Ten New York jail guards have been charged Wednesday in reference to the deadly beating of a 22-year-old inmate final month, together with two charged with homicide. It’s the second time a bunch of correctional officers within the state has been indicted for a demise behind bars this 12 months.
The indictment says a number of guards severely beat Messiah Nantwi, a prisoner on the Mid-State Correctional Facility, sending him to a hospital the place he died on March 1. On account of the beatings, Nantwi “died on account of large head trauma and quite a few different accidents to his physique,” the indictment stated.
Nantwi’s demise got here a number of months after Robert Brooks was fatally crushed on the Marcy Correctional Facility, simply throughout the road from the Mid-State jail. Six guards have pleaded not responsible to homicide fees in Brooks’ demise, and different jail workers have additionally been charged.
The Utica-area facility was one in every of many state prisons that have been struggling to operate throughout a three-week wildcat strike by guards. Correctional officers who have been upset over working situations started illegally strolling off the job Feb. 17 at many state prisons, forcing the governor to ship Nationwide Guard troops in to keep up operations.
Incarcerated individuals and their advocates complained that companies and situations deteriorated through the walkout.
Based on Wednesday’s indictment, the 2 guards charged with second-degree homicide, Jonah Levi and Caleb Blair, have been known as to Nantwi’s room to assist Nationwide Guard members with an “unknown challenge.”
Levi and Blair entered the room and “started beating Messiah Nantwi, together with a number of strikes to his physique and head with their boots,” the indictment says.
When guards entered Nantwi’s room, Nantwi “had his arms raised and displayed no weapon,” the indictment says. Nantwi protested being handcuffed and restrained for no motive obvious to him and grabbed Bartlett’s vest, after which was instantly assaulted by the defendants,” the doc says.
The assault intensified when Nantwi bit Blair and guard Thomas Eck on their arms.
Nantwi turned unresponsive, and guards transported him out of the room and headed for the infirmary.
Nantwi was assaulted a second time in a stairwell and was “dumped in a holding cell on the infirmary and additional assaulted” by Blair, the indictment says.
Gov. Kathy Hochul known as it a “horrific crime” in saying the indictments Tuesday.
“The tragic demise of Mr. Nantwi by the hands of correction officers who’re liable for defending the incarcerated inhabitants is deeply, deeply disturbing,” Hochul stated in a short video message.
The courtroom doc stated the guards had no official motive to assault Nantwi. It additionally stated the kicking and stomping, together with leaving him unattended within the infirmary holding cell for a number of minutes whereas displaying no urgency for medical workers to test on him, “demonstrated wicked indifference” to Nantwi’s life and “resulted in his demise.”
Levi, Blair, and three different guards have been additionally charged with first-degree manslaughter.
The legal professional common’s workplace has recused itself in Nantwi’s case, citing its illustration of a number of correctional officers in civil lawsuits.
A particular prosecutor was appointed, Onondaga County District Legal professional William Fitzpatrick, who can be the prosecutor in Brooks’ demise.
Nantwi entered the state jail system final Might and had been serving a five-year sentence for second-degree felony possession of a weapon associated to an trade of gunfire with law enforcement officials in 2021. On the time he was shot a number of instances, whereas the officers have been unhurt.
Prosecutors in Manhattan say Nantwi shot and killed Jaylen Duncan, 19, on a Harlem road in April 2023. The next night, they are saying, he shot and killed Brandon Brunson, 36, at a Harlem smoke store after an argument.
Supply hyperlink
