Latest news with #StateDepartmentofCorrections
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Yahoo
One charged with manslaughter following Harpersfield fatal crash investigation
DELHI, N.Y. (WIVT/WBGH) – One Otsego County man has been charged with manslaughter, and one woman charged with multiple felonies following the investigation into a vehicle crash in Delaware County that left one dead, Sheriff Craig DuMond announced Thursday. According to Sheriff DuMond, the crash that occurred on April 14 in the Town of Harpersfield was caused by the driver, 25-year-old Isaiah Caballero, of Oneonta. It is believed he lost control of the car, leaving the roadway and rolling over into a tree which killed one of the four people in the car. During the investigation, the crash reconstruction team located a 'quantity of cocaine as well as a loaded and fully functional Glock style pistol that did not have a serial number,' DuMond said in the release. On Tuesday, April 22, Caballero was arrested by DCSO and charged him with one count of Criminal Possession of a controlled substance in the third degree, a Class B Felony, one count of Criminal Possession of a weapon in the second degree, a Class C Felony, one count of Criminal Possession of a weapon the third degree, a class D Felony, and one count of Vehicular Manslaughter in the second degree. Caballero was arraigned at the Town of Delhi Court and taken to the Ulster County Correctional Facility on $20,000 cash bail or $40,000 secured bond. Caballero remains in the custody of New York State Department of Corrections on unrelated charges. Later that same day, Delaware County Sheriff's Deputies arrested 21-year-old Alexis Lotterman of Walton. Lotterman was charged with one count of Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the third Degree, a Class B Felony, one count of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the second degree, a Class C Felony, and one count of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the third degree,e a Class D Felony. It is alleged that Lotterman was a passenger in the vehicle and was also in possession of the drugs and gun. Lotterman was arraigned in CAP Court and taken to the Delaware County Correctional Facility instead of $10,000 cash bail or $20,000 secured bond. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
New York Times
11-04-2025
- New York Times
South Carolina Executes Second Inmate by Firing Squad
South Carolina executed another convicted murderer by firing squad on Friday night, the second such execution in the state. The inmate, Mikal Mahdi, 41, was declared dead shortly after 6 p.m. after a firing squad shot three bullets at a target placed over his heart, the State Department of Corrections said. A judge had ordered Mr. Mahdi, who pleaded guilty in 2006 to fatally shooting an off-duty police officer in South Carolina, to choose from three methods of execution: lethal injection, electrocution or firing squad. His lawyer, David Weiss, said that Mr. Mahdi did not want to offer a public explanation for why he chose a firing squad. His execution came just a month after Brad Sigmon, who was convicted of beating his ex-girlfriend's parents to death with a baseball bat in 2001, became the first inmate to be executed by firing squad execution in the state — and the first in the United States in 15 years. Mr. Sigmon had chosen to be shot on March 7 because he had concerns about South Carolina's lethal injection process, his lawyer said. Polls show that a majority of Americans favor the death penalty, although many view firing squads as an archaic form of justice. But as lethal injection drugs have become harder to obtain, and have at times resulted in botched executions, several states have recently legalized firing squads as an execution method. Utah had previously been the only state to use a firing squad in modern times; it did so in 2010, 1996 and 1977. Mr. Mahdi's lawyers had asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review his case and issue a stay of execution, but the court did not grant one. Mr. Mahdi had also asked Gov. Henry McMaster, a Republican, for clemency, but that was denied. No South Carolina governor has granted clemency since the death penalty resumed in the United States in 1976. Arrest records show that on July 14, 2004, when Mr. Mahdi was 21, he stole a gun and a car in Virginia and fatally shot Christopher Biggs, a store clerk in Winston-Salem, N.C., in the face as he checked Mr. Mahdi's identification. Three days later, Mr. Mahdi stole someone's car in Columbia, S.C., according to records. Then, on July 18, Mr. Mahdi hid in a shed at the home of James Myers, a public safety officer in Orangeburg, S.C. The shed was near a gas station where Mr. Mahdi had unsuccessfully tried to buy gas with a stolen credit card and left the stolen vehicle behind, records show. When Mr. Myers, 56, returned to the house, Mr. Mahdi ambushed him and shot him at least eight times, according to court records. Mr. Mahdi then set Mr. Myers's body on fire and fled. The victim's wife found his body in the shed, according to records. Mr. Weiss, the lawyer, said in an interview on Thursday that Mr. Mahdi 'takes complete responsibility for the crimes that he committed.' 'He knows how awful they were, he knows how much pain he's caused, and he really just does his best to sort of live a life of the mind,' Mr. Weiss said. He added that South Carolina's execution process, in which a death row inmate chooses how to be killed, 'shows that we're on this sort of fruitless search to find the right way to kill people. And I think at the end of the day, there really isn't a right way to kill people.' Mr. Weiss said that Mr. Mahdi grew up in an abusive household. His father abused his mother, who fled the home when Mr. Mahdi was 4. As a result, Mr. Mahdi suffered from depression and mental health issues, Mr. Weiss said, and when his school tried to get him help, his father pulled him out. Mr. Mahdi's life devolved from there, Mr. Weiss said: He began stealing to help support himself and his brother because their father, who had his own mental illness, was not working. He went to juvenile prison at 14. He spent the next seven years in and out of prison before committing the two murders.
CNN
04-03-2025
- CNN
New York Corrections struggles with strike amid outrage over high-profile inmate deaths
New York state's Department of Corrections and Community Supervision is struggling to keep striking officers on the job, as it grapples with the fallout from two high-profile inmate deaths and reports of violence at the hands of its workers. State police are investigating the death of 22-year-old inmate Messiah Nantwi, who was housed at Mid-State Correctional Facility in Marcy, about 50 miles east of Syracuse. Authorities have not released a cause of death, but The New York Times reported that nine prisoners said the inmate had been brutally beaten by corrections officers. Eleven staff members have been placed on administrative leave pending the investigation, the state said Monday. Gov. Kathy Hochul said Monday that the 'deeply troubling' incident is under investigation, and State Department of Corrections Commissioner Daniel Martuscello III described Nantwi's death as a tragedy. But others say his death is the latest consequence of a broken prison system. The incident 'underscores the inherent culture of staff violence that pervades New York's prisons, and the urgent need for transparency, accountability, and reform,' the Legal Aid Society, a nonprofit law firm that represents low-income New Yorkers, said in a statement Monday. Nantwi's death comes less than two weeks after six New York prison workers were charged with murder in connection with the death of Robert Brooks, a 43-year-old Black man who died in December after being beaten by corrections officers at Marcy Correctional Facility, less than a mile from Mid-State. Body camera footage of officers beating Brooks while his hands are cuffed behind him lead to intense criticism over the violence in the state's prison system at the hands of corrections officers. 'To me, the disturbing (thing) is the sense of normalcy,' special prosecutor Bill Fitzpatrick previously said. 'The way that everyone was just going about their business as if this was acceptable behavior.' The officers were accused of acting with 'depraved indifference to human life,' according to a grand jury indictment. The defendants pleaded not guilty, the prosecutor said. After visiting the facility where Brooks was beaten, Hochul announced a $400 million investment to install fixed cameras and distribute body-worn cameras at all of the state's corrections facilities. The increased scrutiny comes amid a widescale, weeks-long strike by corrections officers in New York State. The officers are demanding better pay, staffing and security measures. The striking officers are taking issue with the ongoing violence in facilities, mandatory overtime, lack of work-life balance and a policy that limits the amount of time inmates can spend in solitary confinement, according to James Miller, the public relations director for the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association. Just as the deaths of Brooks and Nantwi have prompted concern about inmate safety, some corrections officers say the working conditions in these facilities have caused them to question their own safety. In January, Upstate Correctional Facility was locked down and searched after several incidents resulted in 30 staff members 'being sent to the hospital for treatment.' The search turned up 11 weapons and 75 suspicious pieces of contraband that were tested for possible drugs, according to the corrections department. The department recorded 1,938 assaults on staff statewide in 2024, up from 1,043 assaults in 2019. The same report lists 2,697 assaults on inmates, up from 1,267 in 2019. State and union leaders agree that the strike, which began two weeks ago, violates rules for state employees, the Associated Press reported. New York State Public Employees' Fair Employment Act, sometimes referred to as the Taylor Law, prohibits strikes by public employees. The strike has had a pronounced impact throughout the state. Visitation at all state correctional facilities was canceled at some points during the strike. Accommodations for religious observances, like Ramadan, have been impacted as well. Hochul even called in the National Guard to supplement the workforce at facilities. On Friday, Gov. Hochul and the corrections department announced that an agreement had been made and urged workers to return to work. The agreement outlined efforts to address staffing issues and minimize mandatory 24-hour overtime shifts. But by Sunday, some officers remained on strike, and the corrections department announced it would begin terminating officers with unauthorized absences of more than 11 consecutive shifts. Now, it is up to each individual officer to decide to return to work, Miller told CNN. CNN's Michelle Watson, Gloria Pazmino, Dalia Faheid and Andy Rose contributed to this report.
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Yahoo
New York prison system struggles with strike amid outrage over high-profile inmate deaths
New York state's Department of Corrections and Community Supervision is struggling to keep striking officers on the job, as it grapples with the fallout from two high-profile inmate deaths and reports of violence at the hands of its workers. State police are investigating the death of 22-year-old inmate Messiah Nantwi, who was housed at Mid-State Correctional Facility in Marcy, about 50 miles east of Syracuse. Authorities have not released a cause of death, but The New York Times reported that nine prisoners said the inmate had been brutally beaten by corrections officers. Eleven staff members have been placed on administrative leave pending the investigation, the state said Monday. Gov. Kathy Hochul said Monday that the 'deeply troubling' incident is under investigation, and State Department of Corrections Commissioner Daniel Martuscello III described Nantwi's death as a tragedy. But others say his death is the latest consequence of a broken prison system. The incident 'underscores the inherent culture of staff violence that pervades New York's prisons, and the urgent need for transparency, accountability, and reform,' the Legal Aid Society, a nonprofit law firm that represents low-income New Yorkers, said in a statement Monday. Nantwi's death comes less than two weeks after six New York prison workers were charged with murder in connection with the death of Robert Brooks, a 43-year-old Black man who died in December after being beaten by corrections officers at Marcy Correctional Facility, less than a mile from Mid-State. Body camera footage of officers beating Brooks while his hands are cuffed behind him lead to intense criticism over the violence in the state's prison system at the hands of corrections officers. 'To me, the disturbing (thing) is the sense of normalcy,' special prosecutor Bill Fitzpatrick previously said. 'The way that everyone was just going about their business as if this was acceptable behavior.' The officers were accused of acting with 'depraved indifference to human life,' according to a grand jury indictment. The defendants pleaded not guilty, the prosecutor said. After visiting the facility where Brooks was beaten, Hochul announced a $400 million investment to install fixed cameras and distribute body-worn cameras at all of the state's corrections facilities. The increased scrutiny comes amid a widescale, weeks-long strike by corrections officers in New York State. The officers are demanding better pay, staffing and security measures. The striking officers are taking issue with the ongoing violence in facilities, mandatory overtime, lack of work-life balance and a policy that limits the amount of time inmates can spend in solitary confinement, according to James Miller, the public relations director for the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association. Just as the deaths of Brooks and Nantwi have prompted concern about inmate safety, some corrections officers say the working conditions in these facilities have caused them to question their own safety. In January, Upstate Correctional Facility was locked down and searched after several incidents resulted in 30 staff members 'being sent to the hospital for treatment.' The search turned up 11 weapons and 75 suspicious pieces of contraband that were tested for possible drugs, according to the corrections department. The department recorded 1,938 assaults on staff statewide in 2024, up from 1,043 assaults in 2019. The same report lists 2,697 assaults on inmates, up from 1,267 in 2019. State and union leaders agree that the strike, which began two weeks ago, violates rules for state employees, the Associated Press reported. New York State Public Employees' Fair Employment Act, sometimes referred to as the Taylor Law, prohibits strikes by public employees. The strike has had a pronounced impact throughout the state. Visitation at all state correctional facilities was canceled at some points during the strike. Accommodations for religious observances, like Ramadan, have been impacted as well. Hochul even called in the National Guard to supplement the workforce at facilities. On Friday, Gov. Hochul and the corrections department announced that an agreement had been made and urged workers to return to work. The agreement outlined efforts to address staffing issues and minimize mandatory 24-hour overtime shifts. But by Sunday, some officers remained on strike, and the corrections department announced it would begin terminating officers with unauthorized absences of more than 11 consecutive shifts. Now, it is up to each individual officer to decide to return to work, Miller told CNN. CNN's Michelle Watson, Gloria Pazmino, Dalia Faheid and Andy Rose contributed to this report.
CNN
04-03-2025
- CNN
New York Corrections struggles with strike amid outrage over high-profile inmate deaths
New York state's Department of Corrections and Community Supervision is struggling to keep striking officers on the job, as it grapples with the fallout from two high-profile inmate deaths and reports of violence at the hands of its workers. State police are investigating the death of 22-year-old inmate Messiah Nantwi, who was housed at Mid-State Correctional Facility in Marcy, about 50 miles east of Syracuse. Authorities have not released a cause of death, but The New York Times reported that nine prisoners said the inmate had been brutally beaten by corrections officers. Eleven staff members have been placed on administrative leave pending the investigation, the state said Monday. Gov. Kathy Hochul said Monday that the 'deeply troubling' incident is under investigation, and State Department of Corrections Commissioner Daniel Martuscello III described Nantwi's death as a tragedy. But others say his death is the latest consequence of a broken prison system. The incident 'underscores the inherent culture of staff violence that pervades New York's prisons, and the urgent need for transparency, accountability, and reform,' the Legal Aid Society, a nonprofit law firm that represents low-income New Yorkers, said in a statement Monday. Nantwi's death comes less than two weeks after six New York prison workers were charged with murder in connection with the death of Robert Brooks, a 43-year-old Black man who died in December after being beaten by corrections officers at Marcy Correctional Facility, less than a mile from Mid-State. Body camera footage of officers beating Brooks while his hands are cuffed behind him lead to intense criticism over the violence in the state's prison system at the hands of corrections officers. 'To me, the disturbing (thing) is the sense of normalcy,' special prosecutor Bill Fitzpatrick previously said. 'The way that everyone was just going about their business as if this was acceptable behavior.' The officers were accused of acting with 'depraved indifference to human life,' according to a grand jury indictment. The defendants pleaded not guilty, the prosecutor said. After visiting the facility where Brooks was beaten, Hochul announced a $400 million investment to install fixed cameras and distribute body-worn cameras at all of the state's corrections facilities. The increased scrutiny comes amid a widescale, weeks-long strike by corrections officers in New York State. The officers are demanding better pay, staffing and security measures. The striking officers are taking issue with the ongoing violence in facilities, mandatory overtime, lack of work-life balance and a policy that limits the amount of time inmates can spend in solitary confinement, according to James Miller, the public relations director for the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association. Just as the deaths of Brooks and Nantwi have prompted concern about inmate safety, some corrections officers say the working conditions in these facilities have caused them to question their own safety. In January, Upstate Correctional Facility was locked down and searched after several incidents resulted in 30 staff members 'being sent to the hospital for treatment.' The search turned up 11 weapons and 75 suspicious pieces of contraband that were tested for possible drugs, according to the corrections department. The department recorded 1,938 assaults on staff statewide in 2024, up from 1,043 assaults in 2019. The same report lists 2,697 assaults on inmates, up from 1,267 in 2019. State and union leaders agree that the strike, which began two weeks ago, violates rules for state employees, the Associated Press reported. New York State Public Employees' Fair Employment Act, sometimes referred to as the Taylor Law, prohibits strikes by public employees. The strike has had a pronounced impact throughout the state. Visitation at all state correctional facilities was canceled at some points during the strike. Accommodations for religious observances, like Ramadan, have been impacted as well. Hochul even called in the National Guard to supplement the workforce at facilities. On Friday, Gov. Hochul and the corrections department announced that an agreement had been made and urged workers to return to work. The agreement outlined efforts to address staffing issues and minimize mandatory 24-hour overtime shifts. But by Sunday, some officers remained on strike, and the corrections department announced it would begin terminating officers with unauthorized absences of more than 11 consecutive shifts. Now, it is up to each individual officer to decide to return to work, Miller told CNN. CNN's Michelle Watson, Gloria Pazmino, Dalia Faheid and Andy Rose contributed to this report.
