Paul Flores, the convicted murderer of college student Kristin Smart, was stabbed on Wednesday at a California prison, marking the second time he has been attacked by a fellow inmate in the past year, officials confirmed.

The stabbing occurred shortly before 3:30 p.m. in the recreation yard at Pleasant Valley State Prison, where staff intervened and stopped the assault using verbal commands, according to a statement from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Following the incident, the injured Flores, 47, was taken to an outside medical facility for treatment and later returned to the prison in fair condition, officials stated.

The inmate suspected of carrying out the assault, whose identity was not disclosed, was placed in restricted housing, and the corrections department is treating the incident as an attempted homicide.

During the altercation, two suspected inmate-made weapons were recovered, and no other staff or inmates were harmed.

Flores had previously been attacked in August, suffering a slash to the neck by another inmate in the same prison in Coalinga, central California. After being hospitalized, Flores returned to the prison two days later.

The individual accused in the earlier attack, Jason Budrow, has pleaded not guilty to felony charges, including attempted murder and assault by an inmate serving a life sentence.

Authorities did not provide potential motives for either assault.

Flores is serving a sentence of 25 years to life for the murder of Smart, a 19-year-old who vanished from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo during Memorial Day weekend in 1996.

Prosecutors argued that Flores murdered Smart during an attempted rape in his dorm room at the university, where both were first-year students. Flores was the last person seen with Smart as he escorted her home from an off-campus party. Smart’s remains were never located.

Flores was apprehended in 2021, found guilty in 2022, and sentenced last year.