MARCY, N.Y. (AP) — A New York jail the place a person was held beaten by prison officers after which Death could have a brand new superintendent, Gov. Kathy Hochul introduced Monday after touring the power.
Body digital camera video had been launched days earlier and confirmed officers punching Robert Brooks whereas he was handcuffed on a medical examination desk on the Marcy Penitentiary on Dec. 9. He was pronounced useless the next morning.
The governor has already accomplished it he moved to finish 13 officers and a nurse implicated within the assault on the detained man. State Attorney General Letitia James is investigating the officers’ use of drive.
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The FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice are additionally wanting into the demise however declined to remark additional, the FBI stated in an announcement.
Hochul traveled to the power in central New York on Monday to fulfill with Department of Corrections administration and other people incarcerated on the jail.
“The system has failed, Mr. Brooks, and I cannot be happy till there may be vital cultural change,” she stated in an announcement.
He stated Shawangunk Penitentiary Superintendent Bennie Thorpe will probably be named the brand new superintendent of Marcy Penitentiary. Thorpe has greater than twenty years of corrections expertise however has by no means served with Marcy, “giving him experience and a contemporary perspective on what must be accomplished,” Hochul’s workplace stated within the assertion.
Additionally, the governor stated he would add workers to the state Corrections Department’s Office of Special Investigations to deal with complaints and direct the company to rent an outdoor agency to evaluation the tradition, patterns and practices throughout your entire jail system.
Hochul stated Corrections Department management has already expanded a coverage requiring workers to activate physique cameras every time they arrive into contact with incarcerated individuals.
“Today, as I stood within the room the place Robert Brooks was killed, I used to be as soon as once more heartbroken by this unnecessary lack of life and additional sickened by the considered the actions of wicked people with no regard for human life.” , Hochul stated. “Mr. Brooks and his household did not deserve this.”
Body digital camera footage launched final week reveals corrections officers punching Brooks within the face, groin and physique whereas he was handcuffed and sitting on a medical examination desk. At one level, an officer grabs Brooks by the neck and drops him on the desk whereas one other officer hits him within the physique with a shoe.
The closing outcomes of Brooks’ post-mortem are nonetheless pending. Preliminary findings from a medical examination point out “concern for asphyxia resulting from neck compression as the reason for demise, in addition to demise because of the actions of one other,” in keeping with courtroom paperwork.
Brooks had been serving a 12-year jail sentence for first-degree assault since 2017. He had arrived on the Marcy penitentiary hours earlier than the beating, after being transferred from one other close by state jail, officers stated.
