Prison Guards Charged in Inmate's Beating Death

UPDATE Feb 20, 2025 6:25 PM CST

Five New York correction officers were indicted Thursday on second-degree murder charges in the beating death of a state prison inmate. Three others were charged with manslaughter in the killing of Robert Brooks in December, and a ninth was charged with evidence tampering, the New York Times reports, accused of cleaning the area where the beating occurred in an attempt to remove bloodstains. A 10th person was removed from the indictment but is scheduled to be arraigned on a murder charge Monday, per the Times Union. All are former or current corrections officers. "Waiting a month for these charges has been incredibly hard," said Robert Brooks Jr., who attended the press conference, per the AP. "But these men must be prosecuted and convicted of the crimes they made."

Dec 30, 2024 6:20 PM CST

The FBI has confirmed that it is investigating the fatal beating of a state prison inmate in upstate New York. "The FBI Albany Field Office and the Department of Justice are reviewing the facts and circumstances surrounding the death of Robert L. Brooks to determine the appropriate federal response," FBI Media Coordinator Sarah Ruane said Monday, per the Utica Observer Dispatch. Gov. Kathy Hochul ordered officials to begin the process of firing 14 prison staffers after disturbing body cam footage showing corrections officers punching, kicking, and choking the handcuffed Black inmate was released.

"Like all New Yorkers, I was outraged and horrified after seeing footage of the senseless killing of Robert Brooks," Hochul said. The death of the 43-year-old inmate is also being investigated by New York State Attorney General Letitia James, whose office released the video, Axios reports. Brooks was pronounced dead in a Utica hospital the day after the Dec. 9 beating in a medical exam room at Marcy Correctional Facility. He was more than halfway through a 12-year sentence for first-degree assault.

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Jeremy Faust, an emergency physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital, tells CNN that his "jaw dropped" when he saw the way two officers grabbed Brooks and held him against a wall. He believes Brooks may have suffered a fatal spinal cord injury. Three of the prison staffers were previously named in lawsuits over alleged assaults on inmates, including one that left a man permanently disfigured, the New York Times reports. The union that represents prison employees condemned the footage as "incomprehensible to say the least." The New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association said it was "certainly not reflective of the great work that the vast majority of our membership conducts every day." (More inmate deaths stories.)