Derek Chauvin's fight to live after brutal prison stabbing: George Floyd's killer cop needed 'lifesaving measures' in medium-security jail - to which he had been transferred for his own safety

Derek Chauvin needed 'lifesaving measures' from prison staff in Arizona on Friday after he was stabbed by another inmate - inside a facility which was meant to be safer for him.

The former Minneapolis cop, 47, was sentenced to 22 years behind bars for the May 2020 murder of George Floyd.

He was initially in prison in Minnesota, but was moved to Arizona in August last year for his own protection.

The Bureau of Prisons confirmed that a man was attacked around 12:30pm on Friday, inside the Federal Correctional Institution in Tucson - a medium-security prison that has been plagued by security lapses and staffing shortages.

They did not give his name, but AP sources confirmed it was him.

Keith Ellison, the attorney general of Minnesota - who oversaw Chauvin's prosecution - told the Star Tribune on Friday night that he was notified that Chauvin had been stabbed but survived, and was in stable condition.

'I am sad to hear that Derek Chauvin was the target of violence,' Ellison said. 

'He was duly convicted of his crimes and, like any incarcerated individual, he should be able to serve his sentence without fear of retaliation or violence.'

Brian O'Hara, chief of Minneapolis police, said Chauvin's attack was not to be cheered.

'Violence is barbaric and tragic, and should never be cause for celebration,' he said, after being briefed on the assault. 

'Today's news is cause for quiet reflection while the world continues to process the trauma of George Floyd's murder. 

'It is clear that this still reverberates with the people of Minneapolis and their police.' 

Serious questions are now being asked how Chauvin came to be attacked inside the prison intended to provide him with a greater degree of security.

In Minneapolis, he had been held in the Minnesota Correctional Facility, in Oak Park Heights - and was kept mainly in solitary confinement, for his own safety.

Chauvin, a 19-year veteran of the Minneapolis police force, was at extreme risk of violence from other inmates in the state prison, who he may well have arrested as an officer.

While in the maximum-security prison in a Minneapolis suburb, he often spent most of his day in a 10-by-10-foot cell.

Experts said Chauvin was likely to be safer in the federal system. It typically houses less-violent inmates, and he would be less likely to mix with inmates he had arrested or investigated as a Minneapolis police officer.

'It's dangerous to be an officer in any prison,' said Tom Heffelfinger, former U.S. Attorney, after Chauvin was sentenced. 

'It's even more dangerous in state prison because of the nature of the inmate population. 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 lawyer, had pushed for keeping him out of general population and away from other inmates, anticipating he'd be a target. 

In Minnesota, Chauvin was mainly kept in solitary confinement 'largely for his own protection,' Nelson wrote in court papers last year. 

U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson suggested when sentencing Chauvin in July 2022 that he be placed near family who live between Iowa and Minnesota. 

But federal officials are not bound by judicial requests. 

It was unclear why Tucson was ultimately chosen.

The Tucson facility houses 266 inmates, both male and female, as part of a larger complex that includes a high-security penitentiary and a minimum-security satellite camp.

The Tucson prison's inmate orientation handbook says inmates are responsible for sweeping and mopping their cell floors and removing trash, among other tasks. 

The prison offers leisure programs that include 'organized and informal games, sports, physical fitness, table games, hobby crafts, music programs, intramural activities, social and cultural organizations, and movies.' 

There are medical staff on site, but for severe injuries - such as Chauvin's - transport to a local hospital would be required.

A spokesman for Banner-University hospital, one of two Level 1 trauma hospitals in the city, said that they could not confirm he had been admitted, and were unable to provide an update 'due to the Notice of Privacy Practices for this patient.'

Chauvin's attorney is yet to respond to DailyMail.com's request for information, and Pima County sheriff's press officer said they could not comment. 

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Chauvin's appeal of his murder conviction. 

Separately, Chauvin is making a long-shot bid to overturn his federal guilty plea, claiming new evidence shows he didn't cause Floyd's death.

No employees were injured in Friday's attack, and the FBI was notified, the Bureau of Prisons said. 

Visiting at the facility, which has about 380 inmates, has been suspended.

Chauvin's stabbing is the second high-profile attack on a federal prisoner in the last five months. 

In July, disgraced sports doctor Larry Nassar was stabbed by a fellow inmate at a federal penitentiary in Florida.

It is also the second major incident at the Tucson federal prison in a little over a year. 

In November 2022, an inmate at the facility's low-security prison camp pulled out a gun and attempted to shoot a visitor in the head. The weapon, which the inmate shouldn't have had, misfired and no one was hurt.

The Bureau of Prisons has been grappling with a chronic shortage of corrections officers.

At times, it has used teachers, case managers, counselors, facilities workers and secretaries to fill shifts.

About 21 percent of the 20,446 positions for corrections officers funded by Congress — amounting to 4,293 guards — were unfilled in September 2022, according to a 2023 report by the Justice Department's inspector general's office.

Floyd, who was black, died on May 25, 2020, after Chauvin, who is white, pressed a knee on his neck for nine and a half minutes on the street outside a convenience store where Floyd was suspected of trying to pass a counterfeit $20 bill. 

Bystander video captured Floyd's fading cries of 'I can't breathe.' 

His death touched off protests worldwide, some of which turned violent, and forced a national reckoning with police brutality and racism.

Three other former officers who were at the scene received lesser state and federal sentences 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 wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein's jail suicide in 2019. 

It's another example of the agency's inability to keep even its highest profile prisoners safe after Nassar's stabbing and 'Unabomber' Ted Kaczynski's suicide at a federal medical center in June.