Opinion
June 14, 1993
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Dutchess County (Benson, J.).
Ordered that the judgment is affirmed, without costs or disbursements.
The petitioner contends that the disciplinary determination should be vacated because the Hearing Officer was allegedly biased against him. We disagree. In order to establish "Hearing Officer bias as a matter of fact, there must be support in the record for the bias and proof that the outcome flowed from the alleged bias" (Matter of Hughes v. Suffolk County Dept. of Civ. Serv., 74 N.Y.2d 833, 834, amended on other grounds 74 N.Y.2d 942; Matter of Nieves v. Coughlin, 157 A.D.2d 943, 944). Here, there is no evidence in the record that the Hearing Officer was predisposed against the petitioner. Indeed, the record shows that the Hearing Officer carefully listened to and considered the petitioner's arguments and explanation of the incident. The mere fact that the Hearing Officer ruled against the petitioner is insufficient to establish bias.
The petitioner also contends that he was denied his due process rights when the Hearing Officer denied his requests that the confidential informant be called as a witness. However, it is clear that an inmate only "has a conditional right to call witnesses when that will not be unduly hazardous to institutional safety or correctional goals" (Matter of Laureano v. Kuhlmann, 75 N.Y.2d 141, 146; see also, Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U.S. 539; 7 NYCRR 254.5 [a], [b]). In the instant case, after making an in camera inquiry of the author of the misbehavior report, the Hearing Officer reasonably concluded that production of the confidential informant or disclosure of his identity would jeopardize his safety as well as the order of the facility. Moreover, the Hearing Officer could properly consider the confidential information since he had a sufficient basis upon which to make an independent determination as to the confidential informant's credibility (see, Matter of Moore v. Coughlin, 170 A.D.2d 723).
We have examined the petitioner's remaining contentions and find them to be without merit. Balletta, J.P., Rosenblatt, Miller and Joy, JJ., concur.