Derek Chauvin Leaves Hospital After Surviving 22 Stab Wounds In Prison

Derek Chauvin has been transferred back to prison from a local hospital for follow-up care after being stabbed multiple times in prison.

The former Minneapolis police officer, who is currently serving a 22-year sentence for George Floyd's murder, is said to have been stabbed by a fellow inmate whose intent was to kill him.

Chauvin's release from the hospital comes after his family called out the Federal Correctional Institution [FCI] in Tucson, Arizona, for keeping them in the dark about the attack against their loved one.

New reports have surfaced revealing that Chauvin was stabbed 22 times with an improvised knife in the prison library by a Mexican gangster and Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI] informant, John Turscak. 

The career criminal claimed that he chose November 24, which is the day after Thanksgiving, to do the stabbing because of its symbolic connection to the Black Lives Matter [BLM] movement, which originated from Floyd's murder. 

The 52-year-old admitted he would have killed Chauvin if not for the swift response of correctional officers, who had to use pepper spray to subdue him. In addition to linking the stabbing to the BLM movement, Turscak stated that he selected Black Friday as a tribute to the "Black Hand" symbol associated with the Mexican Mafia gang.

Known as "Stranger," Turscak now faces additional decades in prison for the attack on Chauvin instead of leaving the prison grounds in 2026 after serving a 30-year sentence and has since been relocated to an adjacent federal prison in Tucson.

According to Daily Mail, the convicted felon gained notoriety more than 20 years ago for aiding in the indictment of over 40 suspected Mexican Mafia members as an informant. However, he was later removed from the investigation and charged after admitting to crimes such as drug dealing, authorizing assaults, and extortion.

Meanwhile, concerns about Chauvin's safety have led his family, represented by lawyer Gregory Erickson, to seek his removal from the prison facility following the incident. According to Erickson in a statement:

"His family is very concerned about the facility's capacity to protect Derek from further harm. They remain unassured that any changes have been made to the faulty procedures that allowed Derek's attack to occur in the first place."

In the days after the world learned about Chauvin's stabbing, his mother, Carolyn Pawlenty, expressed her dissatisfaction at learning about it through the media.

"How the h— do these news agencies know and his own mother doesn't even know?" she uttered before disclosing that the prison authorities had neglected calling her about the event even though they had her listed as an emergency contact. The matriarch added:

"I can't even think what to say. I haven't been to bed and made a path in my kitchen and living room floor by pacing."

His lawyer also chimed in with his sentiments, partly noting in a statement that the prison's action "appears to be indicative of a poorly run facility and indicates how Derek's assault was allowed to happen." 

He then touched on his concern that family members responsible for decisions regarding Chauvin's medical care were not informed promptly after the stabbing, emphasizing FCI's inadequate procedures and lack of control. 

Erickson returned again to divulge that despite their pleas, his client's family still had no information about the circumstances leading to his stabbing in prison. He detailed that even though he had made eight attempts to contact prison officials since the incident on Black Friday, he had received no response. 

Adding to the concern, Chauvin's family allegedly learned about his stable condition only once through contact with his father. The attorney characterized the lack of transparency as "unjust and cruel," directly attributing the delay in updating his client's next of kin to the federal facility in Tucson. 

Per The Blast, he also asserted that the prison facility displayed negligence regarding the Oakdale native's safety, citing him as the most high-profile prisoner they have had in custody since former American football player, O.J. Simpson.

Additionally, Erickson conveyed that if Chauvin's family remained uninformed about the situation, they would consider legal options.