A prisoner attacked a guard with a plastic bin in protest at being taken off laundry duties.
Michael Williams threw the bucket at Roderick Smith after being told that he would be working in a different department.
Perth Sheriff Court heard how the 31-year-old ”went in the huff” when he failed to get his own way and took it out on the warden at the city’s prison.
Depute fiscal John Malpass told how the accused, who is serving a 13-month sentence for theft, made his feelings known to Mr Smith by shouting at him, before picking up a plastic bin and throwing it towards him.
”The complainer put his arm to the rear of the accused’s back and started to usher him towards his cell,” Mr Malpass went on.
”At that point, the accused has reacted to that and lifted his right arm from his side and punched the complainer to the left hand side of his face.”
Williams was then restrained in his cell by prison officers.
His solicitor revealed that there was ”history” between the accused and Mr Smith, as the prisoner had tried on several occasions to be moved from his shared cell to an individual one.
This request was refused and, as a result, the pair ”didn’t really get on”, so when Williams was told his duties had changed, he lost his temper and tried to provoke the wardens into putting him in segregation.
She said: ”He felt he couldn’t do the other work he was given, but was told ‘tough’. Mr Smith was at the desk area, near to the door, and words were exchanged between him and my client. Williams felt that Mr Smith was laughing at him.”
The animosity continued when the warden approached the prisoner to usher him back into his cell.
”Williams felt that Mr Smith had grabbed his side, nipping him,” the solicitor continued. ”At that point, he lashed out and he accepts he should not have done that.”
Williams, described as a prisoner at HMP Perth, Edinburgh Road, admitted that on August 9 at C Hall, he assaulted Mr Smith by throwing a bin at him and punching him to the side of the head.
Sheriff Valerie Johnston jailed him for a further seven months and 15 days.