RELIGIOUS LEADER KILLS HIMSELF INSIDE PRISON WHERE GUARDS MURDERED ROBERT BROOKS
CIVILIAN MUSLIM IMAM AT THE MARCY CORRECTIONAL FACILITY SHOT HIMSELF TO DEATH. STATE PRISON SYSTEM TEETERS ON BRINK OF CATASTROPHE, GUARDS AND PRISONERS SAY
MALONE, NEW YORK Nov. 7, 2025 Exclusive
The civilian Islamic leader at New York's troubled Marcy Correctional Facility killed himself inside the prison this morning.
Imam Abdallah Hadian,55, walked into the prison with a handgun around 7:00am, strolled into the Superintendent’s office, sat down behind a secretary’s desk and shot himself in the head, confidential sources known to The Free Lance say.
Hadian did it in front of several other civilian workers. Bennie Thorpe, the prison’s superintendent, was not in the office at the time, because Marcy’s executive team typically arrives after 8:00am, the sources said.
Imam Hadian’s brother and the State Police confirmed his death.
Marcy is where guards murdered Robert Brooks last December.
Imam Hadian’s death comes a day after the president of the union representing New York’s prison guards, Chris Summers, warned in an editorial that the state’s prison system has reached a “breaking point.”
“Our members are struggling, both mentally and physically, under a workload and level of stress that are simply not sustainable,” Summers warned. “Every day brings more stress, more anxiety, and more frustration. Our members are reaching a breaking point, and I’m deeply worried that something devastating could happen if nothing changes.”
Meanwhile, prisoners inside the state’s sprawling 42-prison system confirm Summer’s warning that the system is breaking.
They tell The Free Lance they stayed calm after Brooks’ murder and through the ensuing 21-day state-wide wildcat strike by guards last winter because they thought the state legislature would pass new laws allowing merit time credit and other measurs that would speed their release from prison. But the legislature has not done that. Now, they say, they are considering some kind of protest.
At the same time, prisoners at one maximum-security prison are being encouraged by guards to protest. One said he was told that, if they do protest, to “make it look good for both sides.”
Imam Hadian and his family are long-time residents of Syracuse, where they own an auto repair shop. They declined to comment at this time.
The embattled state agency that operates New York’s prisons, the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, or DOCCS, confirmed the death.
“This morning a civilian staff member at Marcy Correctional Facility entered the administration building and tragically took his own life with a firearm he produced,” Thomas Mailey, DOCCS’ spokesperson, told The Free Lance in an email.
“Staff immediately began life saving measures, and EMTs and law enforcement were called to respond,” Mailey revealed. “However, due to the injuries, the individual could not be saved.”
Mailey added: “Our thoughts are with the family of the deceased, the staff at Marcy who witnessed this horrific action, and those who knew and worked with this person.”
DOCCS did not explain how a worker was able to carry a firearm into the prison but other prison workers said it was partly because that’s what DOCCS wanted them do: bring them into the prison, for temporary storage inside the facility’s arsenal, instead of leaving them outside in their cars where they could be easily stolen.
Any worker licensed to carry a handgun was expected to check the weapon at the arsenal, but no measures ensued it. The gun check at Marcy ran on the honor system, apparently.
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