Marcy, N.Y – Two state corrections officers who were placed on leave this month following the death of an inmate were involved in an infamous beating of inmates at the same facility nine years prior.
In 2016, dozens of Mid-State corrections officers assaulted, kicked, and sodomized inmates. Judge Anthony Brindisi ruled late last year that the state must pay monetary damages to the inmates, but the amount has yet to be determined.
Two of those employees, corrections officer Adam Joseph and Sgt. Donald Slawson, are now among 15 state prison employees being investigated in connection with the March 1 death of inmate Messiah Nantwi at Mid-State.
According to Thomas Mailey, a spokesperson for the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, three employees have been suspended without pay. They are Sgt. Francis Chandler, Joshua Bartlett, and Zachary Lallier, all corrections officers.
Mailey said the remaining 12 employees have been placed on paid administrative leave. They are:
- Corrections officers Joseph, Frank Jacobs, Jonah Levi, Nathan Palmer, Caleb Blair, Daniel Burger, Craig Klemick, Tristan Sheppard, Thomas Eck and Nicholas Vitale
- Sgts. Slawson and Michael Iffert
Inmates filed a lawsuit in the state Court of Claims following the 2016 incident.
Brindisi, the judge in the case, ruled in December that New York State owes restitution to 28 current and former inmates for the pain and humiliation they experienced that day in 2016.
Many of the officers involved in the 2016 inmate beatings are still employed at the prison.
The court documents in the lawsuit identified Joseph and Slawson as two of the officers involved.
According to Brindisi’s ruling, Slawson and Joseph were ordered to transfer an inmate from one of the prison dorms to another housing unit for an investigation.
Slawson stated that they entered the dorm bathroom and encountered the inmate, Roy Bowers. Joseph claimed he told Bowers to put his hands on the wall. Bowers charged at him, knocking him to the ground, Joseph explained.
Joseph claimed he struggled with Slawson and Bowers until Bowers could be handcuffed.
Bowers was later photographed with swelling under his left eye, a small cut on his right cheek, and a red spot on his lower back.
The court documents do not elaborate on whether Joseph and Slawson were involved in the larger attacks on the inmates, which included beatings and sexual assault.
Authorities have yet to reveal what any of the prison employees did in the death of Nantwi on March 1.
Gov. Kathy Hochul previously stated that there are indications that “extremely disturbing conduct” contributed to his death.
A lawyer for the state Attorney General’s Office stated in court papers that there is probable cause to believe that up to nine state prison employees caused or contributed to Nantwi’s death.
The AG’s office initially led the investigation, but later recused itself because it is currently representing some of the corrections officers involved in Nantwi’s death in civil lawsuits. William Fitzpatrick, District Attorney of Onondaga County, has been appointed as a special prosecutor.
It is unclear if there is any body camera footage of what occurred.
The Mid-State prison is located across the street from Marcy Correctional Facility, where body cameras captured several correctional officers brutally beating an inmate, Robert L. Brooks, to death in December. The guards did not turn on the cameras, but they do have a “video recall” function that allows investigators to retrieve some video.
Nearly a dozen people have been indicted in the Brooks case, with some facing murder charges.
Mid-State is a medium-security state prison located in Oneida County, approximately seven miles west of Utica. According to records, there were approximately 1,220 inmates on March 1.
The Correctional Association of New York, an independent monitoring group, has previously identified issues at the prison.
In the fall of 2022, the group interviewed more than 100 inmates, and they reported “numerous allegations” of staff abuse and retaliation.
“People described their interactions with staff as demeaning and fearful,” the organization stated in its report.
