© NBC NewsSirhan Sirhan, mugshot
"There was an assault on an inmate on Friday, August 30 at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility at 2:21 p.m.," the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a statement. "Officers responded quickly, and found an inmate with stab wound injuries," the department said, adding that the victim was stabilized at a hospital.
A suspect in the stabbing was placed in administrative segregation pending an investigation, corrections officials said.
Thomas Shoots, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, confirmed that a minutes after the reported attack, paramedics rushed to the prison in San Diego County and found a victim bleeding from the neck.
Sirhan shot Kennedy on Jun. 5, 1968, in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, where the presidential hopeful was celebrating victory in the California Democratic primary.
Sirhan, a Christian-born Palestinian from Jordan who opposed Kennedy's support for Israel, was convicted in the death and is serving a life sentence.
At least six inmates were injured in a riot a week ago at the prison near the U.S.-Mexico border.
Comment: Kennedy was not an Israel supporter.
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Sirhan was positioned eight to ten feet in front of Kennedy and never got closer, yet he was killed by a shot fired half an inch behind his right ear. The security guard, Eugene Cesar, who was immediately behind Kennedy, admitted he drew his pistol and fired it during the incident, but he denied killing RFK. It was later found that Cesar had Mafia connections.