Appeal from a judgment of the Supreme Court (Kavanagh, J.), entered October 3, 2005 in Albany County, which partially granted petitioner’s application, in a proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 78, to annul a determination of respondent finding petitioner guilty of violating certain prison disciplinary rules.
Petitioner, a prison inmate, was charged in a misbehavior report with violating the prison disciplinary rules prohibiting conspiracy to escape and threats. The charges stemmed from the seizure of certain letters that petitioner allegedly authored and sent to a third party outlining a planned escape. At the administrative hearing that ensued, petitioner requested and was denied permission to review those letters and was found guilty as charged. Following an unsuccessful administrative appeal, petitioner commenced this proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 78 alleging that the Hearing Officer erred in denying him access to the letters at issue and seeking to have the determination annulled and all references thereto expunged from his institutional record. Supreme Court partially granted petitioner’s application, annulling respondent’s determination and remitting the matter for a new hearing. Petitioner now appeals, contending that expungement was the proper remedy.
Here, the letters sought to be reviewed by petitioner are directly analogous to the videotapes at issue in Hillard and, therefore, the Hearing Officer’s unsubstantiated refusal to allow petitioner to examine the letters offended only petitioner’s regulatory, as opposed to constitutional, rights. Accordingly, Supreme Court did not err in remitting this matter for a new hearing.
Cardona, EJ., Mercure, Mugglin and Lahtinen, JJ., concur. Ordered that the judgment is affirmed, without costs.
