Correctional Service Canada is confirming that B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton was the inmate injured in a major assault Sunday at a Quebec prison.

Quebec provincial police say the 74-year-old Pickton was taken to hospital with injuries that are considered life-threatening.

Police spokesman Hugues Beaulieu adds that a 51-year-old suspect is in custody.

Pickton was convicted of six counts of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison in 2007 after being charged with the murders of 26 women.

The correctional service first announced on Monday that an inmate had been sent to hospital after a serious assault at the maximum security Port-Cartier Institution, about 480 kilometres northeast of Quebec City.

It said today the assault did not involve any of its staff.