BOSSIP reported a week ago on the death of Robert Brooks, an inmate at New York’s Marcy Correctional Facility. Brooks was beaten to death by a slew of guards within hours of arriving at the prison.
Attorney General Letitia James’ office revealed body camera footage, which provoked outrage among Brooks’ family and the community at large. Today, we have further information about the long history of brutality against inmates at MCF.
According to Truthout, MCF has been suspected of infractions for numerous years, including a Correctional Association of New York visit in October 2022. It was then that 80% of the prisoners examined experienced “verbal, physical, or sexual abuse,” and over 70% described racial behaviors such as refusing to serve food to Black men wearing braids or cornrows.
These findings were communicated to the Inspector General, state prison officials, and the Attorney General’s office. This occurred years before Brooks was slain, and it is unknown what, if anything, was done about it. CANY executive director Jennifer Scaife says, “I think certainly officials have been aware of allegations for quite some time.”
Perhaps if these issues were prioritized, Robert Brooks might still be alive today.
According to WHEC, AG James has filed paperwork to recuse her office from this case and will no longer defend the correctional guards accused of killing Brooks. Let her tell you that there is a “conflict of interest” at play.
“As part of our Office of Special Investigation cases, we do internal conflicts checks. After obtaining video and identifying the officers involved in the incident, we conducted this standard check. Four of the correction officers under investigation in the Robert Brooks matter are currently defendants in other matters and are being represented by lawyers in the Office of the Attorney General,” said James.
It appears that another shoe is about to drop in this case, and we will keep an eye out for any new information that becomes available in the future.
The post Robert Brooks: Marcy Correctional Facility Reported to New York State for Violent Inmate Abuse In 2022 Before Fatal Beating appeared first on Bossip.
