Former prison guard pleads guilty to manslaughter in New York inmate's fatal beating

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.”

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.

This story has been updated to correct attorney Ward's first name to Earl, not Ed.

FILE - The Mid-State Correctional Facility is seen on April 16, 2025, in Marcy, N.Y. (AP Photo/Michael Hill, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — Doris Fisher, who co-founded the iconic clothing chain The Gap Inc. in 1969 with her late husband Don, has died. She was 94.

Fisher died on Saturday surrounded by her family, a Gap spokesperson confirmed on Monday. The San Francisco-based company did not specify a cause of death.

The couple co-founded The Gap after a frustrating shopping experience when Don Fisher couldn’t find a pair of jeans that fit, according to the retailer. The Fishers opened one small store on Ocean Avenue in San Francisco. Initially men’s Levi’s jeans and record tapes were the only items for sale. But the brand became the foundation for a global retail empire and reshaped American fashion with a focus on simple casual looks from khakis and jeans to T-shirts and sweater sets.

The chain eventually expanded to other nameplates — Banana Republic and Old Navy — and now generates more than $15 billion in sales globally.

Fisher was the company’s fashion merchandiser for nearly four decades, while her husband focused on the business side. The company said that she came up with the company’s name, specifically to bridge the “generation gap” between parents and children. Don Fisher died in 2009.

“There is simply no equal to Doris Fisher,” Gap's CEO and President Richard Dickson said in a statement issued Monday. “In Gap-speak, she was a true original. Doris was a full partner in Gap Inc.’s founding and a path-breaking entrepreneur at a time when that was highly unusual for women. She understood firsthand the value of self-expression, diversity, and inclusion.”

Dickson, who has been spearheading a turnaround after several years of a sales malaise, also said that Doris Fisher “worked tirelessly to ensure that Gap Inc. always did more than sell clothes.” Gap hired Dickson in July 2023.

Gap noted that Doris Fisher’s influence extended beyond merchandising and store design. She helped shape the cultural tone of Gap advertising and product development, while maintaining a “steadfast” presence in the company’s expansion and pushing the company to focus on the customer's needs. Gap went public in 1976.

The Fishers also were involved in philanthropic endeavors. The couple amassed one of the largest private collections of modern and contemporary art in the country, Gap said. In 2009, the family pledged more than 1,100 works to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, one of the largest gifts of its kind.

Doris Fisher was also an advocate of educational opportunities for disadvantaged students. She served on the board of Knowledge Is Power Program, known as KIPP, a network of high-performing charter schools aimed at creating opportunity for underserved students.

Born in San Francisco in 1931, Doris Feigenbaum grew up in a family “steeped in values of enterprise, culture, and community service,” according to Gap. She graduated from Stanford University in 1953, where she studied economics.

She is survived by her three sons — Robert, William, and John — all of whom have carried forward the family’s business and philanthropic commitments with San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, KIPP, Stanford University, The Boys & Girls Club of San Francisco, the San Francisco Symphony, and The Gap Foundation.

She is also survived by 10 grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren, the company said.

A window display shows current clothing styles at the headquarters of the Gap in San Francisco, Thursday, Nov. 18, 2004. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg,File)