MCI-Shirley inmate pleads guilty to attempted murder of prison guard

WOBURN — An inmate at MCI-Shirley prison pled guilty to attempted murder of a prison guard, according to the office of Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan.

Roy Booth, 42, was sentenced to 13 to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty Friday in Middlesex Superior Court to charges of mayhem and armed assault with intent to murder.

Booth beat Matthew Tidman with a metal pole in August 2022 that he took from the prison’s weight room. He hid it by his side before attacking Tidman from behind during recreation time. Officers pounced on Booth to stop the attack.

“Roy Booth’s brutal attack on Corrections Officer Matthew Tidman highlights the dangers that law enforcement, specifically Corrections Officers, face in their day-to-day work,” said Ryan in a prepared statement. “No one should have to fear for their life in their workplace. Fortunately, Corrections Officer Tidman, having suffered horrendous injuries, and against all odds, survived this terrifying attack.”

Booth will serve the sentence at the maximum-security Souza Baranowski Correctional Center in Lancaster with a life sentence he is serving in Virginia on a conviction of murder.

Booth had been transferred from Virginia to prison in Massachusetts in 2021.  He was transferred back to a Virginia state prison following the attack on Tidman.

Contact Henry Schwan at henry.schwan@telegram.com . Follow him on X: @henrytelegram .

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: MCI-Shirley inmate pleads guilty to attempted murder of prison guard