State prison crisis hits home with young Harlemite Messiah Nantwi's death
New York Amsterdam News|March 13, 2025
Prison reform advocates rallied outside Harlem’s Adam Clayton Powell State Office building last Friday, Mar. 7, after another Black New Yorker’s recent death in state prison. Early reports suggest “extremely distur# conduct” probably was the cause of 22-year-old Messiah Nantwi being killed at Mid-State Correctional Facility earlier this month, according to Gov. Kathy Hochul.
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State prison crisis hits home with young Harlemite Messiah Nantwi's death

In connection with the death, 15 staff members were placed on leave, following familiar patterns that led to the arrest of 10 prison staff members allegedly involved in killing Robert Brooks at Marcy Correctional Facility, which is across the street from MidState. Six currently are charged with murder. Body-worn camera footage showed a room full of corrections officers violently striking the restrained Black New Yorker shortly before his death.

The Rev. Kevin McCall, a spokesperson for Nantwi’s parents, organized the advocacy action and told the AmNews the family would like the young Harlemite remembered as someone trying to overcome a tough upbringing who was making strides to turn his life around while behind bars.

“You don’t know what was going to come out of him paying his debt to society, but he’s not here to tell his story,” McCall said by phone. “He’s not even here to even apologize to the victims. He’s not here to do anything because the corrections officers took that from him.”

Nantwi’s death also coincides with a recent illegal strike by corrections officers across the state. Those who did not return to work were fired, blacklisted, and kicked off their benefits.

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