Lack of body-cam video a factor in probe of latest NY inmate death

ALBANY — A State Police homicide investigation into allegations that a 22-year-old inmate at Mid-State Correctional Facility died Saturday after being beaten by multiple correction officers has been hampered by the lack of body-camera footage of the incident, according to two sources briefed on the matter but not authorized to comment publicly.

The incident involved members of a Correctional Emergency Response Team, who allegedly were not wearing body cameras or had failed to turn them on if they were, one of the sources said. That person said that a correction officer who was not a member of the emergency team was in the area and wearing a body camera that had been activated to record, “but it didn’t catch anything that’s any use.”

The death of Messiah Nantwi is the second homicide investigation in less than four months in which correction officers are under scrutiny for their use of physical force involving the death of an inmate. On Dec. 9, 43-year-old Robert L. Brooks was beaten to death by correction officers at Marcy Correctional Facility, which is next door to Mid-State Correctional Facility in Oneida County.

Thirteen correction officers are facing criminal charges in Brooks' death, including six who have been charged with murder, three who are charged with manslaughter and one charged with tampering with evidence. Another three officers have agreed to plead guilty to reduced charges and cooperate in that investigation, according to Onondaga County District Attorney William J. Fitzpatrick, whose office is handling the homicide case as a special prosecutor.

But the investigation of Brooks’s death was aided by the fact that one of three beatings he endured that night at the hands of correction officers was captured on body-cam video, according to Fitzpatrick.

The Times Union first reported in December that the body cameras worn by four correction officers, including a sergeant, were passively recording portions of the beating of Brooks even though their devices had not been activated to record. Investigators were able to retrieve that video footage from those four devices because of a function on the Axon cameras — unknown to the officers at the time — that their body-worn devices are recording when they are turned on, even if they have not been activated. 

Last month, the department’s policies governing body cameras were updated to make it more clear they must be worn and activated at the prison facilities where they are in use. But it’s unclear why the emergency response team members who allegedly used physical force on Nantwi were not recording their actions.

Gov. Kathy Hochul issued a statement Tuesday saying, “early reports point to extremely disturbing conduct leading to Mr. Nantwi’s death and I am committed to accountability for all involved.”

The state attorney general's office is empowered under state law to investigate — and if warranted prosecute — criminal cases in which civilians die during encounters with law enforcement officers, including correction officers. The office has not said whether it will handle the investigation of Nantwi's death.

The attorney general’s office stepped aside in the criminal investigation of Brooks' death, asking a judge to appoint the Onondaga County District Attorney's office to handle the matter. That decision, according to the attorney general's office, was based on its ongoing work defending civil lawsuits filed previously against four of the officers involved in the beating of Brooks. But the attorney general’s office subsequently removed itself from defending those officers in the earlier lawsuits, which allege similar incidents of excessive force.

'No place in DOCCS'

On Dec. 18, less than 10 days after Brooks' death at Marcy, state corrections Commissioner Daniel F. Martuscello III issued an agency-wide memo that stated body cameras should be turned on and actively recording anytime a correction officer wearing one is interacting with an inmate. 

Martuscello’s memo also noted that every employee “has a duty to immediately report any individual who intentionally or unintentionally circumvents the (body-worn camera) policy.”

“Anyone found to have violated the law or DOCCS policy will be held accountable,” the commissioner wrote. “There is no place in DOCCS for anyone who violates our policies or the law, and anyone who does will be held accountable.”

The directives in Martuscello's memo were formally adopted into the body-worn camera policy on Feb. 15, the first update since August 2024. The expanded policy includes new sections disclosing the Axon cameras' passive-recording feature and makes clear that it’s the “responsibility of each DOCCS employee who is issued a (body-worn camera) to ensure the device is powered on and remains on for the duration of the employee’s shift.”

The policy also directs that the cameras must be activated anytime an “employee is interacting with an incarcerated individual or visitor in any location.” In addition, the cameras are required to be on and actively recording during any response to an emergency, which include “disturbances in any area of the facility.”

The updated policy additionally dictates that supervisors are responsible for making sure officers are wearing and activating body cameras "at all times ... when interacting and/or escorting incarcerated individuals."

"Upon arrival at an incident, the supervisor will ensure their assigned (body-worn camera) is activated and verify that all staff involved in the incident, or in the area, have activated their (body-worn camera), if assigned," the policy reads. "Supervisors must ensure the (body-worn cameras) remain recording throughout the incident, including during all activities, escorts, and all searches of incarcerated individuals, cells, and areas." 

A spokesman for the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision on Wednesday said that body-worn cameras were deployed at Mid-State Correctional Facility a year ago. He declined answer questions about why the incident preceding the death of Nantwi was allegedly not recorded by any cameras assigned to the emergency response team members.

The Correctional Association of New York, an independent organization authorized to monitor conditions and report its findings publicly, visited Mid-State Correctional Facility in January and said that it found serious “operational failures.” Their findings included that no progress had been made since October 2022 — their last visit at Mid-State — to install up to 1,700 fixed surveillance cameras at the prison.

Also, the prison’s “superintendent reported that nearly 300 body-worn cameras had been in use since May 2024, but that some were broken, and others were not remaining charged for the duration of a shift,” according to the correctional association. 

Hochul on Tuesday said that she had directed the corrections department to place 15 individuals on administrative leave in connection with the death of Nantwi, who had been serving a five-year sentence for his conviction on felony weapons possession in the Bronx.

“While the investigation into this incident is ongoing, early reports point to extremely disturbing conduct leading to Mr. Nantwi’s death and I am committed to accountability for all involved,” Hochul said, adding the incident “is a reminder of the need for real systemic change within our correctional system.”

The death of Nantwi took place as the operations at more than 30 prisons across New York are being hobbled by an unsanctioned strike that began on Feb. 17 involving thousands of correction officers. More than 6,500 New York National Guard troops have been deployed to the facilities to assist with security and operations at the prisons.

The death of Brooks exposed the apparently rampant violations of the department’s policy governing the use of body-worn cameras — as well as supervisors' failure to enforce the rules in place at that time. Body cameras were deployed at Marcy state prison last May.

 The department has been slowly deploying the devices at prisons since 2017, when New York launched a pilot program seeking to become the first state to equip its correctional staff with the equipment.

Although body cameras fixed-camera systems have been slowly expanded across numerous facilities, many prisons still do not have them in use. And even where they are deployed, the inmate deaths at Marcy and Mid-State confirm that some incidents of physical force are not being recorded, even when officers are wearing body cameras and supervisors are monitoring their actions.

Previous federal lawsuits have alleged officers at Marcy have systematically beaten inmates in areas of the prison chosen because there are no fixed cameras. Two years ago, Amy Jane Agnew, a civil rights attorney whose firm focuses on representing the rights of inmates including seeking better health care, filed a federal lawsuit against former Marcy Superintendent Michael D’Amore and other corrections officials alleging she and her staffers had been inhibited from providing legal advice to their clients. That allegedly included not being allowed to exchange legal documents; some confidential files were being taken away or examined by corrections officers.

Agnew’s federal lawsuit also alleged that inmates were routinely taken on “van rides” for no apparent reason other than to physically assault them as punishment for filing grievances or meeting with her or her colleagues.

“Security administrators have known about these 'van rides' for years yet allow them to continue as a form of behavior control and to deter prisoners from exercising their First Amendment rights … or engaging in any behavior that staff regard as a threat to the status quo,” her complaint alleged.

D'Amore is now a deputy commissioner overseeing security at New York prisons, including the use of body-worn cameras.

Jennifer Scaife, executive director of the Correctional Association of New York, told the Times Union two months ago that updating the prison system’s body camera policy is not enough.

“Staff who don’t want to follow the rules will continue to find ways not to follow the rules,” Scaife said. “An updated policy is only as good as the department’s ability to enforce it, and it’s not clear to me that those safeguards are fully in place.”