officer, Tou Thao, blocked people from intervening during the restraint. The killing was captured on cellphone video.
They could be released in 2025
Kueng is being held in a federal prison in Ohio and Thao is being held in a facility in Kentucky, according to records obtained by CBS. They are scheduled to be released in 2025.
Chauvin’s attorney is attempting to overturn his federal guilty plea, arguing that new evidence shows his client did not cause Floyd’s death. If unsuccessful, he could not be released until 2038.
With information from Reuters and CBS News
Continue reading:
- Joe Biden: George Floyd’s death at the hands of police four years ago changed the world
- Police officer who killed George Floyd had previously used excessive force, lawsuit alleges
- Derek Chauvin’s mother says she is ‘worried and scared’ about her son’s condition