An Amsterdam man and former inmate is looking for change and justice after his injuries and the beating death of another inmate. A former corrections officer is about to go on trial for murder.
Amsterdam, N.Y. (WNYT) – Shayzon Taylor is home with his wife, but he still bears the scars of what happened to him in prison.
“I heard about him and the other officers, the little squad they had called the Beat Squad.”
One of the former corrections officers accused in a beating death of an inmate at Mid-State prison last year is going to trail next week. An Amsterdam man who says he was beaten by that same officer now wants to be there to see justice done.
He was beaten while serving time in Mid-State on drug charges.
“I was handcuffed from the back and shackled. My legs swept under. Once I hit the floor, that way, all I seen was black,” he remembered.
One of the officers found to have used excessive force was Jonah Levi.
Under a settlement agreement, Levi was suspended, fined, and given a year disciplinary evaluation period.
That former C.O. is now about to stand trial next week for murder in connection with the beating death of inmate Messiah Nantwi, also at Mid-State, in March 2025.
“I feel as though if they would have listened to us a lot sooner and when I was bringing things about what happened to my husband, this really could have been prevented with Messiah, said Shayzon’s wife Michelle.
Levi is one of 10 officers charged in connection with what happened to Messiah.
“I know what he felt that he couldn’t talk about after,” said Taylor “I know what he felt. I don’t know the afterlife, but I know what he felt in that moment. I could feel what he felt in that moment before he passed. And that’s tough. To die like that is tough.”
Shayzon says something needs to change, and that it’s still happening.
“We’re not put there to be beat on for incidents or mistakes we made in our life. We’re put there to try to change and come home and be better, but not come home and have scars and remember jail for the rest of your life because you were beat on.”
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