Inmate charged in attack on officer

An inmate who allegedly attempted to kill a correction officer at the Massachusetts Correction Institute-Shirley last month was indicted Wednesday by a grand jury, the Middlesex district attorney’s office said. Roy Booth, 40, is facing charges of armed assault with intent to murder, assault and battery causing serious bodily injury, and mayhem, the office said in a statement. On Aug. 31, Booth allegedly used a metal pole to attack Officer Matthew Tidman in the prison’s recreation facility around 2 p.m., the statement said. Tidman was struck with the pole, which weighed between 10 and 15 pound, multiples times, the statement said. He had been monitoring other inmates in the medium-security area at the time. Through video evidence and interviews, investigators found that Booth unscrewed the pole from weight lifting equipment and concealed it before attacking Tidman, the statement said. Other corrections officer restrained Booth after the alleged attack, officials said. Tidman was brought via helicopter to Lahey Hospital in Burlington. “This incident highlights the dangers corrections officers face every day while performing their duties,” District Attorney Marian Ryan said in the statement. “Officer Tidman still has a very long road ahead of him and we know that this frightening incident of workplace violence will have a lasting impact on his family and colleagues.” Booth, who is serving a life sentence for a murder in Virginia, was transferred to protective custody at the nearby Souza Baranowski Correctional Center, the statement said.