Nationwide — Tory Lanez has filed a $100 million lawsuit against the California prison system after a violent stabbing inside Tehachapi prison. He claims officials failed to protect him and housed him with a dangerous inmate.
According to ABC News, Lanez, whose legal name is Daystar Peterson, filed the federal case against the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the prison warden, and correctional officers. He alleges staff ignored known safety risks before the attack took place.
The lawsuit says an inmate attacked Lanez with a homemade shank and stabbed him 16 times. The injuries affected his back, torso, head, and face, and he suffered a collapsed lung that required an emergency airlift to a hospital.
Authorities identified the attacker as Santino Casio, an inmate serving life sentences for murder and attempted murder. Records also show Casio had prior convictions for assaulting inmates and manufacturing weapons while in prison.
Lanez argues prison officials knew or should have known Casio posed a serious threat. The filing also claims officers responded too slowly during the attack and failed to use stronger measures to stop the violence.
The lawsuit states Lanez was later moved to the California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo County. It also alleges that prison staff confiscated his handwritten songbooks containing unreleased lyrics and refused to return them.
Lanez is currently serving a 10-year sentence after being convicted in 2022 for shooting Megan Thee Stallion in the feet during a 2020 incident in Los Angeles. A court denied his appeal in 2025, keeping the conviction in place.