Bodycam footage shows prison officers handcuffing an inmate before his death | american news

Bodycam footage showing prison officers fatally beating an inmate has been released by the New York attorney general.

Prison officers at the Marcy Correctional Facility in New York repeatedly punched and kicked 43-year-old Robert Brooks while he was handcuffed in an infirmary.

He died in hospital on December 10, the day after the attack.

The incident has sparked outrage among political leaders and was condemned by the prison officers’ union as “incomprehensible”, according to Sky News’ partner newsroom NBC.

It is now being investigated by Attorney General Letitia James, who called the videos “shocking and disturbing” in a virtual press conference.

In the video, Mr. Brooks in handcuffs as he is carried into the infirmary by several prison officers.

They put him on the bed and start repeatedly hitting and kicking him.

He is pulled upright, his bloody face visible on camera, then yanked off the bed by his shirt collar and pushed up against a window.

One of the fourteen workers involved in the incident has resigned and the rest have been suspended without pay until the process of firing them is completed. The workers include corrections officers, sergeants and a prison nurse.

The officers had not activated their body cameras, but they were still on and recorded in silent standby mode during the attack.

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As a result of the incident, all officers must now have their cameras activated whenever they are in direct contact with prisoners.

Brooks’ family thanked officials for acting “to hold officers accountable” in a statement this week.

“We cannot understand how this could have happened in the first place,” the family said. “Nobody should have to lose a family member like this.”

The attack happened before 21.30 on 9 December in a medical examination room, after Mr. Brooks had been transferred from the Mohawk Correctional Facility to the Marcy Correctional Facility.

An autopsy found “preliminary findings show concern for asphyxiation due to compression of the neck as the cause of death, as well as the death being the actions of another,” according to a state corrections office investigative report obtained by Sky News affiliate WKTV in Utica.

Brooks had been behind bars since 2017 on a 12-year sentence for first-degree assault involving a longtime girlfriend.

Officials declined to say why he had been transferred to Marcy Correctional Facility, a medium-security prison.

Last year, an independent prison watchdog group called The Correctional Association of New York released a report on the Marcy Correctional Facility.

It noted complaints of “widespread” physical abuse by staff members, with 80% of incarcerated people reporting witnessing or experiencing abuse and almost 70% reporting racial discrimination or bias.

In response to the video, the union representing workers at the prison said: “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.”

It adds what happened is “the opposite of everything (the association) and its membership stand for.”