WOBURN >> A former inmate at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution — Shirley, already serving a life sentence for murder, pleaded guilty in court to mayhem and armed assault with intent to murder for beating a corrections officer with a metal pole in 2022.

Prosecutors announced on Friday that Roy Booth, 42, received a 13- to 15-year prison sentence at MCI-Souza-Baranowski from Middlesex Superior Court Judge Catherine Ham for the vicious attack on corrections officer Mathew Tidman, of Lunenburg. The new sentence will run consecutively with Booth’s current life sentence being served in a Virginia prison.

“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,” Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said in a press release making the announcement. “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.”

Prosecutors said at about 2 p.m. Aug. 31, 2022, in MCI-Shirley’s medium-security recreation facility, Booth took a 10- to 15-pound pole from the weight room section of the gymnasium and concealed it by his side. He then used the pole to “relentlessly beat” Tidman, prosecutors said, only stopping when he was physically restrained by other corrections officers.

Tidman, who was 36 at the time, had been monitoring the inmates in the recreation facility at the time of the attack. He was flown by medical helicopter to Lahey Hospital & Medical Center in Burlington.

Booth had been transferred from a prison in Virginia, his home state, to Massachusetts in 2021 to serve his life sentence as part of the Interstate Corrections Compact, which allows for the transfer of inmates between states under certain circumstances.

Virginia court documents state Booth was convicted of murder and the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony for the Dec. 4, 2001 shooting of Melissa Tanner inside a car. The court documents also show that Booth had previously been convicted of statutory burglary.

After the attack at MCI-Shirley, a GoFundMe account was set up by Brandie Young to assist the Tidman family. The account, which had a goal of $10,000, raised over $122,000.

Less than a month after the attack, an update on the GoFundMe account indicated that Tidman was showing signs of recovery.

“While it will be a long road for Matthew, he knows he is not alone in this fight; we reassure him of that daily,” Young said in the update.

Follow Aaron Curtis on X, formerly known as Twitter, @aselahcurtis