NY prison inmate wins compensation for lost items

A former New York state prison inmate has won a lawsuit over items the state failed to return when he was transferred between cells at Auburn Correctional Facility.

New York State Court of Claims Judge Linda K. Mejias-Glover ruled that Stanny Vargas is entitled to $198.40, plus interest from June 24, 2019, for the lost items.

In the original claim, Vargas sought damages of $10,232.50.

Vargas, 34, is now at Attica Correctional Facility serving up to 35 years for first-degree manslaughter.

A virtual trial was held using Microsoft Teams on June 12. Vargas testified, but attorneys for the state called no witnesses.

According to Mejias-Glover’s decision, on July 1, 2019, Vargas filed a claim with prison officials alleging that the state lost:  a radio, a chess board, headphones, an immersion heater, 35 pounds of food and 10 packs of cigarettes.

Prison officials denied the claim and Vargas appealed that decision to the prison superintendent. The superintendent also denied the claim, which exhausted his administrative options and led to the claim filed with the Court of Claims.

Vargas testified that when he was moved to a different cell block at Auburn Correctional Facility all his property was left in the old cell.

Vargas presented receipts for all the missing items except the hot pot and the food.

“Based upon the documentary evidence submitted by the claimant … together with claimant’s credible trial testimony, the Court finds and concludes that claimant has established, by a preponderance of the credible evidence, that items of his property … under the care and control of defendant were not delivered to him,” Mejias-Glover wrote.

“Defendant submitted no competent evidence to rebut the presumption of negligent bailment and or to demonstrate that the loss was due to circumstances not within its control,” she wrote.

In addition to the award of $198.40, plus interest, Mejias-Glover ordered the refund of Vargas’s filing fee.

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