4th man’s death in custody raises further questions on NY prisons amid officer strike

The death of a 22-year-old prisoner at a New York state prison over the weekend is raising further questions about dangerous conditions and basic care for incarcerated people as an illegal strike by state correction officers drags on for its third week.

The state attorney general’s office said it was investigating the death of Messiah Nantwi, who was serving five years at the Mid-State Correctional Facility in Marcy, near Utica, for criminal weapons possession while also awaiting trial on two separate New York City homicide cases, according to court records and his attorney. It was at least the fourth death of a state prisoner at three different facilities in recent weeks, criminal justice officials and advocates said.

The state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision on Tuesday confirmed Nantwi’s death but did not offer specifics on the circumstances. Spokesperson Nicole March said in a statement that 15 staff members involved in the incident were placed on administrative leave pending the results of the investigation. Citing interviews with multiple prisoners, the New York Times reported that correction officers on Saturday beat Nantwi until he was unconscious.

Gov. Kathy Hochul on Tuesday said she directed the state DOCCS to place 15 staff members on leave in connection with Nantwi’s death. In a statement, Hochul called the early reports of the incident “extremely disturbing” and said she was “committed to accountability for all involved.”

She also pointed to reforms her administration implemented after the death of another incarcerated man, Robert Brooks, including requiring body-worn cameras and expanding whistleblower hotlines. The governor reiterated her call for striking correction officers to return to work, calling the work stoppage a “significant safety risk.”

DOCCS Commissioner Daniel F. Martuscello III also issued a statement, emphasizing his commitment to ending violence within state correctional facilities.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of Messiah Nantwi,” he said. “But thoughts and prayers won’t bring him back and they won’t change anything within our facilities. It’s on us to create a culture that isn’t based in violence and respects the lives of everyone in our care.”

Nantwi’s aunt told Gothamist his death was a travesty.

“You don't have to beat somebody until they're dead,” she said, requesting anonymity out of fear of gang violence. “What happened to a jury of your peers?”

James Miller, a spokesperson for the union that represents state correction officers, declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation.

The county medical examiner’s office was still determining the cause of Nantwi’s death, according to the correction agency.

His death is the latest death of a New York prisoner amid a wildcat strike by hundreds of correction officers that was not sanctioned by their union, the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association. The strike has continued despite a tentative agreement between the union and correction department last week. The guards, who are considered essential workers under state law, have said they are pushing for safer working conditions and more flexibility to use solitary confinement, which was restricted under a 2021 law.

Officials said Monday they had begun firing and disciplining officers participating in the unlawful action, which they said had cost the state $25 million in National Guard deployments and other resources. It is not clear if the strike directly contributed to Nantwi’s death.

Nantwi’s first major interaction with law enforcement came in February 2021, when police said he resisted arrest and shot at NYPD officers after they caught him spraying graffiti on a Bronx street. The officers, who were not hit, fired back more than 20 times, Gothamist previously reported.

Though Nantwi's vital organs were spared, the incident left him paranoid and with serious post-traumatic stress disorder, according to his family.

“He was constantly looking around, behind his shoulders,” his father, Patterson Nantwi, said in an interview in 2023. “You could see it, it was pretty evident.”

After family members raised enough money via GoFundMe to pay Messiah Nantwi’s bail in that case, he did a stint at a rehab facility and then came home to Harlem, where his aunt said he was in a post-release program, including counseling.

But in April 2023, police arrested Nantwi in connection with the fatal shootings of Jaylen Duncan, 19, and Brandon Brunson, 36, who were killed on the same weekend in separate incidents in Harlem. He pleaded not guilty to murder and charges related to possession of a loaded firearm, according to court records.

Nantwi was moved to Marcy’s Mid-State Correctional Facility in May 2024, state records show. He was serving time for criminal weapons possession related to the 2021 shootout with police, as the homicide cases proceeded through Manhattan Supreme Court.

Stan Germán, executive director of the New York County Defender Services, which represented Nantwi in the homicide cases, blasted the state correction agency for descending “into a state of perfect corruption, one replete with disdain for human life.”

“Mr. Nantwi was a bright, 22-year-old man whose dysfunctional violent upbringing left him with significant mental health challenges, but also with an unbroken spirit,” Germán said in a statement. “True, he was incarcerated, but he was still entitled like all of us, to basic human dignity and safety.”

This story has been updated with comment from Gov. Kathy Hochul and DOCCS Commissioner Daniel F. Martuscello III.