| Matter of Welch v Fischer |
| 2009 NY Slip Op 10023 [68 AD3d 1602] |
| December 31, 2009 |
| Appellate Division, Third Department |
| In the Matter of Elbert Welch, Petitioner, v Brian Fischer, asCommissioner of Correctional Services, Respondent. |
—[*1] Andrew M. Cuomo, Attorney General, Albany (Frank Brady of counsel), forrespondent.
Proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 78 (transferred to this Court by order of the SupremeCourt, entered in Franklin County) to review a determination of respondent which foundpetitioner guilty of violating certain prison disciplinary rules.
Petitioner, an inmate, commenced this CPLR article 78 proceeding seeking to annul a tier IIIdisciplinary determination which found him guilty of interference with an employee, lying andproviding unauthorized legal assistance to another inmate. The Attorney General has advised thisCourt that the determination at issue has been administratively reversed and all referencesthereto have been expunged from petitioner's institutional record. To the extent that petitionerseeks to be restored to the status he enjoyed prior to the disciplinary hearing, "inmates have nostatutory or constitutional right to their prior housing or programming status" (Matter ofJackson v Coughlin, 199 AD2d 704, 704 [1993]; see Matter of Thomas v Selsky,286 AD2d 535, 535 [2001], appeal dismissed 97 NY2d 637 [2001]). Accordingly,inasmuch as petitioner has received all the relief to which he was entitled, the proceeding isdismissed as moot (see Matter of Mosher v Goord, 300 AD2d 726, 726 [2002]).
Mercure, J.P., Peters, Spain, Malone Jr. and Kavanagh, JJ., concur. Adjudged that thepetition is dismissed, as moot, without costs.