Opinion
October 29, 1992
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Albany County.
We reject petitioner's contention that the finding of guilt was not supported by substantial evidence (see, Matter of Breland v Senkowski, 168 A.D.2d 751). This contention is predicated mainly upon petitioner's claim that the Hearing Officer erred in not questioning the confidential informant directly. Initially, we note that the question of the insufficiency of the confidential evidence was raised and rejected by this Court in Matter of Ruiz v Coughlin ( 184 A.D.2d 818), which concerned another inmate involved in the same incident. Here, it is true that the Hearing Officer did not personally interview the informant but instead relied upon an in camera interview and report of a correction officer who did interview the informant. The record, however, shows that the Hearing Officer had a sufficient basis to make his own independent assessment of the informant's credibility; the information given by the correction officer was sufficiently detailed and specific to provide an objective basis for concluding that the informant was credible (see, Matter of Franklin v Hoke, 174 A.D.2d 908). In addition, as in Ruiz, the Hearing Officer also had a report from a correction employee which corroborated the misbehavior report and placed petitioner at the scene immediately after the incident, which was consistent with the informant's statement (see, Matter of Ruiz v Coughlin, supra).
As to petitioner's claim that there was error due to his not receiving certain requested documents, we first note that he failed to preserve this issue for review by not raising it on his administrative appeal (see, Matter of Bates v Coughlin, 145 A.D.2d 854, lv denied 74 N.Y.2d 602). In any event, petitioner has failed to show any prejudice in the failure to produce these documents (see, Matter of Cioci v Coughlin, 169 A.D.2d 895). Upon considering petitioner's remaining contentions, we reject them as lacking in merit.
Mikoll, J.P., Yesawich Jr., Mercure, Crew III and Casey, JJ., concur. Adjudged that the determination is confirmed, without costs, and petition dismissed.