An attorney for former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted of murdering George Floyd, slammed the Federal Bureau of Prisons on Saturday for failing to provide Chauvin’s family with updates on his condition.
Chauvin was stabbed at the Federal Correctional Institution in Tucson, Arizona, on Friday by a fellow inmate, and attorney Gregory M. Erickson called the lack of transparent communication with the family members and Chauvin’s legal team “outrageous.”
Derek Chauvin reportedly stabbed by fellow inmate at Arizona prison https://t.co/jn8bfaSSMW via @BIZPACReview
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“As an outsider, I view this lack of communication with his attorneys and family members as completely outrageous,” Erickson said in a statement to the Associated Press. “It appears to be indicative of a poorly run facility and indicates how Derek’s assault was allowed to happen.”
According to the AP, the facility in which Chauvin is housed “has been plagued by security lapses and staffing shortages.”
The former cop’s family has had to rely on new accounts to learn of Chauvin’s condition, Erickson said. Despite repeated calls to the prison for updates, they have been given no information.
On Friday, an anonymous source familiar with the matter told the AP that Chauvin was seriously injured in the incident. Brian Evans, a spokesperson for the Minnesota attorney general’s office, said on Saturday, “We have heard that he is expected to survive.”
Derek Chauvin speaks out in new George Floyd documentary: ‘The whole trial was a sham’ https://t.co/BFofK1zjGJ via @BIZPACReview
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Chauvin’s mother, Carolyn Pawlenty, 75, said she is “worried and scared.”
“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. I am worried and scared,” she told Alpha News.
“How the hell do these news agencies know and his own mother doesn’t even know?” she asked. “And that [prison] has an emergency contact number [for me].”
Another of Chauvin’s attorneys, Bill Mohrman, confirmed that the prison has failed to provide the family with updates.
“We have attempted to contact the Bureau of Prisons regarding the media reports regarding Mr. Chauvin and we have not heard back,” he said.
The “responding employees isolated and contained the incident … responding employees initiated life-saving measures for one incarcerated individual. Emergency Medical Services (EMS) were requested while life-saving efforts continued. The incarcerated individual was transported by EMS to a local hospital for further treatment and evaluation,” according to a press release.
The FBI was notified and visiting at the federal prison in Arizona was suspended until further notice.
According to the AP:
Erickson’s comments highlight concerns raised for years that federal prison officials provide little to no information to the loved ones of incarcerated people who are seriously injured or ill in federal custody. The AP has previously reported the Bureau of Prisons ignored its internal guidelines and failed to notify the families of inmates who were seriously ill with COVID-19 as the virus raged through federal prisons across the U.S.
The issue around family notification has also prompted federal legislation introduced last year in the U.S. Senate that would require the Justice Department to establish guidelines for the Federal Bureau of Prisons and state correctional systems to notify the families of incarcerated people if their loved one has a serious illness, a life-threatening injury or if they die behind bars.
“How the family members who are in charge of Derek’s decisions regarding his personal medical care and his emergency contact were not informed after his stabbing further indicates the institution’s poor procedures and lack of institutional control,” Erickson said.
Chauvin has been at the Arizona facility for the last 15 months, Alpha News reports. “On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the former Minneapolis police officer’s appeal in his second-degree murder conviction for which he is serving a more than 22-year prison sentence.”
Meanwhile, Pawlenty is doing her best to keep it together for her son.
“I have to stay strong for Derek as he does for me,” she told Alpha News. “There is no stronger love than a mother’s love.”
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Melissa Fine is the former executive editor of Casino Player, Strictly Slots, and Poker
Digest magazines. She is a UCLA graduate, news junkie, and dedicated Stargate SG-
1 fan. Melissa currently lives with her dog and two cats in a tiny town in the Sierra
Nevada foothills.
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