Opinion
No. 508874.
August 5, 2010.
Proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 78 (transferred to this Court by order of the Supreme Court, entered in Albany County) to review a determination of the Commissioner of Correctional Services which found petitioner guilty of violating certain prison disciplinary rules.
Bruce Brown, Comstock, petitioner pro se.
Andrew M. Cuomo, Attorney General, Albany (Peter H. Schiff of counsel), for respondent.
Before: Cardona, P.J., Mercure, Lahtinen, Malone Jr. and Egan Jr., JJ.
After an inmate was struck several times in the back of the head with a metal can, resulting in wounds that required a dozen stitches, petitioner was served with a misbehavior report charging him with assault, violent conduct, possession of a weapon and creating a disturbance. Following a tier III disciplinary hearing, petitioner was found guilty of all charges. His administrative appeal proved unavailing, after which he commenced this CPLR article 78 proceeding.
We confirm. The misbehavior report and the testimony of the correction officer who authored the report, both during the hearing and in camera, along with the myriad supplementary reports and photographs, provide substantial evidence to support the finding of guilt ( see Matter of Wilson v Artus, 71 AD3d 1294, 1295; Matter of Estevez v Fischer, 63 AD3d 1402, 1403). Contrary to petitioner's claim, our review of the record demonstrates that the Hearing Officer made a proper assessment of the credibility and reliability of the confidential informants by conducting an extensive interview with the correction officer who investigated the incident and received the information from them ( see Matter of Rios v Fischer, 59 AD3d 797; Matter of Witkowski v Goord, 45 AD3d 1068, 1069).
Adjudged that the determination is confirmed, without costs, and petition dismissed.