AN INMATE has been charged with attempted murder after Derek Chauvin was stabbed in a federal prison.

Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who was convicted of murdering George Floyd, was stabbed 22 times at Tucson Federal Correctional Institution, on 24 November.

John Turscak, 52, was charged with attempted murder after Chauvin was stabbed multiple times in the law library with a homemade knife at the Tucson federal correctional institution in Arizona.

Prosecutors said Turscak told prison staff he would have killed Chauvin had they not responded so quickly.  

Turscak is accused of attacking Chauvin at around 12.30pm on Black Friday at the medium-security prison.

According to reports in the Associated Press, Turscak told FBI agents interviewing him after the assault that he attacked Chauvin on Black Friday as a symbolic connection to the Black Lives Matter movement, and the “Black Hand” symbol associated with the Mexican Mafia.

During the attack, prison employees responded and performed “life-saving measures” before Chauvin was taken to a hospital.

In a statement on Sunday, Attorney General’s Office spokesperson Brian Evans said regarding Chauvin’s condition: “We have heard that he is expected to survive.”

The former Minneapolis police officer was convicted of murder after he kneeled on Floyd’s neck on May 25, 2020. 

His death sparked global protests demanding an end to police brutality and racism.  

A bystander captured the incident on video where the 46-year-old was heard saying “I can’t breathe.”

In June 2021, Chauvin was sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison for Floyd’s murder. It was the first time a police officer in the state of Minneapolis had been convicted of killing a Black man.