Killing of Messiah Nantwi

Last updated
Killing of Messiah Nantwi
Location Mid-State Correctional Facility, Marcy, New York, U.S.
DateMarch 1, 2025 (2025-03-01)
Attack type
Fatal assault by prison guards
WeaponsHands, fists (implied), makeshift knife (planted as evidence)
Deaths1
VictimsMessiah Nantwi
Perpetrators10 prison guards (6 accused of assault, 4 of cover-up)
Assailants6 prison guards
MotiveUnknown (under investigation)
InquiryOngoing investigation
Accused15 prison guards
ChargesMurder (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)
LitigationOngoing legal proceedings

On March 1, 2025, Messiah Nantwi, 22, was beaten by corrections officers who were part of an emergency response team at Mid-State Correctional Facility in Marcy, New York. He died at Wynn Hospital in Utica, New York later that day. Nantwi was being held in pre-trial detention on charges of shooting two men in Harlem in April 2023. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Fifteen staff members were initially placed on leave: ten were directly employed by Mid-State, while the other five were employed by Marcy Correctional Facility and were working at Mid-State during the incident. [4] [5] This killing occurred during the 2025 New York corrections officers' strike. As of October 2025 court proceedings against the officers are ongoing.

Charges

In March, the Attorney General of New York recused herself from the investigation, and a special prosecutor was appointed. [6]

On April 16, 2025, two guards connected to Nantwi's death were charged with murder. [7] Overall, 10 prison guards were criminally charged in connection with Nantwi's death. [8]

Two of the five Marcy officers were charged with manslaughter. [9] The two prison guards who were charged with second-degree murder were directly employed by Mid-State. [8] [5] Five people would be charged with first degree manslaughter. [8] Two sergeants at Mid-State 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. [8] 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. [8] Six of them would also be indicted on gang assault. [9]

Eight of the officers would be indicted for conspiracy, four for tampering with physical evidence, and nine for using a false instrument for filing a report. [9] As of August 2025, 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. [10] [11]

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. [12]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Marcelo, Philip (2025-03-04). "15 prison staffers placed on leave after the death of a man incarcerated in New York". AP News. Retrieved 2025-10-28.
  2. ↑ Marcelo, Philip; Sisak, Michael R. (2025-03-03). "State police launch probe into inmate death as prison system roiled by illegal guard strike". AP News. Retrieved 2025-10-28.
  3. ↑ Ransom, Jan (2025-03-02). "N.Y. State Police Investigate Death of Another Inmate at Upstate Prison". The New York Times. Retrieved 2025-10-28.
  4. ↑ Stack, Liam; Ransom, Jan (2025-03-05). "15 N.Y. Prison Workers Placed on Leave as Inmate's Death Is Investigated". The New York Times. Retrieved 2025-10-28.
  5. 1 2 "DOCCS Names Correctional Staff as 'Persons of Interest' in Mid-State Facility Death Investigation". WKTV. March 26, 2025. Retrieved April 17, 2025.
  6. ↑ Ransom, Jan (2025-03-06). "New York Attorney General Recuses Herself From Inquiry Into Prison Death". The New York Times. Retrieved 2025-10-28.
  7. ↑ 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.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 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.
  9. 1 2 3 "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.
  10. ↑ Mills, Sean I. (2025-07-29). "FACT SHEET: Where every CO case stands in Marcy inmate deaths". Rome Sentinel. Retrieved 2025-08-05.
  11. ↑ "Former New York prison guard pleads guilty in connection with inmate's beating death". AP News. 2025-05-30. Retrieved 2025-07-05.
  12. ↑ Lyons, Brendan J. (2025-06-17). "Federal lawsuit filed on behalf of man fatally beaten by prison officers". Times Union. Retrieved 2025-06-17.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.