UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- A convicted kidnapper was awarded $35,501 in damages Friday because jail officials failed to promptly fit him with eyeglasses, did not segregate him from smokers in detention cells, and did not deliver his news magazine quickly enough.
The recipient of the award, Richard Williams, is serving 25 years to life in upstate Green Haven Prison for the 1974 kidnapping of wealthy Sands Point businessman Jack Teich whose family paid a $750,000 ransom for his release.
Williams charged that while he was awaiting trial in 1976 and 1977, officials of the Nassau County jail denied him his civil rights.
The six-member jury awarded $25,000 for failure to promptly fit Williams with glasses when he complained of eye strain.
Williams' attorney, Fern Steckler, said he received the glasses only after he went on a hunger strike.
The jury held that Williams was entitled to an additional $10,000 because, on several occasions, he was handcuffed to other inmates for from four to eight hours in smoke-filled courthouse detention cells and vans transporting him back and forth from jail.
A $1 award was made for what the jury found to be a deliberate delay on the part of Corrections Officer Anthony Figueroa in delivering a Newsweek magazine to Williams.
Williams alleged that Figueroa had frequently harassed him, and the jury ordered the corrections officer to personally pay $500 punitive damages.
It was not known whether the county and Figueroa intend to appeal the award.
