By Philip Marcelo and Michael R. Sisak
Associated Press
NEW YORK — New York state police are investigating the death of an inmate as the state corrections system continues to be roiled by a wildcat strike by prison staff.
The agency said Monday it had launched a probe into the death of Messiah Nantwi at Mid-State Correctional Facility. Police and corrections officials have declined to provide details, other than to say the 22-year-old died at a hospital in Utica on Saturday.
The New York Times, citing accounts from other inmates, reported that he was beaten by correctional officers.
The New York County Defender Services had been representing Nantwi as he awaited trial in the shooting deaths of two men in 2023.
Thomas Mailey, a corrections department spokesperson, declined to provide more details about Nantwi’s death, citing the ongoing investigation. But he confirmed earlier Monday that 11 staffers have been placed on administrative leave, pending the results of the probe.
Mid-State is across the street from the Marcy Correctional Facility, where six corrections officers have been charged with murder in the death of Robert Brooks, who was beaten by officers in December.
Nantwi had entered the state prison system last May and had been serving a five-year sentence for second-degree criminal possession of a weapon related to a shooting with police officers in 2021, according to the Corrections Department website and the Bronx District Attorney’s office.
The probe into Nantwi’s death comes as a wildcat strike by state prison officers stretched into a third week, prompting officials to start firing workers for failing to abide by a deal to end the illegal labor action.
The state’s homeland security commissioner, Jackie Bray, said terminations began Sunday and that on Monday the state would begin canceling health insurance for correctional officers who have remained on strike. Their dependents will also lose coverage.
Fewer than 10 officers have been fired so far, Bray said, while thousands are in line to lose their health insurance benefits.
A message seeking comment was left with the officers’ union, the New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association.
Corrections officers began walking out Feb. 17 to protest working conditions.
Last Thursday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a binding agreement between the state and officers’ union to end the picketing. Officers were required to return to work by Saturday to avoid being disciplined for striking.
The deal included ways to address staffing shortages and minimize mandatory 24-hour overtime shifts. It also offers a temporary bump in overtime pay, a potential change in pay scale and a 90-day suspension of a law limiting the use of solitary confinement.
The strike violated a state law barring walkouts by most public employees. Hochul deployed the National Guard to some prisons to take the place of striking workers.
Corrections Commissioner Daniel Martuscello said Monday that the number of facilities with striking workers had dropped from 38 to 32, though visiting remained suspended at all state prisons.