Angela Pollina's Prison Responds To Complaints

LONG ISLAND, NY — Angela Pollina, who was sentenced to 25 years to life last week after being convicted of second-degree murder in the death of 8-year-old Thomas Valva — who froze to death after being forced to sleep in his father's frigid Center Moriches garage — has been moved from the Suffolk County Correctional facility to a prison in Westchester County.

And now the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision has reached out to Patch to dispel some allegations about reportedly poor conditions at the facility.

Patch reported that, according to the DOCSS, Pollina, 45, was transferred on Wednesday to the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility. She will not be eligible for parole until January 22, 2045.

She was also sentenced to a year each for the other four counts of endangering the welfare of a child. All sentences will run consecutively.

Valva and Pollina were arrested Jan. 24, 2020, and charged with second-degree murder and four counts of endangering the welfare of a child. Each faced 25 years to life in prison, and both pleaded not guilty.

According to a post by New York Focus that discusses the possible transfer of inmates from Rikers Island to the Bedford Hills facility, the conditions there were less than ideal. At least one inmate said "she was forced to submit to a strip search. She had to ask and receive permission to go to the bathroom, which she could only do at set times. She was only allowed a narrow window of time to eat," according to the post. And, the post continued, prisoners were denied privileges such as regular access to phones.

On Friday, the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision responded to those reports about conditions at the Bedford Hills facility.

A statement from the DOCCS said: "The safety and well-being of staff and incarcerated individuals is the department's top priority. The presence of contraband in correctional facilities exacerbates violence and enables illicit drug use. Personal searches of individuals is a sound correctional practice and defense against contraband being brought into a prison."

And, the DOCCS added, in regard to the complaint that inmates can only use the bathrooms at set times, "There are no set times for an individual to use the restroom."

Finally, regarding the allegation that inmates are only allowed a "narrow window of time to eat," the DOCCS said: "Each housing block has assigned times for breakfast, lunch and dinner in the mess hall. They have 20 minutes for each meal. This does not include the open time when they can eat the food kept in their cells or bunks."

When asked for comment about the move upstate, Matthew Tuohy, Pollina's attorney, told Patch Thursday, "Angela is appealing the conviction and the sentence and is exploring all possible legal remedies."

At both Pollina's and Valva's trials, teachers and others sobbed through testimony as they described Thomas and his older brother Anthony, both autistic, coming to school so hungry they ate crumbs from the floor; they also said the boys were forced to wear urine-soaked pullups to school. The boys' hands and faces, many said, were raw and chapped from spending their nights in the frigid garage where they were forced to sleep with no blankets, mattresses or pillows.

Suffolk Supreme Court Justice Timothy Mazzei at the Arthur M. Cromarty Criminal Court Complex in Riverhead presided over the sentencing. Before sentencing Pollina, he said he'd been aware of the case and the "poor, spineless excuse of a man" — Michael Valva, an ex-NYPD officer who was convicted of second-degree murder and four counts of endangering the welfare of a child in November; he was sentenced to 25 years to life behind bars in December.

"But it wasn't until I saw and heard and did that I think we all realized how evil you really were," Mazzei said. "'Evil' is not the word I came up with — you came up with that word to describe yourself, what you did to those poor little boys." He added: "You tortured those boys, you tortured them."

Mazzei then said he'd had the opportunity to visit the prison facility where Pollina will be serving her sentence. "My only regret, Ms. Pollina, is that they don't have a garage there, that has no mattress, no blanket, no pillow — nothing that belongs in a bedroom — so you that's where you could sleep the rest of your life. That's where you deserve to be the rest of your natural life," Mazzei said.

Valva's attorney John LoTurco has also said he will appeal.

Thomas' mother Justyna Zubko-Valva pleaded for help on her Twitter page before her son died. In 2020, Zubko-Valva filed a $200 million wrongful death suit.

Zubko-Valva has not responded to requests for comment.

In June, a judge ruled that portions of the $200 million lawsuit filed by Zubko-Valva after Thomas died can move forward, a judge ruled.