A grand jury indicted multiple corrections officers on Tuesday in connection with the March 1 fatal beating of 22-year-old Messiah Nantwi at Mid-State Correctional Facility in Oneida County.
The indictments will be unsealed Wednesday in Utica.
Gov. Kathy Hochul said she ordered the termination of 15 corrections officers in connection with the incident, and called Nantwi’s death “deeply disturbing.”
“The loss of any life in our correctional facilities is one too many,” she said at an event in Ulster County on Tuesday. “That does not reflect our values as New Yorkers, and his family deserves justice.”
Since Hochul's initial termination order, a spokesperson from the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision said five corrections officers and two sergeants have resigned in relation to the incident. Eight corrections officers and three sergeants have been suspended without pay.
This is the second indictment this year of a group of corrections officers related to inmate deaths in New York prisons.
Ten corrections officers were charged in February in the beating death of 43-year-old Robert Brooks at neighboring Marcy Correctional Facility. Those indictments came in the middle of an illegal prison strike by corrections officers that lasted three weeks.
The state Attorney General’s office recused itself from the investigation into Nantwi’s death and appointed Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick as special prosecutor. Fitzpatrick is also overseeing the investigation into Brooks’ death. Fitzpatrick made plea offers to the officers indicted in relation to Brooks’ death in March.
Resigned:
CO Daniel Burger
CO Frank Jacobs
CO Adam Joseph
CO Jonah Levi
CO Tristan Sheppard
Sgt. David Ferrone
Sgt. Ryan Russell
Suspended Without Pay:
CO Joshua Bartlett
CO Caleb Blair
CO Dean Cross
CO Thomas Eck
CO Craig Klemick
CO Zachary Lallier
CO Nathan Palmer
CO Nicholas Vitale
Sgt. Frank Chandler Jr.
Sgt. Michael Iffert
Sgt. Donald Slawson
