Fatal beating of inmate prompts calls for reform at new york's state prison system

A MARTÍNEZ, HOST: New York's state prison system is under scrutiny after guards fatally beat an inmate last month. North Country Public Radio's Emily Russell reports the incident

prompted protests and calls for reforms. EMILY RUSSELL, BYLINE: It happened in less than 10 minutes. Body camera footage shows 43-year-old Robert Brooks in handcuffs and a green prison

uniform. Brooks is Black, and he's surrounded by 14 prison staff. They're in a medical exam room at Marcy Correctional Facility. Over those 10 minutes, officers punch and kick

Brooks. They appear to choke him. He was pronounced dead hours later. Brooks' death sparked protests outside the prison and in New York City, as captured in this video shared on X.

(SOUNDBITE OF PROTEST) UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: (Chanting) What do we want? UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: (Chanting) Justice. UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: (Chanting) What do we want? UNIDENTIFIED

PROTESTERS: (Chanting) Justice. RUSSELL: New York's prison commissioner, Daniel Martuscello, said in a statement he was deeply repulsed by the footage. But Jennifer Scaife says the

incident seems straight out of a prison playbook. She leads the Correctional Association of New York, a prison watchdog group. JENNIFER SCAIFE: People talk about being taken to the infirmary

to be assaulted. They talk about the complicity of medical staff in the abuse. RUSSELL: Ezequiel Reyes says he saw a lot of inmates assaulted by officers. He served nearly 20 years in New

York state prisons and was released last year. He says one problem with addressing the issue is that assaults often go unreported. EZEQUIEL REYES: Some inmates, they're scared to write

grievances to the officers because there's going to be consequences behind that. If you write a grievance, you're going to get beat up. RUSSELL: A spokesperson from the New York

State Department of Corrections said that kind of retaliation is not allowed and that all allegations of abuse are investigated. But there's another problem - officers have been found

to sometimes collude and cover up abuse. Alycia Welch is the associate director of the Prison and Jail Innovation Lab at UT Austin. ALYCIA WELCH: We know that staff protect each other,

sometimes at all costs. And sometimes, staff look the other way rather than intervene when an assault or violence does occur. RUSSELL: There's been a recent push to increase

transparency and accountability in prisons. Welch says half of all states now have some kind of oversight in place. And last year, Congress passed the Prison Oversight Act, which streamlines

abuse complaints and requires regular inspections of all federal prisons. Welch says this sheds light on issues facing both inmates and staff. WELCH: You know, what we're seeing across

the country is a pervasive problem of understaffing. So many agencies are just lacking the number of staff that they need to run a safe facility. RUSSELL: Experts say another key to

increasing safety is by using body cameras. About a third of New York's corrections officers wear them. But in the fatal beating of Robert Brooks, none had them activated, so they

didn't capture any sound. Since then, officers have been required to turn on their cameras any time they interact with inmates. And Governor Kathy Hochul ordered the fast track of body

cameras in all state prisons. Jennifer Scaife from the state's Correctional Association says the state needs to do more to address deeper-seated problems. SCAIFE: You can't rely on

people being afraid of getting caught carrying out violence to end violence. RUSSELL: The family of Robert Brooks is suing all the officers involved in his death, and the state is

investigating. The lawsuit describes a, quote, "dark and dangerous reality for incarcerated people in New York." For NPR News, I'm Emily Russell. (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

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