15 N.Y. Prison Workers Placed on Leave as Inmate's Death Is Investigated

New York Times

05-03-2025

Gov. Kathy Hochul said on Tuesday that 15 corrections department employees had been put on leave in connection with the death of Messiah Nantwi, a 22-year-old inmate in a medium-security prison in central New York.
Ms. Hochul said that while the matter was under investigation, 'early reports point to extremely disturbing conduct leading to Mr. Nantwi's death.'
Nine prisoners interviewed by The New York Times said he died on Saturday after he was beaten by prison guards at Mid-State Correctional Facility in Marcy, N.Y., near Utica.
His death followed the December killing of Robert Brooks, 43, at Marcy Correctional Facility, across the street from Mid-State. Ten officers have been criminally charged in Mr. Brooks's death. Six of them were charged with murder after footage from body-worn cameras showed them beating and choking Mr. Brooks.
Mr. Nantwi was the seventh prisoner to die in a New York State facility since Feb. 17, when thousands of correctional workers began wildcat strikes at dozens of prisons across the state, leading to disarray throughout the system. At least one of the deaths was a suicide, and prisoners said two other people did not receive medical care in a timely manner.
A prisons spokesman said on Tuesday that the seven people who have died also included two men who had been admitted to the Coxsackie Correctional Facility Regional Medical Unit weeks ago. Robert St. Ives, 71, died at the Albany Medical Center on Saturday and Zion Gregory, 25, died there on Monday.
On Tuesday, Ms. Hochul said Mr. Nantwi's death pointed to the need for 'real systemic change within our correctional system.' She also attributed it in part to the strikes.
'As I've said for weeks, my top priority is the safety and well-being of all New Yorkers involved in the correctional system, from civilian employees to National Guard to correction officers to incarcerated individuals,' the governor said in a statement. 'The ongoing illegal work stoppage is a significant safety risk, and I once again reiterate the need for correction officers to return to work.'
Daniel F. Martuscello III, the state corrections commissioner, said in a statement: 'This cannot continue and I will not allow these horrible acts to define us. It is time for this to end.'
According to official records, Mr. Nantwi entered state custody in May and was serving a five-year sentence for second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, following a shootout with police officers in the South Bronx in 2021. He had also been indicted on murder charges in the death of Jaylen Duncan, 19, who was shot in Harlem in 2023 during a gang conflict, according to Manhattan prosecutors.
Stan Germán, executive director of New York County Defender Services, which represented Mr. Nantwi, said his death was a sign that the prison system 'has been allowed to descend into a state of perfect corruption, one replete with disdain for human life.'
In a statement, Mr. Germán described Mr. Nantwi as 'a bright, 22-year-old man whose dysfunctional violent upbringing left him with significant mental health challenges, but also with an unbroken spirit.'
Mr. Nantwi died on Saturday morning, according to prison officials. The nine prisoners interviewed by The Times said he became upset when members of the National Guard, who are working in prisons during the strikes, began to conduct a security check in a housing area. Several prisoners said he had not been taking his psychiatric medications.
When the check began, he left his cubicle and went to the shower area, where he was crying, the prisoners said. He initially refused to return to his cubicle when asked to do so by National Guard members, who then requested assistance from corrections officers.
The officers arrived and loudly beat him in his cubicle, then dragged him down the hall and a flight of stairs, the prisoners said. He was shackled and handcuffed, and his face was bloody and swollen. The prisoners said National Guard members observed the beating, but did not intervene.
One prisoner, Rodney Richards, said Mr. Nantwi 'was not recognizable.' Another prisoner, Michael Hummel-Parker, said Mr. Nantwi was making gurgling noises, which indicated to him that the man could not properly breathe. A third prisoner, Jerod Crosby, said he could see from his cell window either officers or medical workers giving Mr. Nantwi CPR inside an ambulance.
The wildcat strikes broke out at nearly all of the state's 42 prisons over what corrections officers say are dangerous working conditions, staffing shortages and forced overtime. The strikes have not been sanctioned by the officers' union and were declared unlawful last month by a state judge, who ordered the strikers back to work.
But most of the strikers have not gone back, and their labor action has caused a cascade of problems. At some facilities, meals and medical care have gone undelivered, and at others prisoners have been forced to go without showers or to miss court dates.
In response, Ms. Hochul deployed 7,000 National Guard troops to work in the prisons, but many of the National Guard members have complained they have been given unclear orders and little support.