Prison system: Outrage in the USA: Prison guards beat prisoners to death

The brutal mistreatment of a black prisoner by white prison guards in the US state of New York is fueling the debate about excessive violence and racism in the American penal system. Robert Brooks was brutally beaten by correctional officers almost three weeks ago and was declared dead the next day. Video footage of the incident has only now been released by New York Attorney General Letitia James and sparked widespread outrage.

Governor Kathy Hochul said in a statement that she was “horrified and shocked” by the inmate’s “senseless killing” – and had ordered the firing of 13 correctional officers and a medical nurse.

The disturbing scenes of violence were captured on December 9th by the body cameras of the correctional officers involved. That evening, Brooks – who, according to media reports, was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2017 for assaulting his ex-partner – was transferred from another prison to the nearby Marcy Correctional Facility in Oneida County. According to the investigating authorities, the body cameras were in standby mode at the time of the incident and therefore recorded the event without sound.

Punches, a chokehold and a laughing officer

The video footage, which lasts a total of about two hours, shows Brooks being carried into an examination room at the detention center, where several officers push him onto a gurney. At this point he is handcuffed, his hands secured behind his back, and is effectively at the mercy of his tormentors.

You can see, among other things, how the 43-year-old is punched several times in the face by a uniformed man and remains lying there in a daze; Another pulls him back up in a stranglehold, a third also hits him with his fist and a shoe. At one point, one of the massive guards presses his boot first into the man’s abdomen, then against his upper body, and more blows rain down on top of that.

Further scenes show even more such violence, with the uniformed men who beat Brooks all appearing to be white. No bystander intervenes, at least one laughing officer appears to be grinning with a colleague. What is said cannot be heard, but Brooks is obviously at least not offering any resistance, and there are no signs of provocation either.

In places the view of the abused prisoner is obscured, then you can see his blood-smeared face, later he lies motionless and only in his underwear on his back while a nurse appears to be treating him.

Brooks was pronounced dead at a hospital the next morning. According to the investigating authorities, the official autopsy results are still pending. However, initial investigations showed that Brooks probably died as a result of neck and neck injuries as well as “external violence,” it said. Presumed cause of death: He probably suffocated.

Civil rights activists denounce “culture of violence.”

A lawyer for the survivors denounced that Brooks was “violently beaten to death by officers whose job it was to ensure his safety.” The recordings were difficult for his relatives to bear, but now the public can at least form their own picture.

The prison staff union was “stunned” by the documented violence, and the responsible supervisory authority announced “institutional reforms”. Civil rights groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) called for strong steps against the “culture of violence” and irresponsibility in New York prisons – the abuses at the Marcy prison have been known for years.

In fact, an independent investigative report from the Correctional Association of New York (CANY) in October 2022 found that abuse by prison guards and racial discrimination were commonplace at Marcy, according to inmates’ accounts. According to the New York Times, most of the inmates are black and Latino, but more than 90 percent of the staff are white.

After viewing the video footage, CANY director Jennifer Scaife said it was “just repulsive” that some of those involved seemed amused while Brooks was being beaten to death in front of them.