| Killing of Messiah Nantwi | |
|---|---|
| Location | Mid-State Correctional Facility, Marcy, New York, U.S. |
| Date | March 1, 2025 |
Attack type | Fatal assault by prison guards |
| Weapons | Hands, fists (implied), makeshift knife (planted as evidence) |
| Deaths | 1 |
| Victims | Messiah Nantwi |
| Perpetrators | 10 prison guards (6 accused of assault, 4 of cover-up) |
| Assailants | 6 prison guards |
| Motive | Unknown (under investigation) |
| Inquiry | Ongoing investigation |
| Accused | 10 prison guards |
| Charges | Murder (2), manslaughter (7 - 5 first-degree, 2 second-degree), gang assault (6), conspiracy (8), tampering with physical evidence (4), using a false instrument for filing a report (9) |
| Litigation | Ongoing legal proceedings |
On March 1, 2025, prisoner Messiah Nantwi was beaten to death at the Mid-State Correctional Facility in Marcy, New York, by corrections officers who were part of an emergency response team.
On April 16, 2025, two guards connected to Nantwi's death were charged with murder.[1] Overall, 10 prison guards were criminally charged in connection with Nantwi's death.[2]
Fifteen staff members from both the Mid-State Correctional and Marcy Correctional Facility and its neighboring Marcy Correctional Facility were either placed on leave or suspended.[3]
Ten of the correctional officers who were involved in the beating death of Nantwi were directly employed by the Mid-State Correctional Facility, while the other five were employed by the Marcy Correctional Facility, but were working at the Mid-State Correctional Facility at the time of Nantwi's death.[3]
Two of the five Marcy officers were charged with manslaughter.[4] The two prison guards who were charged with second-degree murder were directly employed by the Mid State Correctional Facility.[2][3] Five people would be charged with first degree manslaughter.[2] Two sergeants at Mid State Correctional Facility were each charged with second-degree manslaughter after being accused of doing nothing to stop the assaults while supervising the area where Nantawi was beat to death.[2] Of the 10 officers charged, six were accused of assaulting Nantwi, while the other four were only accused of making an effort to cover-up the incident by doing things such as filing false reports and participating in a plot which included planting a makeshift knife and cleaning up blood in Nantwi’s prison cell in an attempt to destroy evidence.[2] Six of them would also be indicted on gang assault.[4] Eight of them would be indicted for conspiracy, four for tampering with physical evidence, and nine for using a false instrument for filing a report.[4] As of August 2025[update], one officer, Nicholas Vitale, has pled guilty to offering a false instrument for filing and two others, Joshua Bartlett and Nathan Palmer, pled guilty to hindering prosecution and falsifying business records. Four additional unindicted officers also accepted plea offers.[5][6]
On June 17, Mantwi's family filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the officers, the supervisor of the prison, and commissioner of the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.[7]
This killing occurred during the 2025 New York corrections officers' strike.
See also
[edit]- Killing of Robert Brooks
- List of unarmed African Americans killed by law enforcement officers in the United States
References
[edit]- ^ Ransom, Jan (April 16, 2025). "2 Guards Charged With Murder in Beating Death of Prisoner in New York". The New York Times. Retrieved April 17, 2025.
- ^ a b c d e Hill, Michael; Collins, Dave (April 16, 2025). "NY prison guards beat an inmate to death then tried to cover it up, prosecutors say". Associated Press. Retrieved April 17, 2025.
- ^ a b c "DOCCS Names Correctional Staff as 'Persons of Interest' in Mid-State Facility Death Investigation". WKTV. March 26, 2025. Retrieved April 17, 2025.
- ^ a b c "Multiple COs Indicted in Death of Mid-State Inmate Messiah Nantwi: Court Video, Indictment Document and Statements". WKTV. April 17, 2025. Retrieved April 17, 2025.
- ^ Mills, Sean I. (2025-07-29). "FACT SHEET: Where every CO case stands in Marcy inmate deaths". Rome Sentinel. Retrieved 2025-08-05.
- ^ "Former New York prison guard pleads guilty in connection with inmate's beating death". AP News. 2025-05-30. Retrieved 2025-07-05.
- ^ Lyons, Brendan J. (2025-06-17). "Federal lawsuit filed on behalf of man fatally beaten by prison officers". Times Union. Retrieved 2025-06-17.
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