Mystery as sick paedophile coach was stabbed inside cell that has no CCTV
There is no video evidence of the stabbing attack on a paedophile in prison because there was no camera in the cell, it has emerged.
Disgraced former sports doctor Larry Nassar was stabbed Sunday at a federal penitentiary in Florida. However, there is no video evidence of the assault, according to a source familiar with the case.
The attack occurred inside Nassar's cell, which is a blind spot for prison surveillance cameras that only record common areas and corridors, the source explained, adding that in federal prison parlance, this is known as an "unwitnessed event".
It is the second time Nassar, the former US women’s gymnastics team doctor, has been assaulted in federal custody while he's serving decades in prison for sexually abusing athletes and possessing explicit images of children.
The attack, which left Nassar hospitalised in stable condition with injuries including a collapsed lung, underscored persistent problems at the federal Bureau of Prisons.
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Nassar appearing at Ingham County Circuit Court in Lansing, Michigan (AFP/Getty Images)Nassar's stabbing comes just weeks after “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski's suicide at a North Carolina federal medical centre and lingering fallout from Jeffrey Epstein's 2019 jail suicide.
“This kind of violence in our federal prisons is inexcusable,” said Daniel Landsman, the deputy director of policy at the criminal justice advocacy group FAMM, or Families Against Mandatory Minimums. “The failures that led to this assault are not isolated — too often we see similar incidents impact incarcerated people across the country."
He listens to victim impact statements prior to being sentenced (Getty Images)“The assault of Larry Nassar raises a number of questions regarding safety in federal prisons,” Landsman said.
In a statement Monday, the agency confirmed an altercation involving an inmate at the United States Penitentiary Coleman, but declined to identify the person “for privacy, safety and security reasons”.
Nassar, 59, was attacked inside his cell Sunday by a prisoner armed with a makeshift weapon, according to the person familiar with the matter.
The dad of a child abused by US gymnastics coach Nassar lunged at him in court (Daily Record)Nassar was stabbed multiple times in the neck, chest and back. Two officers guarding the unit where Nassar was held were working mandated overtime shifts because of staffing shortages, the person said.
The person was not authorised to publicly discuss details of the attack or the ongoing investigation and did so on condition of anonymity.
Nassar was previously assaulted in May 2018 at a federal prison in Tucson, Arizona, within hours of being placed in general population — an attack his lawyers blamed on the notoriety of his case and a seven-day televised sentencing where scores of victims made impassioned statements. Nassar's lawyers did not specify the nature or severity of that attack.
He sits during his sentencing hearing in 2018 (AP)Cell doors on most federal prison units are typically open during the day, letting prisoners move around freely within the facility. Surveillance cameras aren’t positioned to see inside cells, though other cameras may have captured Nassar’s assailant walking in and out of the cell.
At some federal prison facilities, including the Manhattan jail where Epstein died, surveillance cameras been found to malfunction or not record at all.
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Bureau of Prisons Director Colette Peters has pledged to overhaul recruiting and hiring practices and end systemic abuse and corruption.
Nassar had been previously attacked by a father of his victims while in court (Daily Record)But changing the culture of the massive agency — the Justice Department’s largest with more than 30,000 employees, 158,000 inmates and an annual budget of about $8 billion — has proved exceedingly difficult. Correctional workers say they've seen no meaningful reforms to fix longtime staffing problems that put inmates' and their own lives at risk.
Just two weeks before Nassar's stabbing, workers at the Florida prison complex where he was attacked organised a protest outside a nearby supermarket to highlight what they said were dangerous staffing levels.
Nassar faced the wrath of 330 brave accusers (USA Gymnastics / Facebook)“They’re going to have somebody killed, either staff or an inmate, if they don’t fix the problem,” said Jose Rojas, the union president at the Coleman prison complex. “We sounded the alarm, we warned the public, and I hate to be prophetic, but we were right.”
At Nassar's prison, known as USP Coleman II, nearly one-quarter of correctional officer positions are vacant, according to records obtained by AP. Staffing guidelines show the facility, with more than 1,200 prisoners, should have 222 correctional officers. Only 169 positions are filled.
The day Nassar was stabbed, 44 posts were left vacant and unassigned at the prison, records show. One of the officers assigned to Nassar’s unit was working a third straight 16-hour day, while the other officer was on a second straight day of mandated overtime.
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