According to the Correctional Association of New York, the only organization designated by law to provide independent monitoring and oversight of state prisons, the death of Robert Brooks at the Marcy Correctional facility reflects systemic problems at New York’s prisons.
The association released a report on Marcy Correctional in 2022 showing abuses that had been documented at other facilities across the state.
“I think some of the most significant findings in this context are the nearly unanimous reports of violence and abuse that we documented,” Jennifer Scaife, executive director of the Correctional Association, told Capital Tonight. “Eighty percent of incarcerated people we spoke to cited having either witnessed or personally experienced violence or abuse from staff.”
Scaife stated that a nearly unanimous number of incarcerated people reported experiencing racism, as well as allegations of neglect, unaccountability and breakdowns in basic care.
In the two months since the brutal attack was made public via body camera footage showing corrections officers hitting Brooks while he was restrained, state lawmakers have crafted a flurry of bills to prevent what happened to Brooks from happening again.
State Sen. Julia Salazar has introduced bill no. S8480, which would authorize the commissioner of Corrections and Community Supervision to fire employees for acts of serious misconduct.
Salazar, who chairs the state Senate Committee on Crime Victims, Crime and Corrections, also sponsors bill no. S1707 to create a new independent office of the Correction Ombudsperson which would be overseen by a Correctional Oversight Board.
A third bill sponsored by state Assemblymember David Weprin would allow the Correctional Association of New York to inspect a prison without notice. Bill no. A3781 would also grant the Correctional Association access to certain records and information of correctional facilities without the Correctional Association having to file a Freedom of Information request.
According to Scaife, these bills are a necessary first step toward bringing about the kind of transparency that will lead to systemic change, along with increasing staff, improving the training of corrections officers and addressing staff’s emotional needs.
“This isn’t going to be solved in a single legislative session,” she said.
A fourth bill, no. S1291, introduced by state Sen. Jeremy Cooney, would allow the state attorney general's office to appoint a special, independent investigator in cases involving death by a state corrections officer in New York. In cases like Brooks’ case, which involved potential conflicts of interest within the attorney general’s office, this would allow for investigations to take place without handing the case over to local district attorneys.