Irina Park
On Thursday, February 20, six New York corrections officers were charged with murder and other crimes in the killing of Robert Brooks, who they tortured and beat to death while he was handcuffed and shackled in an act of brutality captured by officers’ body-worn cameras. Three other officers were charged with manslaughter and failing to intervene in the fatal attack on Brooks. A tenth officer was charged with tampering with physical evidence for removing bloodstains. Three nurses seen in the body-worn camera footage standing by watching the beatings will not face criminal charges. Charges were announced by the special prosecutor and district attorney for Onondaga County, William J. Fitzpatrick.
Four more inmate deaths have been reported amidst these indictments. Jonathon Grant, a 61-year-old man serving a 34-40-year sentence, was pronounced dead Saturday, February 22, at the Auburn Correctional Facility, where National Guard troops were deployed. Two other inmates incarcerated at Sing Sing, Anthony Douglas, 67, and Franklyn Dominguez, 35, were both pronounced dead within a five-hour period. 22-year-old Messiah Nantwi was beaten to death by corrections officers at Mid-State Correctional Facility in Marcy, according to inmates. The deaths occurred during a so-called wildcat strike among 30 prisons across New York state.
The predictable subsequent corrective actions like calls for increase in body-worn cameras and surveillance in prisons and the presence of the National Guard and state police are oppressive acts that restrict and control inmates, and extend the repressive reach of the state, increase militarization, and increase spending on these tools of violence. Ten correction officers were involved in the murder of Robert Brooks, not “one bad apple”, and is evidence of an escalating culture of violence. Robert Brooks’ son spoke at a news conference stating that “the charges are not enough.”
Photo: Corrections officers beating and torturing Robert Brooks. Retrieved from body cam footage released by the state’s attorney general.
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