Larry Nassar, convicted of sexual abuse of gymnasts in the US, was stabbed in prison

First modification: 07/10/2023 – 21:42

Larry Nassar was stabbed multiple times during an altercation with another inmate at Coleman United States Penitentiary, a Florida federal prison where he is incarcerated. According to a leader of the prison employees union, he would have been stabbed in the back and chest, but is now in stable condition.

The former sports doctor was sentenced in 2017 and 2018 to decades in prison for having sexually abused gymnasts for years, many of whom were minors, especially when he worked in USA Gymnastics (United States Gymnastics Federation).

According to prison sources questioned by the Associated Press (AP) news agency, Sunday’s incident took place while the jail was understaffed and while workers were working overtime. On Sunday, one of the officers was on his third straight shift, working a 16-hour shift, one of the sources said, and the other was on his second straight shift.

According to an AP investigation in 2021, about a third of federal correctional officers across the country would be missing, forcing them to work overtime or use other workers, such as cooks, teachers or nurses to monitor inmates. The shortage of personnel makes it more difficult to react to emergency situations such as the one that took place on Sunday.

Decades of child sexual abuse

Nassar, 59, will spend the rest of his days in jail. He is currently serving a federal sentence through 2068, after which he would be transferred to a Michigan state prison to serve his state sentence of 40 to 175 years.

The coach admitted to sexually assaulting gymnasts when he worked at Michigan State University and in Federation Gymnastics, where Olympians train. He also pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography.

The Nassar case was the biggest sexual abuse scandal in gymnastics history and shocked the United States when it broke. Some of the most famous athletes in the sport, such as Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney or Aly Raisman, were assaulted by him for years.

Nassar, who was USA Gymnastics’ national medical coordinator from 1996 to 2014, used his role as an osteopath and doctor to repeatedly sexually assault girls and women for decades without being stopped by the federation or authorities.

In total, he was accused of sexual abuse by more than 330 women and girls, the majority of whom were minors during the events.

In 2018, more than 150 women, including famous athletes, testified during the trial and made shock statements recounting years of assaults by the former doctor who used the pretext of massage or care to treat injuries. The athletes also recounted the traumas they suffered as a result.

Inaction by the FBI, of USA Gymnastics and the University of Michigan

Both the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the American Gymnastics Federation or Michigan State University were accused of inaction when learning of the young women’s accusations.

While in 2013, the federation informed the FBI that several athletes had claimed to be abused by Nassar, the FBI did not carry out any formal investigation. It was only in 2016, after an investigation by the Michigan State University Police, where he worked, that the then doctor was arrested.

The FBI acknowledged conduct “inexcusable and a disrepute” for the United States law enforcement agency. In April 2022, multiple victims sued the agency for $130 million for failing to investigate allegations of sexual abuse sooner.

Separately, Michigan State University, which was accused of losing opportunities for many years to stop Nassar, agreed to pay $500 million to more than 300 women and girls.

The gymnastics federation and the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee also reached a $380 million settlement with which they accused Larry Nassar of abuse.

With AP, EFE and local media