Ex-police officer convicted of George Floyd murder transferred to new prison

Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of killing George Floyd, was transferred to a federal prison in Texas on Tuesday.

Chauvin, 47, is currently being held at the Federal Correctional Institution in Big Spring, Texas, a low-security facility, according to the Bureau of Prisons, which confirmed the transfer to the Associated Press (AP) on Tuesday.

Newsweek reached out to the Bureau of Prisons via email on Tuesday for comment.

The transfer comes more than four years after Floyd, 46, was killed in May 2020 after Chauvin, who was white, pressed his knee into Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes while Floyd, a black man, repeatedly stated he could not breathe. The killing, captured on video by a bystander, sparked worldwide protests against racial injustice and police brutality and led to a resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Chauvin was previously incarcerated at FCI Tucson in Arizona, where he was simultaneously serving a 21-year federal sentence for violating Floyd's civil rights and a 22.5-year state sentence for premeditated murder.

The transfer also comes nearly nine months after Chauvin survived a knife attack at FCI Tucson, a medium-security prison, in November 2023. He was stabbed 22 times in prison by a former gang leader and one-time FBI informant, John Turscak.

Turscak, who is serving a 30-year sentence for his involvement with the Mexican Mafia prison gang, told investigators he targeted Chauvin because he was known for killing Floyd. Turscak has since been charged with attempted murder and reportedly said he would have killed Chauvin if correctional officers had not reacted so quickly.

According to AP, Chauvin's then-attorney Eric Nelson had previously advocated keeping him away from the general public and other inmates because he feared he could become a target.

Meanwhile, Thomas Lane, another former Minneapolis police officer involved in Floyd's death, was released from a federal prison in Colorado on Tuesday after serving a three-year sentence for aiding and abetting manslaughter, the AP reported.

Lane, 41, had admitted to restraining Floyd in a manner he knew posed an unreasonable risk and contributed to Floyd's death.

Chauvin and Lane were two of the four police officers convicted in connection with Floyd's death. The other officers, J. Alexander Kueng, who is Black and knelt on Floyd's back, and Tou Thao, who is Hmong-American and prevented bystanders from intervening during the 9 1/2-minute restraint, are scheduled to be released in 2025.

Chauvin, who is currently making an unsuccessful attempt to overturn his guilty plea in federal court on the grounds that new evidence showed he did not cause Floyd's death, could remain in prison until 2038 if his appeal is unsuccessful.