Larry Nassar, ex-MSU doctor who abused patients, stabbed in federal prison
- Former MSU sports doctor Larry Nassar was stabbed in federal prison
- The incident occurred Sunday night, according to published reports
- He was attacked in 2018 at a federal prison in Arizona before he was moved to a facility in Florida
Larry Nassar, the former sports doctor at Michigan State University who was convicted of sexually abusing female gymnasts and other patients, was stabbed multiple times in a federal prison in Florida, the Associated Press reported.
The altercation took place Sunday evening at the U.S. Penitentiary Coleman II, a high-security facility an hour outside of Tampa. Two people who spoke to the Associated Press said that Nassar was stabbed in the chest and the back, may have a collapsed lung and is in stable condition.
The prison had experienced staffing shortages and officers were mandated to work overtime. During the night of the altercation, one of the officers assigned to the unit Nassar was in had been working their third straight 16-hour shift; another officer was working their second straight shift, the Associated Press reported.
Related:
- Michigan Senate passes sexual assault reform six years after Nassar conviction
- New Michigan bills could give sexual abuse survivors more time to sue
- MSU Student: My story shows what MSU still doesn’t get about sexual assault
In May 2018, Nassar was moved from a federal prison in Tucson, Arizona, when he was assaulted just hours after being released to the general population.
Nassar was accused of assaulting dozens of children and young women including Michigan State University athletes and members of the U.S. national gymnastics team.
In 2018, Nassar pleaded guilty in Ingham County to sexually assaulting athletes and was sentenced to a 40 to 175-year prison sentence. In February 2018, he was sentenced an additional 40 to 125 years in a Michigan State prison.
He was also sentenced to 60 years in federal prison for child pornography charges, which he must complete before he can serve his state charges.
The Michigan Supreme Court rejected his final appeal in June 2022. Nassar’s lawyers argued he did not get a fair trial and deserved another one because of comments made by the Ingham County Judge Rosemarie Aquilina.
“Our Constitution does not allow for cruel and unusual punishment,” the judge said at one point. “If it did … I would allow some or many people to do to him what he did to others.”
More than 100 women who accused Nassar of sexual assault including Olympic athlete Simone Biles sought more than $1 billion from the federal government for the FBIs failure to stop Nassar after reports of sexual assault became known to officers.
In addition, MSU paid over 300 survivors $500 million. And the USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee paid $380 million to survivors in a settlement.
The state Legislature recently passed sexual assault legislation that would prohibit health care professionals from administering exams that require vaginal or anal penetration, create a new felony for sexually assault patients by way of medical treatment and require schools to improve awareness about sexual assault.
The package of bills was introduced after the conviction of Nassar, and signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in late June.
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