Fatal beating of Black inmate at New York prison sparks outrage: Here’s what we know
Protesters in New York gathered Monday at separate demonstrations in Manhattan and Albany, holding up signs reading “Black Lives Matter” and “Justice for Robert Brooks” days after a disturbing video of the Black inmate’s fatal beating at the hands of correctional officers was released.
Robert Brooks, a 43-year-old man serving a 12-year sentence for assault, died in the early hours of December 10 after he was beaten by at least three officers at Marcy Correctional Facility, an all-male state prison in north Albany.
His death has enraged people across the country, along with inmates’ relatives and activists, one of whom called the incident a symptom of a decades-long incarceration system “designed to dehumanize the people it takes and puts behind the wall.”
“This isn’t just about Robert Brooks,” Jamaica Miles, the co-founder of All Of Us, an anti-racist organization based in Schenectady, told CNN affiliate WRGB. “There are family members standing with us right now whose loved ones are in that same prison.”
The FBI and US Department of Justice are reviewing the case, and the New York Attorney General’s Office of Special Investigations has launched an investigation into Brooks’ death. Authorities have not released a cause of death for Brooks.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has said she was “outraged and horrified” by Brooks’ “senseless killing” and announced she would appoint a new superintendent at Marcy Correctional Facility and expedite $400 million to install fixed cameras and distribute body-worn cameras at all Department of Corrections and Community Service (DOCCS) facilities.
Hochul directed corrections agency Commissioner Daniel Martuscello to appoint Bennie Thorpe as the new permanent superintendent of Marcy Correctional Facility, her office said.
Thorpe, now superintendent at Shawangunk Correctional Facility in the Hudson Valley, has over 20 years of experience in corrections and “is a career DOCCS employee who has never served at Marcy or nearby facilities, giving him expertise and a fresh perspective on what must be done,” the Democrat’s office said.
Here’s what we know:
What the video shows
Brooks was transferred from Mohawk Correctional Facility to Marcy Correctional Facility on the morning of December 9, according to New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, who released footage of the beating Friday.
The eight videos, dated from the evening of December 9 and reviewed by CNN, were taken from body-worn cameras on four different officers. They begin with Brooks – face down with his hands cuffed behind his back – being carried into a medical examination room by three officers. It is unclear what led up to this moment.