MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — 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 housed at the Federal Correctional Institution in Big Spring, a low-security prison, after being incarcerated in Arizona at FCI Tucson 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 prison sentence for premeditated murder.
The transfer comes almost nine months after Chauvin’s death stabbed 22 times in prison by a former gang leader and one-time 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.
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 became silent, had no pulse, and appeared to have lost consciousness.
Floyde, 46, died in May 2020 after Chauvin, who is white, pinned him to the ground with a knee on Floyd’s neck while the Black man repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe. Lane, who is white, held Floyd’s legs down. J. Alexander Kueng, who is Black, knelt on Floyd’s back, and Tou Thao, who is 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 sentenced the violation of Floyd’s civil rights.
Chauvin makes a unlikely attempt to overturn his guilty plea in federal courtand claims that 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.
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.
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Associated Press reporter Mike Balsamo contributed to this report from Washington.
