Killing of Messiah Nantwi

On March 1, 2025, prisoner Messiah Nantwi was killed at the Mid-State Correctional Facility in Marcy, New York after being beaten by prison guards. On April 16, 2025, two guards connected to Natnwi's death were charged with murder.^[1] Overall, 10 prison guards have been criminally charged in connection with Nantwi's death.^[2] Since Nantwi's death, 15 staff members from both the Mid-State Correctional and Marcy Correctional Facility and its neighboring Marcy Correctional Facility have been either placed on leave or suspended.^[3] 10 of the correctional officers who were involved in the beating death of Nantwi where directly employed by the Mid-State Correctional Facility, while the other 5 were employed by the Marcy Correctional Facility, but were working at the Mid-State Correctional Facility at the time of Nantwi's death.^[3]

Killing of Messiah Nantwi
Location	Mid-State Correctional Facility, Marcy, New York, U.S.
Date	March 1, 2025 (2025-03-01)
Attack type	Fatal assault by prison guards
Weapons	Hands, fists (implied), makeshift knife (planted as evidence)
Deaths	1
Victims	Messiah Nantwi
Perpetrators	10 prison guards (6 accused of assault, 4 of cover-up)
Assailants	6 prison guards
Motive	Unknown (under investigation)
Inquiry	Ongoing investigation
Accused	10 prison guards
Charges	Murder (2), manslaughter (7 - 5 first-degree, 2 second-degree), gang assault (6), conspiracy (8), tampering with physical evidence (4), using a false instrument for filing a report (9)
Litigation	Ongoing legal proceedings

Two of the 5 Marcy officers were charged with manslaughter.^[4] The two prison guards who were charged with second-degree murder were directly employed by the Mid State Correctional Facility.^[2][3] Five people would be charged with first degree manslaughter.^[2] Two sergeants at Mid State Correctional Facility were each charged with second-degree manslaughter after being accused of doing nothing to stop the assaults while supervising the area where Nantawi was beat to death.^[2] Of the 10 officers charged, 6 were accused of assaulting Nantwi, while the other 4 were only accused of making an effort to cover-up the incident by doing things such as filing false reports and participating in a plot which included planting a makeshift knife and cleaning up blood in Nantwi’s prison cell in an attempt to destroy evidence.^[2] Six of them would also be indicted on gang assault.^[4] Eight of them would be indicted for conspiracy, four for tampering with physical evidence, and nine for using a false instrument for filing a report.^[4]