US inmate beaten to death by correctional officers

New York officials have released bodycam footage relevant to the “senseless killing” of Robert Brooks earlier this month

Body camera footage released on Friday shows officers at Marcy Correctional Facility in the state of New York beating inmate Robert Brooks, who was restrained for a medical check, hours before his death was confirmed.

The incident occurred on December 9. Officials have pledged to conduct a thorough investigation of the events that led to the 43-year-old’s death in custody. Thirteen correctional officers and a nurse involved are to be fired, according to Attorney General Letitia James.

Governor Kathy Hochul expressed outrage and horror over “the senseless killing” of Brooks, commenting on the release of the videos. The AG’s office made public records from four bodycams of the people who interacted with the inmate. They did not include sound, since the officers did not activate audio recording, James told the press. She called the images “shocking and disturbing”, urging viewer discretion.

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The footage shows the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) officers beating Brooks, whose hands were handcuffed behind his back at the time, including striking him in the chest with a shoe, slapping him in the face and lifting him by the neck, as described by US media.

Brooks had been serving a 12-year sentence for first-degree assault since 2017. He was mishandled at Marcy Correctional Facility shortly after being transferred from another prison in Oneida County in the state’s northwest.

He was pronounced dead in the morning of December 10 at a local hospital, where he was taken from the jail’s medical examination room. A preliminary medical report has suggested that Brooks may have been fatally strangled.

An attorney for the Brooks family, Elizabeth Mazur said the footage confirms that he “was fatally, violently beaten by a group of officers whose job was to keep him safe”. She added that “everyone else living in Marcy Correctional Facility deserves to know they do not have to live in fear of violence at the hands of prison staff.”

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The union for state correctional officers said in a statement that the incident “is incomprehensible to say the least and is certainly not reflective of the great work that the vast majority of our membership conducts every day.”

“We cannot and will not condone this behavior,” The New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association stressed.