Inmate charged with critically injuring corrections officer during attack at MCI-Shirley

SHIRLEY – An inmate has been arrested on several charges after he allegedly attacked a corrections officer at MCI-Shirley in August.

Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan announced Wednesday that Roy Booth, 40, was charged with armed assault with intent to murder, assault and battery causing serious bodily injury and mayhem. Booth is scheduled to be arraigned in Middlesex Superior Court at some point in October.

Booth allegedly hit corrections officer Matthew Tidman with a metal pole multiple times inside the facility's gym, knocking him unconscious.

Tidman was taken by MedFlight to Lahey Hospital in Burlington following the August 31 attack and has been in the intensive care unit since.

Ryan said video from the attack shows Booth allegedly unscrewed the metal pole, which was part of a weightlifting apparatus. Booth allegedly hid the pole as he approached Tidman and attacked.

Booth was transferred to Massachusetts in March 2021. He is serving a life sentence for a murder in Virginia.

"This incident highlights the dangers corrections officers face every day while performing their duties," Ryan said. "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."