On the brutal murder of Robert Brooks by NYS prison guards

The New York District of the Communist Party USA condemns in the strongest terms the brutal murder of Robert Brooks, who was beaten to death by 13 correctional officers at the Marcy Correctional Facility in Oneida County on December 9th.

Brooks, an African-American man, was handcuffed and immobilized on a medical examination table while white officers beat him. The nurse, who was also white, stood by and did not intervene. The body cameras of the corrections officers were in standby mode, meaning that the public can see, but not hear, the officers' violence in the publicly available recordings.

Robert Brooks had been transferred to Marcy Correctional Facility only hours before the deadly assault. Marcy Correctional Facility is a jail notorious for pervasive brutality and racism according to the Correctional Association of New York, a prison oversight group. CANY interviewers discovered in 2022 that 80% of people incarcerated at Marcy reported seeing or experiencing abuse by staff, and almost 70% reported racial discrimination or bias. Black people make up 46% of Marcy's population while making up only 18% of New York's population.

Brooks was murdered on the same day that 134 civil and human rights organizations sent a letter to President Biden to commute the sentences of all individuals on the federal death row, 34% of whom were Black. The writers of the letter wasted no time in identifying the roots of the death penalty in "slavery, lynchings, and white vigilantism."

These roots have branches that stretch to the present day. Slavery continues to live in the prison system in New York and other states. White vigilantes continue to live at large, like Daniel Penny who murdered Black subway rider Jordan Neely in broad daylight and was found innocent in court. Lynchings, like that of Robert Brooks, are enabled by the government being soft on criminals who work in law enforcement. Three of the 13 guards who murdered Brooks were known to have attacked other prisoners in similar fashion in years past.

While New York Governor Kathy Hochul took action to fire the 13 correctional officers and one nurse from the facility and promised "new leadership" at the prison, the murderers are still at large.

Robert Brooks should still be alive today!

The NY District of the CPUSA demands that the prosecution, Onondaga County District Attorney William J. Fitzpatrick, charge the 13 officers with first degree murder. We also demand that the State launch a full, statewide investigation into the conditions of all of its prisons so that an atrocity like what happened to Robert Brooks will never happen again.

Image: Family photo of Robert Brooks with his now adult son.

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