Release Aging People in Prison Campaign

Today, NYSDOCCS identified 15 guards & sergeants under investigation for the brutal murder of Messiah Nantwi at Mid-State prison.

RAPP Leader Alton Lee, a survivor of Mid-State: I know 7 of them, all known to be part of a goon squad that brutalizes incarcerated people. 🧵

...In addition, to begin the transformation of the prison environment, she must support the Rights Behind Bars bill and finally implement the HALT Solitary Law.”

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...That is why Governor Hochul must support legislation like the Fair & Timely Parole and Elder Parole bills and expansively use her powers of executive clemency...

...Governor Hochul cannot erase the longstanding and ongoing crisis of brutality by removing a handful of guards. The best way to help ensure the safety of incarcerated people is to provide pathways to release...

...In addition to firing all the guards who took part in these murders or helped to cover them up, real accountability means uprooting this entire rotten system and building a new one that truly serves the cause of justice and healing...

...What I’m sharing today took place in just two prisons. DOCCS operates 42 of them. The reality is that only a small fraction of the racist violence routinely committed by prison guards gets reported in the press, and the state has never pursued real accountability...

...Joshua Bartlett, who is one of the guards suspended for the killing of Messiah Nantwi, took part in both of those earlier killings, as Building 10 was his post. Like the other named guards and sergeants, he had a long history of viciously brutalizing people...

...What has not yet been reported is that at least two other people were brutally killed by guards in this solitary confinement unit at Mid-State just while I was incarcerated there from 2018 to 2020...

...These are locations without cameras – and that’s why the racist lynch mobs hired and trained by DOCCS would beat, stomp and choke people there...

RAPP Leader Alton: “At Mid-State prison, they would take people to Building 10, which is a SHU block, or solitary confinement. At Marcy, across the street from Mid-State, they would take people to a small room in the gym and then the infirmary, where Robert Brooks was lynched...

...as well as Sergeants Donald Slawson and Michael Iffert, all from Mid-State. From Marcy, guards Craig Klemick, Tristan Sheppard, Thomas Eck, and Nicholas Vitale have also been placed on leave.

The suspended guards are Joshua Bartlett & Sergeant Francis Chandler from Mid-State, & Zachary Lallier from Marcy. Those placed on leave include guards Frank Jacobs, Adam Joseph, Jonah Levi, Nathan Palmer, Caleb Blair, and Daniel Burger, ...

Today, NYSDOCCS identified 15 guards & sergeants under investigation for the brutal murder of Messiah Nantwi at Mid-State prison.

RAPP Leader Alton Lee, a survivor of Mid-State: I know 7 of them, all known to be part of a goon squad that brutalizes incarcerated people. 🧵

It's time we made parole in NYS smarter and fairer NY's parole system leans toward unnecessary incarceration, keeping many aging inmates behind bars long after they've paid their debt.

NEW: Former prosecutor Christina Green writes in Newsday why New York should enact the Fair & Timely Parole and Elder Parole bills.

“Ultimately, we must recognize when continued incarceration serves no purpose beyond simply warehousing a person.” www.newsday.com/opinion/comm...

“We grieve for the beloved family who lost their loved one to this ongoing crisis. When prison guards with a long history of inflicting racist brutality and sexual violence feel emboldened and even above the law, tragedies like this one are inevitable – and they will continue. Prison walls have long shielded guards from accountability for extreme violence and murder, even when their crimes make the front page of The New York Times. Now that the world has seen their brutality in horrific detail in the video of Robert Brooks, and now that lawmakers feel an obligation to rein in these atrocities, guards are engaging in an illegal work stoppage as a distraction. To put it more bluntly, guards are holding hostage tens of thousands of incarcerated people, whose basic survival needs are often going unmet, in order to demand even more power to harm those in their custody. This murder is just the latest example of why they must not be granted that power. The incarcerated people are the ones who are not safe. They are victims of routine brutality and constant deprivations of their civil rights. The incarcerated men who witnessed the guards murdering this man were forced to clean the blood off the floor. The message that guards are sending is clear and cannot be ignored. In the interest of justice and safety, we need to completely dismantle this system and, led by crime survivors and formerly incarcerated people, build a true system of accountability and healing. In the meantime, we need to do all we can to protect human rights behind bars––including by finally and fully implementing the HALT Solitary Confinement Law and enacting the Rights Behind Bars and End Qualified Immunity bills––and create pathways to release by enacting the Elder Parole and Fair & Timely Parole bills, along with the Second Look Act and the Earned Time Act. Most urgently, Gov. Hochul must use her executive clemency powers expansively to release community-ready individuals.” “We grieve for the beloved f…

Another incarcerated person was brutally slain by prison guards in a facility just across the street from Marcy Prison, where guards murdered Robert Brooks. Guards even made incarcerated people clean up the blood. The incarcerated people are the ones who are not safe.

Our statement:

To help relieve the prison crisis, Gov Hochul should use her clemency powers.

“She has the opportunity to make a statement, not only for the communities that are impacted, but for the illegal strikers, that she's going to resort to humane solutions.” queenseagle.com/all/2025/2/2...

"Guards are on strike because the world saw the video of 14-16 guards lynching a Black man [Robert Brooks]. This illegal strike is to erase the consciousness we're building to dismantle the racial brutality & sexual violence in the prison system that's been going on for decades."-RAPP's Jose Saldana

Advocates: NY Prison Guard Strike Is Part of History of Repression & Violence Against Prison Activism We speak with Jose Saldaña, director of Release Aging People in Prison, about a wildcat strike by New York prison guards who claim limits on solitary confinement have made their work more dangerous. “...

José Saldaña & Ori Burton talk about the NY State prison guards' wildcat strike, solitary confinement & other forms of prison violence:: @rappcampaign.bsky.social

NAACP slams move to suspend parts of law on solitary as inmates decry conditions amid strike The NAACP board said they are “profoundly disturbed” over the governor’s decision to suspend elements of the HALT solitary law during the wildcat prison guard strike.

Thank you NAACP of NYS for your solidarity against torture.

Read their statement and more critical reporting on the human rights crisis in NY prisons created by guards seeking to distract from their co-workers' murder of Robert Brooks. nydailynews.com/2025/02/25/n... via @grahamrayman.bsky.social

Inmate, 61, in upstate N.Y. prison dies in midst of corrections’ officers’ wildcat strike A state prisoner died early Saturday at Auburn Correctional Facility in the Finger Lakes region — in the midst of the correction officers’ wildcat strike now entering its seventh day — amid allegat…

“The issue is not understaffing but overincarceration. Passing the Elder Parole bill would directly relieve NYSDOCCS, particularly the urgent medical needs of elderly individuals, during strikes." via @grahamrayman.bsky.social www.nydailynews.com/2025/02/23/i...

Flyer: Rally Against Prison Abuse - A Call to Action. Thursday, Feb. 20 at 11am. Outside Governor Hochul's NYC Office - 919 Third Avenue in Manhattan. Red background with image of people speaking out in greyscale. Text: Join families of incarcerated people and lawmakers to demand an end to brutality and sexual assaults by prison guards.

Flyer: Rally Against Prison Abuse - A Call to Action. Thursday, Feb. 20 at 11am. In Albany, by the I heart NY sign at the security entrance to the Capitol, inside the Concourse. Black background with image of people speaking out in greyscale. Text: Join families of incarcerated people and lawmakers to demand an end to brutality and sexual assaults by prison guards.

JOIN US: Thurs. @ 11am, we're rallying in NYC + Albany to demand an end to prison abuse. Guards have been brutalizing, sexually assaulting & killing Black and brown people in New York's prisons for decades. We are demanding basic rights for incarcerated people, real pathways to release & more.

Our first post on blue sky! We are the Release Aging People in Prison Campaign and we fight for the release of older people (and all people) in prison by advocating for meaningful opportunities for release through parole and clemency.

Learn more and join our work: rappcampaign.com