Footage shows NY officers beating prisoners before they die

Recently released bodycam footage appears to show New York correctional officers fatally beating a handcuffed inmate who died the next morning.

The inmate, 43-year-old Robert Brooks, was pronounced dead on December 10, a day after the incident at the Marcy Correctional Facility in upstate New York.

After an internal review, New York Governor Kathy Hochul ordered the firing of the 13 officers and a prison nurse involved in the attack.

New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office has launched an investigation into Brooks’ death, and the union representing state prison workers called the video “incomprehensible.”

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The footage, which James released Friday, shows officers repeatedly punching Brooks in the face and groin as he sits handcuffed on an examination table.

The videos also appear to show a correctional officer putting something in Brooks’ mouth before hitting him, as well as another officer hitting him in the stomach with a shoe.

At one point, an officer picks him up by his neck before forcibly placing him on the examination table.

Brooks died the day after the attack. Preliminary investigation revealed that the cause of death was “asphyxia due to compression of the neck.”

It’s unclear what initially prompted staff to take him to the prison’s medical facility in the first place. The videos do not contain sound.

In a filmed statement, James said she “does not take the release of this video lightly, especially in the middle of the holiday season.”

“I am releasing the videos because I have a responsibility and duty to provide transparency and accountability to the Brooks family, their loved ones and all New Yorkers,” she said.

According to the Associated Press, Brooks was serving a 12-year sentence for first-degree assault. He had been transferred to Marcy from the nearby Mohawk Correctional Facility on the same day as the incident.

Elizabeth Mazur, an attorney representing the Brooks family, said in a statement that the videos showed “the horrific and extreme nature of the deadly attack.”

“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 from prison staff,” Ms. Mazur said of Brooks.

After the video was released, Hochul – the governor of New York – said she was “outraged and appalled” by the incident and felt compelled to hold those involved accountable.

“New York State has no tolerance for anyone who breaks the law, and I am committed to holding everyone involved fully accountable,” she added.

The New York union representing prison workers said in a statement to local media that “what we saw is incomprehensible to say the least and certainly does not reflect the great work that the vast majority of our members do every day.”

However, the New York chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) claimed that the beating was “not an isolated incident.”

“Rather, it underscores a culture of violence and lack of accountability for misconduct by correctional officers that endangers the lives of incarcerated New Yorkers,” Executive Director Donna Lieberman said in a statement.

In a report released last year, the Correctional Association of New York – an independent watchdog – found “pervasive allegations of racial discrimination” and “mistreatment by staff,” including black inmates who were turned away from cafeterias because of their hair worn with cornrows or braids.