Former prison guard pleads guilty to manslaughter in New York inmate's
fatal beating
[May 05, 2026]
By DAVE COLLINS
One of multiple corrections officers charged in connection with the
fatal beating of an inmate at an upstate New York prison last year
pleaded guilty to manslaughter Monday and agreed to serve 11 years in
prison.
Former guard Caleb Blair had initially faced the most serious charges
filed against the officers, including second-degree murder, in the death
of 22-year-old Messiah Nantwi at the Mid-State Correctional Facility
near Utica on March 1, 2025. Nantwi died of massive head trauma and
other injuries, and Blair was one of two guards who prosecutors said
inflicted head wounds.
Prosecutors said Nantwi suffered 69 separate body blows from guards who
used their fists, boots and batons in a series of beatings. Nantwi, who
was serving a five-year sentence for exchanging gunfire with police
officers, had objected to being handcuffed by guards while resisting a
prisoner headcount before the beatings, an indictment said.
Blair pleaded guilty in Oneida County Court in Utica just before jury
selection was to begin Monday for a trial. Onondaga County District
Attorney William Fitzpatrick, who prosecuted the case, said Nantwi's
family was OK with the plea deal.
“I'm satisfied that justice was done,” Fitzpatrick told The Associated
Press in a phone interview after the hearing. “There has to be systemic
changes in the facilities regarding relationships between (corrections
officers) and incarcerated individuals, and I hope that people just
don’t turn the page.”
Blair's lawyer, William Sullivan, said his client accepted
responsibility for his actions. He said Blair had been a model
corrections officer with no history of being disciplined and had served
overseas in the National Guard.
“It was a terrible combination of eight minutes, six minutes, in that
cell that ruined an otherwise exemplary life," Sullivan said. “If you
had a daughter and Caleb Blair came home to ask for her hand, you’d be
proud.”
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Sentencing was set for June 17,
Lawyers for Nantwi's family said his relatives primarily wanted
accountability for his death.
“Most of the defendants here are going to jail. And hopefully the
impact of that will resonate throughout the state prisons, which for
far too long have tolerated and turned a blind eye to violence
against inmates," attorneys Earl Ward and Katie Rosenfeld said in a
statement.
The other former officer who Fitzpatrick said inflicted head blows
to Nantwi, Jonah Levi — who denied the allegation — was found guilty
of manslaughter and other crimes by a jury last month and awaits
sentencing.
A third former guard, Craig Klemick, pleaded guilty on Friday to
offering a false instrument for filing, a crime commonly charged for
lying in reports about an incident. Several other former guards have
pleaded guilty, and only one case remains to be tried.
In an initial indictment of 10 corrections officers last year, six
were accused of assaulting Nantwi, while the other four were accused
of participating in a cover-up that included filing false reports,
plotting to plant a makeshift knife and cleaning up blood in
Nantwi’s room in an effort to destroy evidence.
The beating occurred during a wildcat strike by many officers that
forced the governor to send in National Guard members to help keep
order. Nantwi’s death also came several months after Robert Brooks
was fatally beaten at a separate prison just across the road from
Mid-State.
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