Guards violated constitutional rights of inmate killed in state prison, new lawsuit alleges
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Messiah Nantwi died in the Mid-State Correctional Facility last March, and a new lawsuit claims the guards who allegedly killed him violated his constitutional rights.Screenshot from Google Maps
By Noah Powelson
A new federal civil rights lawsuit was filed against the prison guards accused of brutally beating and killing 22-year-old Messiah Nantwi while he was incarcerated, arguing his constitutional rights were violated.
Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, attorneys allege that over 18 prison staff either participated in or did not stop the five-minute beating of Nantwi while he was in the Mid-State Correctional Facility upstate.
The lawsuit also includes Department of Corrections and Community Supervision Commissioner Daniel Martuscello III and Mid-State Superintendent Bryan Hilton, arguing a history of neglect and incompetence on their part enabled a culture of cruelty by prison guards against prisoners.
The lawsuit also alleges that the officers intentionally turned off their body-worn camera or turned them away while the beating was taking place, and conspired to plant and hide evidence after Nantwi was killed.
Many of the prison officers already face criminal charges after the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision launched an investigation into Nantwi’s death on March 2, 2025.
On April 16, a grand jury indictment was unsealed charging ten correction officers involved in the incident. Other officers have also since been criminally charged.
The new lawsuit, which was filed by Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP on behalf of Nantwi and his father, alleges the officers violated Nantwi’s Eighth Amendment constitutional right to no cruel or unusual punishments.
According to the lawsuit, Nantwi was in the shower area at Mid-State Correctional Facility when he was ordered to return to his cell for a routine count on the morning of March 1, 2025. Nantwi initially refused but eventually returned to his cell.
The lawsuit then says a Corrections Emergency Response Team of nearly 20 officers later arrived at Nantwi’s cell, handcuffed him, then proceeded to punch, kick and slam Nantwi against the ground for over five minutes. Nantwi allegedly was struck with batons and went unconscious multiple times during the beating, and was left untreated for several minutes after the attack had ended.
He was pronounced dead of severe head trauma after he was transferred to an outside hospital.
“This case is about the brutal and unjustified killing of 22-year-old Messiah Nantwi by a gang of correction officers at Mid-State,” Earl S. Ward, Partner at ECBAWM, said in a statement. “Messiah was restrained and defenseless when at least 18 officers beat him for over five minutes, or stood by and failed to intervene to stop the fatal assault. They then conspired to plant a weapon in Messiah’s cell to justify their horrific use of force.”
The lawsuit claims that following Nantwi’s death, the officers planted a knife in his cell, wiped away blood from Nantwi’s area and met several times to coordinate a narrative for the incident.
The lawsuit also alleges a conversation between prison guards detailing how they would plant a weapon in Nantwi’s cell was recorded on a camera in an infirmary bathroom.
But the lawsuit is not just going after the prison guards themselves, but DOCCS brass.
Despite repeated reports, lawsuits and directions to address prisoner abuse over the years, the lawsuit alleges Martuscello and Hilton failed to take any meaningful action to prevent abuses and cover-ups by staff which led to Nantwi’s death.
“All DOCCS facilities, and Mid-State in particular, under the supervision of Defendants Martuscello and Hilton, have suffered from a longstanding pattern, practice, and custom of excessive, and sometimes fatal, force by corrections officers against incarcerated people,” the lawsuit reads.
The lawsuit alleges that both Martuscello and Hiltons had been aware of multiple investigations of staff abuses over the years, both from reporters and from the Office of Special Investigations.
The lawsuit also cites a 2023 report issued by the nonprofit oversight group the Correctional Association of New York that detailed “routine – and sometimes racialized – abuse by staff, including physical assaults, and observations of a retaliatory environment.”
A spokesperson for DOCCS stated they do not comment on pending litigation and would not give a statement.
Nantwi’s death occurred just three months after another prisoner, 43-year-old Robert Brooks, sparked outrage among advocate groups and elected officials alike.
Unlike in Nantwi’s case, body-worn cameras captured the beating and death of Brooks.
Both Nantwi and Brooks' death were the catalyst for a recent prison reform bill, sponsored by Queens State Senator Julia Salazar, that recently passed the legislature. The reforms would, among many things, require surveillance camera coverage in all common areas of state prisons.
The Office of Governor Kathy Hochul did not provide a statement on the Nantwi federal lawsuit after an Eagle inquiry, but a spokesperson for Hochul said her office has invested hundreds of millions of dollars to expand surveillance and body-worn cameras in DOCCS facilities. The spokesperson also said the law firm WilmerHale was retained to conduct a review of patterns and practices at Marcy, Mid-State and other DOCCS prisons following the deaths of Brooks and Nantwi.
Nantwi’s father, Patterson Nantwi, said he hoped this lawsuit would prevent further abuse in state prisons.
“The loss of my son Messiah is a pain no parent should ever endure. He was loved by many, and he deserved to be treated with dignity and respect — not brutally beaten while handcuffed and defenseless by those whose job it was to protect him,” Patterson Nantwi said in a statement. “I want justice for Messiah by holding those responsible accountable and ensuring that no other family suffers this kind of tragedy, and this lawsuit is a part of that fight.”
