Family of man who died in NY prison speaks out as AG finds probable cause of a crime

The family of Messiah Nantwi, 22, demanded answers Friday after the New York attorney general’s office said there were reasonable grounds to believe up to nine correction officers caused or contributed to Nantwi’s death at an upstate prison last weekend, amid an illegal strike.

“I’ve been lost for words. I’ve gone through every emotion you can think of,” Nantwi's aunt Mayreni Lopez told reporters in Harlem, where he lived before being imprisoned last year on a weapons conviction. “And I’m angry. I’m beyond angry.”

The family’s comments came a day after state Attorney General Letitia James’ office announced it was recusing itself from the investigation into Nantwi’s death, due to internal conflicts with some state attorneys. But the AG’s office said it found reason enough to pursue a criminal investigation, based on a preliminary review.

“There is probable cause to believe that as many as nine corrections officers caused the death of Messiah Nantwi or committed acts that contributed thereto, and thereby committed a crime,” James’ office wrote in a filing in Onondaga County Supreme Court this week.

The New York Times reported Nantwi was beaten unconscious by multiple correction officers at the Mid-State Correctional Facility in Marcy shortly before he died. The ongoing strike is illegal under state law and has not been condoned by the correction officers union, but officers say they are being endangered by state policies meant to govern solitary confinement.

James’ office said its recusal was due to a routine internal check that found that several of the officers allegedly involved in the incident were represented by state attorneys in other matters. A judge approved the AG’s request for William Fitzpatrick, the Onondaga County district attorney, to serve as a special prosecutor in the case.

A spokesperson for the AG declined to comment on Friday and referred Gothamist to Fitzpatrick’s office, which also declined to comment. The state correction department and the union that represents the striking officers also did not respond to requests for comment.

Gov. Kathy Hochul said this week she had directed state correction officials to put 15 prison staffers on leave in connection with Nantwi’s death, calling early reports about the incident “extremely disturbing.”

She also urged thousands of striking correction officers statewide to return to work to end what she described as a “significant safety risk.” Her administration on Thursday said it had circumvented the union to offer the workers a deal meant to resolve the “wildcat” strike, which they say they have been waging since Feb. 17 because of unsafe conditions in state prisons.

State employees are not allowed to strike under New York’s Taylor Law, rendering the workers’ actions illegal.

At least seven incarcerated people have died in the prisons during the strike, according to the Correctional Association of New York, an independent organization designated by state law to monitor prisons. Nantwi’s official cause of death has not been released.

State Assemblymember Eddie Gibbs on Friday said he had traveled to the Mid-State Correctional Facility after Nantwi’s death to speak with other prisoners who lived in the same dorm.

“The morale is fearful, very low and untrusting,” Gibbs said at a press conference in Harlem, alongside advocates from criminal justice reform groups. He added that his office had received more than 3,000 letters detailing abuse in state prisons, and that Nantwi’s body was being kept at a funeral home in Utica, near Marcy.

Nantwi was serving five years at the prison for criminal weapons possession and was awaiting trial on two separate New York City homicide cases from 2023, according to court records and his attorney.

In 2021, he had engaged in a shootout with NYPD officers who were trying to arrest him for allegedly spraying graffiti in the Bronx and was shot more than 20 times. He was indicted for attempted murder but recovered from his injuries and was bailed out of jail by family and friends, after the judge in that case set bail over the objections of the Bronx district attorney.

Lopez, Nantwi’s aunt, on Friday spoke of an artistic and athletic man whose “dreams were tarnished” as he grew up. She expressed condolences to the families of the two men he was accused of killing, and acknowledged his actions were “devastating.”

“It was never ever supposed to end that way, that’s not what I wanted for Messiah,” she said. “Please find it within your hearts to forgive him, because that … was no longer Messiah.”

This story has been updated with additional information.