New York Guards Indicted for Prisoner’s Murder
Two New York Department of Corrections and Community Services (DOCCS) guards were charged with murder on April 16, 2025, in the death of prisoner Messiah Nantwi at Mid-State Correctional Facility. The mentally ill 22-year-old was sobbing in a shower where he was hiding from National Guard troops mustered during a wildcat guard strike when he was fatally beaten by a group of guards on March 1, 2025, as PLN reported. [See: PLN, Apr. 2025, p.56.]
An Onondaga County grand jury indicted Jonah Levi and Caleb Blair for killing Nantwi in a hail of blows from their fists and boots “with no legitimate law enforcement purpose.” They and fellow guard Joshua Bartlett were handcuffing the prisoner when he reportedly grabbed Bartlett’s vest. That touched off the beat-down, in which fellow guards Thomas Eck, Craig Klemick and Daniel Burger quickly joined, the indictment said. All except Bartlett were charged with first-degree manslaughter and gang assault.
Bartlett, who was not charged, was suspended without pay, as were Blair, Eck and Klemick. Levi resigned, along with Burger. Sgts. David Ferrone and Francis Chandler were also charged with second-degree manslaughter for failing to intervene in the fatal five-minute assault. Ferrone also resigned, while Chandler was added to the list of those suspended without pay.
Sgts. Donald Slawson and Michael Iffert were charged with covering up the crime and suspended without pay. Iffert reported not seeing the incident, though he was standing outside Nantwi’s cell as the prisoner’s blood soaked the floor. Slawson reportedly tried to mop it up, after Blair returned to beat Nantwi’s corpse some more. A tenth guard, Nicholas Vitale, was also suspended without pay and charged, though details were not available.
Another 10 DOCCS guards were charged in February 2025 with the fatal beating of prisoner Robert Brooks, 43, at the nearby Marcy Correctional Facility. The timing of those charges coincided with the guard walkout, as PLN reported; it ended three weeks later after Gov. Kathy Hochul agreed to a temporary suspension of the newly passed ban on solitary confinement. However, 2,000 of the striking guards did not return to work and were fired—prompting some early prisoner releases to lower staffing ratios, as reported elsewhere in this issue [See: PLN, Mar. 2025, p.61; Apr.2025, p.9; and May 2025, p.26.]
Sources: Albany Times Union, New York Times, WSYR
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