Correctional Association of New York (CANY) Statement on the Death of Robert Brooks at Marcy Correctional Facility
December 23, 2024
Contact: media@correctionalassociation.org
BROOKLYN, NY – The following statement can be attributed to Jennifer Scaife, Executive Director of the Correctional Association of New York (CANY):
“Robert Brooks died on December 10 following a vicious assault by state correctional officers at Marcy Correctional Facility, near Utica, New York. According to people who have watched video footage of the incident, the depravity of the assault is ‘incomprehensible.’ New York Attorney General Letitia James plans to release the video after Mr. Brooks’ family members have viewed it. Then the public will witness the brutality that the Correctional Association of New York (CANY) has documented in prisons for nearly two centuries, and at Marcy as recently as two years ago.
In July 2023, CANY released a report containing findings and recommendations following our monitoring visit to Marcy in October 2022. During interviews, 80% of incarcerated people reported having witnessed or experienced abuse by staff and nearly 70% reported racial discrimination or bias. According to one person we interviewed, “Physical abuse is rampant; the CO told me when I got here, ‘This is a hands-on facility, we’re going to put hands on you if we don’t like what you’re doing.’” Another said staff “brag and intimidate us about the number of people they’ve beat or sprayed.” On the second day of our monitoring visit, incarcerated people reported that security staff had announced the prior evening that anyone speaking with CANY representatives would experience retaliation.
In our report, CANY called upon DOCCS’ Office of Special Investigations and the New York State Inspector General to investigate these serious and pervasive allegations at Marcy Correctional Facility. We made similar recommendations following a monitoring visit to Bare Hill Correctional Facility in March 2022. Incarcerated people made numerous related allegations during our monitoring visits to Washington and Gouverneur Correctional Facilities in 2024. Several times per week, we notify DOCCS and other state agencies about allegations of abuse, maltreatment, neglect, or violations carried out by staff in New York's prisons.
At the end of the 2024 Legislative session, at least 11 bills related to transparency, accountability, or monitoring of prisons were pending – each of which would to some degree strengthen the patchwork of oversight provided by various entities, including the Attorney General, which investigates and prosecutes correctional officers who were involved the death of an incarcerated person; the State Commission on Correction, which conducts mortality reviews of deaths in state prisons; the Office of the New York State Inspector General, which has established a task force to investigate complaints against DOCCS; the Justice Center for the Protection of People with Special Needs, which monitors the quality of care provided to incarcerated individuals with serious mental illness; the Department of Health, which oversees the management of infectious diseases within prisons; and the Correctional Association of New York, which is the only organization in the state that has continuously provided independent oversight of prisons since 1844.
Taking steps to terminate the staff involved in the killing of Robert Brooks at Marcy is a good start, but Governor Kathy Hochul and the Legislature must go much further: they need to take bold and courageous actions to fulfill past commitments and bring about a new era of transparency and accountability in state government. Empowering oversight entities to serve as partners in this endeavor is an important start.”
About the Correctional Association of New York:
CANY, under §146, of New York’s Correction Law, is charged with visiting and examining the state's correctional facilities to identify and report on prison conditions, the treatment of incarcerated individuals, and the administration of policy promulgated by the executive and legislature. Founded in 1844 by concerned citizens of the state and deputized by the state to provide monitoring and oversight of the state’s prisons in 1846, CANY is one of the first organizations in the country prescribed to administer civilian oversight of prisons.
