Nassar, disgraced doctor who abused US gymnasts, is stabbed in prison

[July 11, 2023]  (Reuters) - Larry Nassar, the disgraced doctor of USA Gymnastics who was convicted of sexually abusing young female gymnasts, has been stabbed multiple times by another inmate in prison and was in stable condition on Monday, U.S. media reported.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed that an inmate at the U.S. Penitentiary Coleman in Florida was assaulted on Sunday afternoon, but declined to identify the prisoner over privacy and security concerns.

"Responding staff immediately initiated life-saving measures," bureau spokesperson Benjamin O'Cone said in a statement. "The inmate was transported by (emergency personnel) to a local hospital for further treatment and evaluation."

The FBI was notified of the incident, and an internal investigation is ongoing, O'Cone added. No other staff or inmates were injured, he said.

Nassar, who is serving a decades-long sentence following his 2018 conviction, was stabbed 10 times - twice in the neck, twice in the back, and six times in the chest - Joe Rojas, president of the local correction officers’ union, told CNN.

According to the Associated Press, which was first to report the assault, Nassar was in stable condition.

Nassar was sentenced to up to 175 years in prison for sexually abusing young female gymnasts who were entrusted to his care, including Olympic gold medalists Simone Biles, Aly Raisman and McKayla Maroney.

His sentencing followed an extraordinary week-long hearing in which 160 of his victims, most of whom were minors at the time they were abused, unflinchingly told their stories.

Larry Nassar, a former team USA Gymnastics doctor who pleaded guilty in November 2017 to sexual assault charges, stands in court during his sentencing hearing in the Eaton County Court in Charlotte, Michigan, U.S., February 5, 2018. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook/File Photo

Since the Nassar scandal, USA Gymnastics has overhauled its leadership and filed for bankruptcy, saying at the time it was staggering under the weight of lawsuits filed by hundreds of women who were sexually abused by the former team doctor.

Nassar's former employer, Michigan State University, agreed to a $500 million settlement with the hundreds of women who were sexually abused by him. USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee reached a $380 million settlement.

A July 2021 report by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz uncovered widespread and dire errors by the FBI that allowed Nassar to continue to abuse at least 70 more victims before he was finally arrested.

In September 2021, Biles and Maroney were among the high profile Olympic gymnasts who gave heart-wrenching testimony before a U.S. Senate panel about the sexual abuse they endured for years under Nassar's care.

At that hearing, the gymnasts blasted the FBI for its mishandling of the investigation, with Biles accusing the bureau of turning a blind eye to all of Nassar's victims.

(Reporting by Rami Ayyub; Additional reporting by Frank Pingue; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Alistair Bell)

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