UTICA, N.Y. (AP) — Ten New York prison guards were charged Wednesday in connection with the fatal beating of a 22-year-old inmate last month — including two charged with murder. It’s the second time a group of correctional officers in the state was indicted for a death behind bars this year.
Messiah Nantwi, a prisoner at the Mid-State Correctional Facility, died March 1 from injuries he sustained in a series of beatings by guards that began in his room and continued even when he was lying handcuffed on the floor of the infirmary, the indictment says.
Six of the officers charged Wednesday 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. All entered not guilty pleas…