Inmate Robert Brooks has died in custody after being brutally beaten at Marcy prison, according to a video from a guard’s body camera that has been released.
The recording shows Brooks, who is black, with his hands tied behind his back and was punched and kicked by three prison guards even when he was unconscious and with blood on his face while other guards, all of them white, did not look on. One of the guards can also be seen stripping him down to his underwear in a recording that lasts about half an hour.
The case is being investigated by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who has released the camera footage from a room on December 9, according to the New York Post.
Brooks died the following morning after being admitted to Wynn Hospital in Utica. The death was due to “asphyxia due to neck compression,” according to the medical report. No details have been released as to the motive that led to the assault and subsequent death of the 43-year-old man.
“My sincerest condolences to Mr. Brooks’ family,” James said at a press conference on Friday. “I have not taken the publication of this video lightly, especially in the middle of the holidays,” but “it is my duty and responsibility” to disseminate this information, he argued.
James has assured that there is a “thorough” investigation underway and that they have already met with Brooks’ family so that they could review the images of what happened.
The state prison commissioner, Daniel Martuscello III, has announced the immediate expulsion of those involved and the suspension of employment and pay of thirteen others for this “vulgar and inhuman act that has senselessly ended a life.” Another guard has resigned. He has also announced changes “to ensure that something similar can never happen in our facilities.”
“This is murder and there will be those responsible,” Martuscello stressed. “These people do not represent the culture of the department or anything that it stands for,” he said.
Brooks was serving a 12-year prison sentence for first-degree assault for repeatedly stabbing his partner.
