Former police officer convicted of killing George Floyd is transferred to new prison months after stabbing

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 he was stabbed to death at another facility, the Federal Bureau of Prisons told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Chauvin, 47, is currently incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution in Big Spring, a low-security prison. He was previously incarcerated at FCI Tucson in Arizona in August 2022, where he was concurrently serving a 21-year federal sentence for violating Floyd's civil rights and a 22 1/2-year state sentence for second-degree murder.

Derek Chauvin returns to prison after alleged knife attack during BLM campaign

The transfer comes nearly nine months after Chauvin was stabbed 22 times in prison by a former gang leader and former FBI informant.

Another former Minneapolis police officer, Thomas Lane, who held Floyd's legs as he gasped for air, was released from federal prison in Colorado on Tuesday, the Bureau of Prisons said. Lane, 41, was serving a three-year sentence for aiding and abetting manslaughter.

In this June 25, 2021, file image from video, former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin delivers a speech to the court at the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis. (Court TV via AP, Pool, File)

When Lane pleaded guilty, he admitted that he intentionally assisted in restraining Floyd in a manner that he knew posed an unreasonable risk and caused his death. He admitted that he heard Floyd say he couldn't breathe and that he knew Floyd was silent, had no pulse, and appeared to have lost consciousness.

Floyd, 46, died in May 2020 after Chauvin, a white man, pinned him to the ground with a knee on Floyd's neck while the Black man repeatedly said he couldn't breathe. Lane, a white man, held Floyd's legs down. J. Alexander Kueng, a Black man, knelt on Floyd's back, and Tou Thao, a Hmong American, kept bystanders from intervening during the 9 1/2-minute restraint.

Kueng and Thao are both scheduled to be released in 2025. According to Bureau of Prisons records, Kueng is being held at a federal prison in Ohio and Thao is being held at a facility in Kentucky.

The murder, captured on video by passersby, sparked protests in 2020 as part of a global reckoning with racial injustice.

Lane is the first of the four police officers convicted of crimes related to Floyd's killing to be released from prison. He was serving a federal sentence in addition to his state prison sentence after being convicted of violating Floyd's civil rights.

Chauvin is making a futile attempt to overturn his guilty plea in federal court because new evidence shows he did not cause Floyd's death. If he is unsuccessful, he will not be released until 2038.

John Turscak, who is serving a 30-year prison sentence for crimes he committed as a member of the Mexican Mafia prison gang, attacked Chauvin on November 24, 2023. He told investigators he targeted the former Minneapolis police officer because of his notoriety as the officer who killed Floyd.

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FCI Tucson, a medium-security prison, suffers from security lapses and understaffing. Chauvin's then-attorney, Eric Nelson, had argued for keeping him away from the general public and other inmates, fearing he could be a target.

Turscak, who was charged with attempted murder, told correctional officers he would have killed Chauvin if they had not reacted so quickly.