Tyson Released From Solitary

Mike Tyson was removed from solitary confinement Friday and had his privileges restored following an appeal of a disciplinary ruling at his Maryland jail, his lawyer said.

The former heavyweight champion's punishment for throwing a TV set in a recreation room at the Montgomery County, Md., jail Feb. 19 "was reduced to time served and he was restored to regular privileges," said the lawyer, Paul Kemp.

On Wednesday, a two-member panel at the jail ordered Tyson to solitary confinement for 20 days after officials accused him of disorderly conduct, destruction of property and assaulting a corrections officer who was hit by shards of plastic when the TV was thrown. Tyson also lost telephone, visitor and group activity privileges.

The reversal of the disciplinary action came after jail officials heard an appeal by Tyson today, Kemp said.

"They are allowing his doctor to prescribe his medication," Kemp added, noting that Dr. Richard Goldberg, chairman of the psychiatry department at Georgetown University Medical Center and Tyson's private physician, saw him Thursday at the jail.

Kemp had said the TV incident was provoked when the boxer was abruptly taken off Zoloft, an antidepressant drug he had been taking for four months, after Tyson refused to see the prison psychiatrist.

Tyson began serving a one-year jail term Feb. 5 after pleading no contest to charges he assaulted two men following a minor traffic accident in August. He has until March 7 to appeal the sentence.

Kemp said he made no decision concerning that appeal.

Tyson also is on probation from an Indiana conviction for raping a beauty pageant contestant in an Indianapolis hotel room in 1991. He was released from prison in March 1995 after serving three years. Indiana officials are considering whether to revoke his probation based on his legal problems in Maryland.

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