A 22-year-old inmate from the Bronx, suspected of two homicides in Harlem within a day’s span, succumbed to an untimely death in a state penitentiary in the Utica vicinity over the previous weekend, as reported by state authorities and the District Attorney’s Office of Manhattan. The deceased inmate, identified as Messiah Nantwi, was urgently transported from the Mid-State Correctional Facility in Oneida County to Wynn Hospital in Utica early last Saturday. Regrettably, Nantwi’s life was claimed not long after his hospital admission. However, the events leading to his unfortunate demise are under active scrutiny by state law enforcement, supported by the state prison apparatus’s Office of Special Investigations.
A number of fellow prisoners disclosed to The New York Times that Nantwi was a victim of physical assault by correctional officers at the facility. In the aftermath of Nantwi’s death, eleven staff from the prison involved in the incident find themselves suspended from duties. The state Attorney General’s Office has initiated a preliminary review of the circumstances surrounding Nantwi’s death. Granted the legal standing under state regulations, the office holds the authority to probe into any fatalities linked with actions, or lack thereof, by law enforcement personnel, including those serving as prison officers.
Nantwi had been detained at the Mid-State facility since late spring, precisely from May 30, 2024. He was in the midst of a five-year sentence for a charge of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, as indicated in the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) documents. However, uncertainties loomed over his future as he was also implicated in twin second-degree murder charges, according to state judicial files. He was alleged to have murdered two individuals in Harlem over a stretch of 27 hours back in 2023, a claim substantiated by the office of the Manhattan district attorney.
The Mid-State Correctional Facility, situated in Oneida County, operates as a medium-security state prison. Located approximately seven miles west of Utica, the facility was hosting 1,241 inmates as of the first of February, as per official records. Meanwhile, Nantwi’s death corresponded with a period of heightened tensions and volatility within the state prison system. The corrections officers, in a widespread display of dissent, have been participating in an unauthorized strike for the last fortnight, completely ignoring a court order mandating their return to service.
To manage the absenteeism of striking corrections officers, the state resorted to deploying thousands of National Guard personnel across statewide prisons. As a measure to appease the defiant officers, state officials have made a slew of concessions. These include safeguards against inordinate overtime and updates to the guidelines governing solitary confinement. Amid these events, Mid-State Correctional Facility and another prison in Oneida County have come under concentrated public and official scrutiny.
Back in 2016, an alarming number of correctional officers at Mid-State Correctional Facility were implicated in horrific incidents of mass physical assault, brutal beatings, and inmate maltreatment. A judgment ruled in the concluding part of the previous year that the state is held accountable for the resultant damages to the abused inmates. Despite this severe indictment, a large fraction of the involved officers continue in their roles at the facility till date.
A stone’s throw away, at the Marcy Correctional Facility, a chilling incident unfolded late last year. A handful of corrections officers were accused of fatally beating inmate Robert L. Brooks on the medical examination table located within the prison infirmary. The repercussions of the case are still unfolding, with recent indictments delivered against ten employees. Six of them are confronted with murder charges, and an additional six employees are potentially on the brink of facing charges as well.