Warning: This story and video contain details of violence.
Newly released video of a fatal beating at a New York prison shows correctional officers repeatedly punching a handcuffed man, hitting him in the chest with a shoe, lifting him by the neck and dropping him.
Body camera footage of the Dec. 9 attack on Robert Brooks was released Friday by the attorney general, who is investigating the officers’ use of force.
Brooks, 43, was pronounced dead at a hospital the morning after the attack at Marcy Correctional Facility, a state prison where he was incarcerated in Oneida County.
Thirteen correctional officers and a nurse involved in the attack must be fired, according to New York Governor Kathy Hochul. She said she was “outraged and horrified” by the videos of the “senseless murder.”
Footage released Friday shows correctional officers repeatedly punching Brooks in the face and groin as he sits handcuffed on a medical exam table.
When one of the officers hits Brooks in the stomach with a shoe, another yanks him up by the neck and drops him back onto the table. The officers then remove the man’s shirt and pants while he lies motionless and covered in blood on his back.
“These videos are shocking and disturbing and I encourage everyone to exercise appropriate caution before deciding to view them,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James.
The final results of Brooks’ autopsy are pending.
Preliminary results of a medical examination indicate that “there is concern of asphyxia due to compression of the neck as the cause of death and that the death was due to the actions of another person,” according to court documents.
Newly released bodycam footage shows correctional officers at a prison in upstate New York punching and kicking a handcuffed prisoner before his death. New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office, which is investigating the incident, released the footage on Friday.
“Terrible and extreme”
The videos do not contain sound because the body cameras were not activated by the officers wearing them.
The state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision issued a policy after Brooks’ death requiring staff to use body cameras during any interaction with incarcerated people.
James said her office is investigating the use of force that led to Brooks’ death, but did not say whether any of the officers would be charged with crimes.
With the release of the videos, “the public can now see for themselves the horrific and extreme nature of the fatal attack on Robert L. Brooks,” said Elizabeth Mazur, an attorney for his family.
“As viewers can see, Mr. Brooks was fatally and brutally beaten by a group of officers whose job it was to ensure his safety,” Mazur said. “He deserves to live, and every other resident of Marcy Correctional Facility deserves to know that they do not have to live in fear of violence at the hands of prison staff.”
“Systemic problems”
The state correctional officers union, which viewed footage of the attack before releasing it, said in a statement: “What we saw is incomprehensible to say the least and certainly does not reflect the great work that the vast majority of our members are doing. ” daily.”
“This incident not only puts our entire membership at risk, but also undermines the integrity of our profession. We cannot and will not tolerate this behavior,” said the union, the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association.
Brooks had been serving a 12-year sentence for first-degree assault since 2017. He had arrived at the Marcy Correctional Facility just hours before the beating, after being transferred from another nearby state prison, officials said.
Marcy is located approximately 200 miles northwest of New York City, between the cities of Rome and Utica.
Statement from the Correctional Association of New York (CANY) on the release of a video showing the murder of
Robert Brooks at Marcy Correctional Facility pic.twitter.com/nLN2irOo3u
The Correctional Association of New York, a prison watchdog group, said it documented reports of pervasive brutality and racism at Marcy Correctional Facility during a monitoring visit two years ago.
The organization’s executive director, Jennifer Scaife, said the footage of Brooks being beaten was “disgusting and appalling, but not surprising” given the results so far. She called on the state prison system to “address the systemic problems that enable such brutality.”
David Condliffe, executive director of the nonprofit Alternatives to Incarceration Center for Community Alternatives, said in a statement, “For every incident caught on camera, countless other acts of violence and murder in prisons are ignored, justified or covered up.”
“Accountability must include the dismissal of a few people, but not stop there. Their violence is not an anomaly; it is the product of a system permeated by impunity.”
