Cowart v. Coughlin

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 respondent Commissioner of Correctional Services which found petitioner guilty of violating a certain prison disciplinary rule.

After a correction officer discovered a bag containing several metal "shanks” (homemade knives) in a space adjacent to petitioner’s cell at Shawangunk Correctional Facility in Ulster County, petitioner was charged with possessing weapons in violation of rule 113.10. A tier III disciplinary hearing was held at which…