Eleven staff members on leave after inmate at Mid-State Correctional Facility dies

MARCY, N.Y. — Eleven corrections officers are on administrative leave after a 22-year-old inmate at Mid-State Correctional Facility died over the weekend, the state’s Department of Corrections and Community Supervision confirmed.

The man, Messiah Nantwi, was pronounced dead at a Utica-area hospital on Saturday morning. He was incarcerated across the street from the prison where Greece man Robert Brooks was beaten and later died in December.

The New York Attorney General’s Office and New York State Police are looking into the death at Mid-State. DOCCS said they couldn’t comment further because it’s an ongoing investigation.

According to the New York Times, Nantwi was serving a five-year sentence on weapons charges. The Times interviewed nine inmates, who said corrections officers beat him after he got into a disagreement with a National Guard member. The Times could not independently confirm those reports.