NEW YORK — A prisoner’s death is being looked into by the New York state police, who are also dealing with a wildcat strike by jail staff that is still going on.
On Monday, the agency said it was looking into how Messiah Nantwi died at the Mid-State Correctional Facility. Only saying that the 22-year-old died at a hospital in Utica on Saturday is all that police and prison officials have said.
The New York Times said that he was beaten by prison staff based on reports from other prisoners.
Stan German, who runs the New York County Defender Services, said that Nantwi was a “bright” young man who was having “significant mental health challenges” because he had a “dysfunctional violent upbringing.”
This office had been defending Nantwi while he waited for his trial for killing two men with a gun in 2023.
German said in a statement, “It’s true that he was in jail, but he still had the right to basic human dignity and safety, just like all of us.” “Instead, he died a violent and senseless death at the hands of state prison guards who work in a toxic culture that most people in our society don’t care about.”
Thomas Mailey, a spokesman for the corrections department, wouldn’t say anything else about Nantwi’s death because the probe is still going on. But he did say earlier Monday that 11 employees have been put on administrative leave until the investigation is over.
The Marcy Correctional Facility is right across the street from Mid-State. Six guards have been charged with murder in the death of Robert Brooks, who was beaten by officers in December.
The Bronx District Attorney’s office and the Corrections Department website both say that Nantwi started serving his five-year sentence in state prison in May of last year. He was there for second-degree criminal possession of a weapon connected to a shooting with police officers in 2021.
The investigation into Nantwi’s death happened at the same time as a third week of a wildcat strike by state jail guards. Workers were fired for not following through on a deal to end the illegal action, which led to the investigation.
Jackie Bray, who is the state’s homeland security commissioner, said that firings started on Sunday and that prisoners who have been on strike since Saturday will no longer have health insurance starting Monday. Their children will also no longer be covered.
Bray said that so far, less than 10 police officers have been fired, but thousands of people are about to lose their health insurance.
The police union, the New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association, was sent a message asking for a response.
The head of the Release Aging People in Prison Campaign, Jose Saldana, said that the guards’ strikes were a “distraction” from the renewed focus on abuse of prisoners.
“To put it more bluntly, guards are holding hostage tens of thousands of prisoners, whose basic needs are often not being met, so they can demand even more power to hurt those they are in charge of,” Saldana said.
German from the office of the public defense said that the state prison system has had “institutional rot” for too long.
He said that a recent case showed that corrections officers at the Mid-State Correctional Facility allegedly beat and sexually assaulted more than 30 inmates, refused to give them medical care, and then threatened to hurt them more if they spoke out.
“It’s time for bold words that don’t do anything to protect the safety of prisoners,” he said in a statement. “The proof of dishonesty, violence, and institutional cowardice is easy for everyone to see.”
Corrections officers began walking off the job on February 17 to protest the conditions of their jobs.
Last Thursday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said that the state and the officers’ union had reached a legally binding deal to stop the picketing. Officers had to go back to work by Saturday or face punishment for going on strike.
As part of the deal, ways were found to deal with staffing issues and reduce the number of 24-hour required overtime shifts. It also gives a short-term increase in overtime pay, the chance to change the pay scale, and the lifting of a rule that limits the use of solitary confinement for 90 days.
A state law said that most public workers couldn’t go on strike, which is what happened. Hochul sent the National Guard to some jails to work in their place while workers went on strike.
Monday, Corrections Commissioner Daniel Martuscello said that the number of facilities with striking workers had gone down from 38 to 32. However, all state jails still did not allow visitors.
