UPDATE: Prisoners claim that 22-year-old inmate at Mid-State Correctional Facility was "brutally beaten" by guards
ONEIDA COUNTY- Investigators are looking into the death of an inmate at Mid-State Correctional Facility, which is located right near neighboring facilities at Marcy and Mohawk.
Right now, numerous sources indicate that the specifics in this case have yet to surface, but the New York Attorney General’s Office says they are underway with what is known as a preliminary assessment into the death.
However, State Police Investigators have identified the victim: Messiah Nantwi, age 22. Nantwi was officially pronounced deceased at Wynn Hospital.
Though the official details have yet to surface, the New York Times says that 9 prisoners agreed to speak to their reporters. They all claim that Nantwi suffered from a brutal beating by corrections officers (see more from CNN).
Furthermore, the DOCCS says there are members of personnel, who are connected to the death, and have been placed on administrative leave. Other sources indicate that number has risen to 11 total staff members, who have been dismissed amid the investigation.
This development blossoms right in the middle of an on-going feud between state authorities and several New York correctional officers, who have been striking statewide, illegally, for the last several days.
Late last week, state authorities in Albany, NY announced that a consent award was reached to end the strikes, but we have various accounts from several CO's that are disgusted with the deal and suggest that there are still picket lines holding strong statewide.
Furthermore, these same testimonies indicate that the strikes were still going on at various facilities and the state has responded as of Sunday evening by clarifying that letters of termination have started going out to guards who have been AWOL for more than 11 consecutive shifts.
Starting two-weeks ago, a wave of correctional officers began walking off the job as a last ditch effort to express their worries over a rise in assaults, to which they blame on New York’s HALT Act.
Governor Kathy Hochul has condemned the strikes numerous times.
Again, the HALT Act was implemented a few years ago as a form of humane alternatives to long-term solitary confinement, but has since become a controversial topic, with several guards and other figures of authority claiming that the law has only allowed for violence to increase, making an already risky job even more dangerous.
According to numerous conversations we had with CO’S, both retired and current, solitary confinement is used as a form of punishment for inmates who lash out and break the rules of order within a prison facility.
For additional context, these same sources emphasize that solitary confinement can be a useful tool to help keep violent inmates separated from the rest of the prison population, including guards, civilian staff and other prisoners.
However, solitary confinement has been frowned upon and deemed as “torture” by certain state figures, including lawmakers such as State Senator, Julie Salazar.
In the consent award, which was announced late last-week by state authorities, the Commissioner of DOCCS will exercise his existing discretion under the HALT Act and continue the temporary suspension of the programming elements of the HALT Act for 90 days from the date of the Consent Award due to the ongoing emergency and exigent circumstances that exist within each facility due to the illegal strike and the significant staffing deficit that existed prior to the illegal strike.
After 30 days from the date of the Consent Award, the Commissioner of DOCCS will begin to evaluate the operations, safety, and security of our facilities relative to staffing levels and determine whether re-instituting the suspended elements of HALT would create an unreasonable risk to the safety and security of the incarcerated individuals and staff.
This analysis will be done on a facility-by-facility basis and will be ongoing, according to the text of the consent award. '
The suspension applies only to the HALT Act provisions contained within Correction Law sec. 137 pursuant to which the Commissioner has operational 3 discretion, and specifically to the provisions that have been directly impacted by the staffing crisis and illegal strike, and not to the other elements of the HALT Act.
DOCCS says it will continue to follow all other elements of the HALT Act requirements.
***This publication was updated with new developments as of 4:40 A.M. Tuesday, March 4, 2025***
NYS Prison image.
