Mike Tyson has dropped out of school at the Indiana prison where he's serving a six-year sentence for rape, prison officials said Tuesday.
The former heavyweight champion, who turned 26 Tuesday, began working full-time in the Indiana Youth Center's recreation department last week after telling his counselor he no longer wanted to go to school, prisons spokesman Kevin Moore said."He didn't like school and he wanted to be reclassified to a full-time work assignment," Moore said.
Tyson asked to drop out of school last Tuesday, one day after the woman he is convicted of raping filed a lawsuit seeking unspecified damages for assault, battery, false imprisonment and infliction of emotional distress.
Attorneys for Desiree Washington, 19, of Coventry, R.I., said she filed the suit because of Tyson's glib attitude and lack of remorse.
Late last week, Tyson was reclassified to a full-time work assignment in the prison's recreation area, where he had been working half-days checking out equipment and keeping the area clean, Moore said.
Tyson, who dropped out of school as a youth and never received a high school diploma, was entitled to stop taking classes at any time, Moore said.
"That's his prerogative. If we put somebody in a program and he doesn't want to be there, that tends to be disruptive," he said.
Tyson's birthday was just another day behind bars, Moore said.
"Nothing out of the ordinary, nothing out of the routine that's taken place," Moore said.
Tyson is appealing his conviction to the Indiana Court of Appeals.