An Oneida County jury convicted former correction officer Jonah Levi final week for collaborating within the lethal beating of Messiah Nantwi, a Harlem man incarcerated on the medium-security Mid-State Correctional Facility. The incident happened in March 2025, when a minimum of 18 jail workers members allegedly punched, hit, and stomped on the 22-year-old or stood by and watched, equally to the homicide of Robert Brooks roughly 4 months earlier than this incident.
“It received’t carry Messiah again, however I haven’t actually slept since this occurred,” stated Patterson Nantwi, father of Messiah Nantwi. “Possibly it is a step towards me getting some relaxation.”
Levi was discovered responsible of most costs along with the highest homicide cost: first-degree manslaughter, first-degree gang assault, second-degree gang assault, fifth-degree conspiracy, and first-degree providing of a false instrument for submitting in reference to the loss of life. He reportedly faces as much as 25 years in the identical state jail system he as soon as labored for.
“Messiah Nantwi ought to be alive in the present day,” stated Gov. Kathy Hochul in an emailed assertion. “I’ve been clear that anybody chargeable for his loss of life should be held accountable to the fullest extent of the regulation. My ideas are along with his household, and we’ll proceed strengthening security, safety, and transparency inside our correctional system to maintain everybody secure from hurt.”
Brooks and Nantwi’s deaths despatched shockwaves early final 12 months over the state’s jail circumstances, however coincided with an unlawful correction officers strike. Hochul and Division of Corrections and Neighborhood Supervision (DOCCS) commissioner Daniel Marticello in the end moved to droop or fireplace lots of the officers allegedly concerned within the killings. Advocates spent final 12 months urgently demanding reforms from passing an oversight bundle to bolstering launch mechanisms like parole, resentencing, and clemency.
A number of different corrections officers nonetheless face trial for Nantwi’s loss of life, whereas a handful pleaded responsible to their costs final 12 months, largely for overlaying up the incident or in change for testifying. A complete of 10 guards, together with Levi, have been indicted.
The civil rights regulation agency of Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP (ECBAWM) and legal professional Owen Lamb filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Nantwi’s property final June. In response to the lawsuit’s court docket paperwork, Levi was allegedly positioned on a year-long disciplinary analysis after allegedly beating one other incarcerated man. The submitting additionally alleges that commissioner Marticello was “conscious of the precise threat of great hurt posed by Defendant Levi.”
Lamb feels the ruling helps restore the religion within the system, particularly with the Utica jury agreeing to the conviction. He hopes the case will affect reforms to stop additional questionable deaths. Civil rights legal professional Earl Ward and fellow ECBAWM companion Katie Rosenfeld launched a joint assertion calling Nantwi’s and Brooks’ deaths “a disturbing sample of violence and cover-ups in New York’s prisons that DOCCS has lengthy ignored.”
“The jury’s conviction of former corrections officer Jonah Levi affirms what the proof confirmed: Messiah was restrained and defenseless when officers beat him, whereas others stood by and did not intervene to cease the deadly assault,” they added. “The proof additionally confirmed a coordinated effort to cowl up the assault, together with planting a weapon in Messiah’s cell to justify using drive.”
Levi’s protection legal professional, Graeme Spicer, didn’t touch upon the ruling, citing his coverage of not chatting with the press about pending issues.
Whereas body-worn cameras captured footage of officers beating Robert Brooks in December 2024, the jail workers concerned in Nantwi’s loss of life didn’t put on them. A number of folks incarcerated in Mid-State on the time recounted and corroborated the incident to the New York Instances.
A DOCCS spokesperson denounced Levi and pointed to division efforts to enhance body-worn digicam insurance policies and enlist human rights organizations to evaluate security and cultural points within the division.
“The actions of this former officer don’t replicate the values or customary of conduct anticipated of all DOCCS workers,” stated the DOCCS spokesperson. “We instantly investigated and referred this matter to regulation enforcement for prosecution. We stay dedicated to sustaining an atmosphere that prioritizes the security and well-being of everybody in our amenities.”
Nonetheless, Jose Saldaña, who advocates for elder parole reform as director of the Launch Growing older Individuals in Jail marketing campaign, stated oversight and body-worn cameras can’t restore a damaged system. He pointed to historic and continued racism by way of mass incarceration and believes the conviction can’t absolutely deal with “the structural issues of brutality” at correctional amenities.
“I spent 38 years in jail and I’ve by no means heard or [seen] [corrections officers] beat a white incarcerated particular person to loss of life,” Saldaña stated. “They know when to cease in relation to white incarcerated folks, however have completely no hesitation in anyway to beat a Black particular person to loss of life … in all of the years that I’ve been in jail, I by no means believed that oversight will shield me from being brutally beat[en] to loss of life. I didn’t consider the cameras [would] cease them from beating me to loss of life. The one factor that [I was] involved about was to get out of jail as quickly as doable.”
