Opinion
May 4, 1998
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Westchester County (Scarpino, J.).
Ordered that the judgment is reversed, on the law, without costs or disbursements, and the complaint is dismissed.
The plaintiff's theory of the case is that he was struck by another inmate while sleeping in his bunk at the Westchester County Correctional Facility and that the appellant failed to adequately supervise the dormitory area where the plaintiff was asleep. Although corrections officials must exercise reasonable care to protect inmates from foreseeable risk of harm, they are not insurers of inmates safety (see, Caruso v. County of Suffolk, 234 A.D.2d 495; Stanley v. State of New York, 239 A.D.2d 700). The jury's answers to the special interrogatories indicate that the jury found that the plaintiff was not asleep in his bunk at the time that he was injured. Consequently, the jury had no basis other than speculation to conclude that the appellant's acts or omissions were the cause of the plaintiff's injuries (see, Gayle v. City of New York, 247 A.D.2d 431).
Mangano, P. J., Rosenblatt, Joy and Krausman, JJ., concur.