Where Is Derek Chauvin Now? Prison, Sentence, and New Trial Petition

Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd, is now incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution in Big Spring, Texas, a low-security federal prison. He is serving concurrent state and federal sentences and, according to Bureau of Prisons records, is scheduled for release in January 2038.¹ In late 2025, his lawyers filed a new petition in Hennepin County District Court asking a judge to vacate his state convictions and grant him a new trial.²

FCI Big Spring, Texas

Chauvin was moved to FCI Big Spring in August 2024. The main facility holds roughly 500 inmates, with another 110 at an adjacent minimum-security satellite camp.³⁴ It is a step down in security level from where he had previously been held.

Before the transfer, Chauvin was housed at FCI Tucson, a medium-security federal prison in Arizona, where he had been since August 2022. On November 24, 2023, an inmate named John Turscak stabbed him 22 times with an improvised knife in the prison’s law library. Turscak, who was serving a 30-year sentence tied to the Mexican Mafia, told investigators the attack was motivated by Chauvin’s notoriety and had what he called a “symbolic connection” to the Black Lives Matter movement. Prosecutors said Turscak admitted he would have killed Chauvin if guards had not intervened.⁵ The Bureau of Prisons said Chauvin required “life-saving measures.” He was released from the hospital days later.⁶ Turscak was charged with attempted murder, assault with intent to commit murder, assault with a dangerous weapon, and assault resulting in serious bodily injury.

Roughly nine months later, Chauvin was moved to Big Spring.⁴

The Sentence He Is Serving

Chauvin is serving two sentences at once.

On June 25, 2021, after a Hennepin County jury convicted him of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter, Judge Peter Cahill sentenced him to 22 and a half years in state prison. Under Minnesota law he would be eligible for supervised release after 15 years.⁷

On December 15, 2021, Chauvin pleaded guilty to two federal civil rights charges: depriving Floyd of his constitutional rights through excessive force resulting in death, and depriving a 14-year-old boy of his constitutional rights during a separate 2017 incident.⁸ On July 7, 2022, U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson sentenced him to 21 years in federal prison, which came out to about 20 years and five months after credit for time served. The federal and state terms run concurrently, so he serves them at the same time.⁷ The plea agreement also bars Chauvin from ever working in law enforcement again.

The Pending Petition for a New Trial

On November 20, 2025, defense attorney Gregory Joseph filed a 71-page postconviction petition in Hennepin County District Court asking the court to vacate all three of Chauvin’s state convictions and grant a new trial.²

The petition raises three main arguments:

That former Police Chief Medaria Arradondo, Inspector Katie Blackwell, and training coordinator Lt. Johnny Mercil falsely told the jury the knee-to-neck restraint was not part of Minneapolis Police Department training, and that prosecutors did not correct that testimony. The filing includes affidavits from 57 current and former officers who say the technique matched their training.⁹
That prosecution medical experts reached conclusions about how Floyd died by relying on scene video instead of standard forensic methodology.
That Judge Cahill’s jury instructions contained misstatements of law.

The petition is before Judge Paul Scoggin. The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office was scheduled to respond by January 4, 2026.⁹

Earlier Appeals That Failed

Chauvin has already lost two other efforts to undo his convictions.

He asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review his state conviction, arguing that pretrial publicity and juror fears about civil unrest had prevented a fair trial. The Court denied the petition without comment on November 20, 2023.¹⁰¹¹

He also filed a motion in federal court seeking to withdraw his civil rights guilty plea. In that filing, Chauvin claimed he would not have pleaded guilty had he known of theories advanced by Dr. William Schaetzel, a Kansas forensic pathologist who contends, based on autopsy reports, that Floyd died from complications of a rare tumor called a paraganglioma rather than asphyxiation. Schaetzel did not examine Floyd’s body.¹²

Unless a court grants relief on the pending Hennepin County petition or on some future federal challenge, Chauvin will remain at FCI Big Spring for the bulk of the next decade, with a scheduled release date in January 2038.¹

1
Star Tribune. Derek Chauvin Transferred to Low-Security Federal Prison in Texas
2
KTTC. Derek Chauvin Files for New Trial, Alleges Prosecutorial Misconduct
3
Federal Bureau of Prisons. FCI Big Spring
4
NPR. Ex-Officer Convicted in George Floyd’s Killing Is Moved to New Prison
5
CBS News Minnesota. Derek Chauvin Was Stabbed 22 Times in Federal Prison Attack
6
New York Times. Chauvin Prison Assault
7
New York Times. Derek Chauvin George Floyd Sentence
8
U.S. Department of Justice. Former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin Pleads Guilty in Federal Court
9
Police1. Derek Chauvin Files for New Trial Alleging Faulty Medical Evaluation, Jury Instructions
10
U.S. Supreme Court. Derek Michael Chauvin v. Minnesota, No. 23-416
11
CNN. Derek Chauvin Supreme Court Appeal
12
ABC News. Former Police Officer Derek Chauvin Makes Another Bid to Overturn Federal Conviction