NEW YORK — Days after a horrifying video of the Black inmate’s death by beating at the hands of correctional officers was made public, protesters in New York gathered Monday at separate demonstrations in Manhattan and Albany, brandishing posters that said “Black Lives Matter” and “Justice for Robert Brooks.”
At Marcy Correctional Facility, an all-male state prison in north Albany, Robert Brooks, 43, who was serving a 12-year term for assault, was pummeled by at least three officers before he passed away in the early hours of December 10.
His passing has infuriated citizens nationwide, as well as activists and the family of the prisoners. One activist referred to the occurrence as a sign of a system of incarceration that has been in place for decades and is “designed to dehumanize the people it takes and puts behind the wall.”
Jamaica Miles, co-founder of the Schenectady-based anti-racist group All Of Us, told CNN station WRGB, “This isn’t just about Robert Brooks.” “We are currently surrounded by family members whose loved ones are incarcerated in that same facility.”
The New York Attorney General’s Office of Special Investigations has opened an investigation into Brooks’ death, and the FBI and US Department of Justice are examining the case. Brooks’ cause of death has not been disclosed by the authorities.
Brooks’ “senseless killing” has angered and appalled New York Governor Kathy Hochul, who has declared she will name 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 facilities.
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