Footage shows NY officers beating prisoners to death

Newly released bodycam footage appears to show New York corrections officers fatally handcuffing an inmate, who died the following morning.

The inmate, 43-year-old Robert Brooks, was pronounced dead on Dec. 10, the day after the incident occurred 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 one prison nurse involved in the assault.

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

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The footage – which was released by James on Friday – shows officers repeatedly punching Brooks in the face and groin while he is handcuffed on an examination table.

The videos also appear to show a prison guard placing something in Brooks’ mouth before hitting him, as well as a separate officer hitting him in the stomach with a shoe.

At one point, an officer lifts him by the neck before forcefully placing him on the examination table.

Brooks died the day after the assault. Preliminary investigations determined the cause of death to be “asphyxia due to compression of the neck.”

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

In a taped statement, James said she is not “taking 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.

Brooks served a 12-year sentence for first-degree assault, according to the Associated Press. He had been transferred to Marcy from the nearby Mohawk Correctional Facility on the day of the incident.

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

“He deserved to live, and everyone else who lives in the Marcy Correctional Facility deserves to know that they don’t have to live in fear of violence at the hands of prison staff,” Mazur said of Brooks.

After the video’s release, Hochul – New York’s governor – said she was “outraged and horrified” by the incident and felt compelled to hold those involved accountable.

“New York State has zero tolerance for people who break 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 witnessed is incomprehensible to say the least and certainly does not reflect the great work that the vast majority of our members do every day” .

The New York branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU, argued that the beating is “not an isolated incident”, however.

“Rather, it highlights a culture of violence and lack of accountability for crimes committed by correctional officers that puts the lives of incarcerated New Yorkers at risk,” 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 being turned away from mess halls for wearing their hair in cornrows or braids.