ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP) -
Mike Tyson will learn Wednesday whether he'll lose privileges
and time off for good behavior for hurling a TV during an
outburst in jail.
The former heavyweight champion faces a closed hearing at
Montgomery County (Md.) Correction Center that day and a ruling
will be announced then, the county's Department of Corrections
said Monday.
Department spokesman Eric Seleznow said jail officials cited
Tyson for destruction of property, assault on correctional staff
and disorderly conduct.
A disciplinary panel will determine Tyson's level of
responsibility. Penalties could include loss of privileges and
credit for good behavior in time served.
The 32-year-old boxer has been in an isolation cell since
Friday, when he tossed a television set against jail bars in an
inmate recreation area. He reportedly became agitated when a
guard hung up a telephone he was using.
"Officials have three working days to have a hearing to consider
all the facts relevant to the incident", Seleznow said. "At this
point, we're not considering criminal charges."
Tyson is serving a one-year sentence for assaulting two men
after a minor traffic accident in August in suburban Washington.
His jail outburst occurred two days after jail officials began
withholding his daily dose of Zoloft, an antidepressant
medication prescribed to manage what doctors have described as
mood swings, a boxing source who requested anonymity told The
Associated Press.
Doctors who testified at Tyson's licensing hearing before the
Nevada Athletic Commission in October said he is frequently
depressed.
He is being treated by Dr. Richard Goldberg, chairman of the
psychiatry department at Georgetown University Medical Center.
The boxing source said Goldberg had unsuccessfully attempted to
persuade jail officials to allow Tyson to continue his
medication.
Zoloft is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the
treatment of depression, panic disorder and obsessive compulsive
disorder. Experts say abruptly withholding the medication from a
patient would not lead to enhanced mood swings, but it could
affect behavior.
Before last Wednesday, Tyson had taken Zoloft on a daily basis
for four months with the exception of the week preceding his
Jan. 16 fight with Francois Botha. A boxing source, speaking on
condition of anonymity, said he began taking it again the day
after the fight.
Tyson won a fifth-round decision against Botha in his first
since losing his boxing license for biting Evander Holyfield
during a championship bout in June 1997.
While training for the Botha fight in Phoenix in December, Tyson
appeared in good spirits. The week of the fight Tyson was
combative at times, using profanity in one exchange with a
television reporter.
Tyson is on probation in Indiana 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 will consider whether to revoke his probation
based on his legal problems in Maryland. He pleaded no contest
to the Maryland charges, but has until March 7 to appeal the
sentence.
Tyson's advisers hoped he would be assigned to a prerelease
program within 60 days. His assignment to a halfway house would
have enabled him to resume his training, but this latest episode
in jail could affect his eligibility for that program.
