Derek Chauvin is currently serving a simultaneous 21-year federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights as well as a 22 and a half year-long state sentence for second-degree murder.

Chauvin’s lawyer, Eric Nelson, had advocated for keeping him out of general population and away from other inmates, anticipating he’d be a target.

Last week, the US Supreme Court rejected Chauvin’s appeal of his murder conviction. Separately, Chauvin is making a longshot bid to overturn his federal guilty plea, claiming new evidence shows he didn’t cause Floyd’s death.

Floyd died on 25 May 2020, after Chauvin pressed a knee on his neck for more than 9 minutes on the street outside a convenience store where Floyd was suspected of trying to pass a counterfeit $20 (about €18) bill.

Bystander video captured Floyd’s fading cries of “I can’t breathe.” His death touched off countless Black Lives Matter 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 apparent 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.

An ongoing investigation by the AP has uncovered deep, previously unreported flaws within the Bureau of Prisons.

AP reporting has revealed rampant sexual abuse and other criminal conduct by staff, dozens of escapes, chronic violence, deaths and severe staffing shortages that have hampered responses to emergencies, including inmate assaults and suicides.