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New York state’s Department of Corrections and Community Supervision is struggling to keep striking officers on the job, as it grapples with the fallout from two high-profile inmate deaths and reports of violence at the hands of its workers.
State police are investigating the death of 22-year-old inmate Messiah Nantwi, who was housed at Mid-State Correctional Facility in Marcy, about 50 miles east of Syracuse. Authorities have not released a cause of death, but The New York Times reported that nine prisoners said the inmate had been brutally beaten by corrections officers.
Gov. Kathy Hochul said Monday that the “deeply troubling” incident is under investigation, and State Department of Corrections Commissioner Daniel Martuscello III described Nantwi’s death as a tragedy.
Fifteen staff members have been placed on leave in connection with the death, Hochul said Tuesday. Eleven were placed on leave initially, according to the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.
“While the investigation into this incident is ongoing, early reports point to extremely disturbing conduct leading to Mr. Nantwi’s death and I am committed to accountability for all involved. The people of New York extend our deepest condolences to Mr. Nantwi’s family and loved ones,” Hochul said in a release Tuesday.
But others say his death is the latest consequence of a broken prison system.
The incident “underscores the inherent culture of staff violence that pervades New York’s prisons, and the urgent need for transparency, accountability, and reform,” the Legal Aid Society, a nonprofit law firm that represents low-income New Yorkers, said in a statement Monday.
Nantwi’s death comes less than two weeks after six New York prison workers were charged with murder in connection with the death of Robert Brooks, a 43-year-old Black man who died in December after being beaten by corrections officers at Marcy Correctional Facility, less than a mile from Mid-State.
Body camera footage of officers beating Brooks while his hands are cuffed behind him lead to intense criticism over the violence in the state’s prison system at the hands of corrections officers.
“To me, the disturbing (thing) is the sense of normalcy,” special prosecutor Bill Fitzpatrick previously said. “The way that everyone was just going about their business as if this was acceptable behavior.”
The officers were accused of acting with “depraved indifference to human life,” according to a grand jury indictment. The defendants pleaded not guilty, the prosecutor said.
After visiting the facility where Brooks was beaten, Hochul announced a $400 million investment to install fixed cameras and distribute body-worn cameras at all of the state’s corrections facilities.
Statewide prison strike
The increased scrutiny comes amid a widescale, weeks-long strike by corrections officers in New York State. The officers are demanding better pay, staffing and security measures.
The striking officers are taking issue with the ongoing violence in facilities, mandatory overtime, lack of work-life balance and a policy that limits the amount of time inmates can spend in solitary confinement, according to James Miller, the public relations director for the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association.
Just as the deaths of Brooks and Nantwi have prompted concern about inmate safety, some corrections officers say the working conditions in these facilities have caused them to question their own safety.
In January, Upstate Correctional Facility was locked down and searched after several incidents resulted in 30 staff members “being sent to the hospital for treatment.” The search turned up 11 weapons and 75 suspicious pieces of contraband that were tested for possible drugs, according to the corrections department.
The department recorded 1,938 assaults on staff statewide in 2024, up from 1,043 assaults in 2019. The same report lists 2,697 assaults on inmates, up from 1,267 in 2019.
State and union leaders agree that the strike, which began two weeks ago, violates rules for state employees, the Associated Press reported. New York State Public Employees’ Fair Employment Act, sometimes referred to as the Taylor Law, prohibits strikes by public employees.
The strike has had a pronounced impact throughout the state. Visitation at all state correctional facilities was canceled at some points during the strike. Accommodations for religious observances, like Ramadan, have been impacted as well. Hochul even called in the National Guard to supplement the workforce at facilities.
On Friday, Gov. Hochul and the corrections department announced that an agreement had been made and urged workers to return to work. The agreement outlined efforts to address staffing issues and minimize mandatory 24-hour overtime shifts.
But by Sunday, some officers remained on strike, and the corrections department announced it would begin terminating officers with unauthorized absences of more than 11 consecutive shifts.
Now, it is up to each individual officer to decide to return to work, Miller told CNN.
CNN’s Michelle Watson, Gloria Pazmino, Dalia Faheid and Andy Rose contributed to this report.
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