After speaking with legislative leaders Wednesday, Robert Ricks said he's a voice for his son Robert Brooks — the man whose death at Marcy Correctional Facility in December has been ruled a homicide.

Ricks, of Rochester, met with lawmakers and was introduced on the Senate floor to honor Brooks, who died after more than a dozen correction officers beat him while handcuffed at the prison in Oneida County. No charges have been filed, but 16 staffers remain suspended without pay in connection to the incident.

"For me, at this juncture, it's about change," Ricks told reporters. "So anything that I can do as a father, as a community member, as a man, to assist them in coming home better than they were when they were incarcerated and not in a body bag like my son did, that's the charge."

Ricks was joined by disgraced former attorney general Eric Schneiderman, who's providing legal advice to the family pro bono.

"We're here today because Robert's son was murdered, and I'm here to advise and support him as he lends his voice, his powerful voice, to the effort," Schneiderman said.

Ricks agrees with dozens of lawmakers pushing for Marcy to be closed. 

“I believe the prison should close because it sends a message ... that your primary source of income in your community can be eliminated if these types of things happen in the prison in your community," he said.

But he added the facility's closure will not solve systemic issues in state prisons, and said lawmakers' current proposals do not go far enough.

Members of the state's Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic & Asian Legislative Caucus continue to work on a package of bills to change the culture in prisons, including to create new state entities to increase prison oversight, and to make it easier to discipline or fire officers who have been accused of misconduct or abuse.

Senate Crime Victims, Crime and Correction Committee chair Julia Salazar said she's had positive conversations with Gov. Kathy Hochul's office and other lawmakers about her proposals to create the Office of the Correctional Ombudsperson and expand the authority of the state Commission of Correction, 

"We know that no singular bill, or even set of bills, can change the culture of violence and impunity in jails and prisons in New York, but it can play a role and so we hope to see this change," Salazar said.

Caucus chair Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages said lawmakers will draft more proposals after Wednesday's meeting with Ricks, adding the legislative package must include sentencing reforms.

"The correction facilities were made to rehabilitate people, and that's not happening," she told Spectrum News 1. "And so we need to go back and we need to change the whole system from top-down."

The state correction officers' union has condemned the attack on Brooks, but want lawmakers to take their time to draft the right legislation, and argue closing Marcy Correctional or disciplinary changes for officers are not the solution.

Earlier this week, New York Chief Justice Rowan Wilson spoke in favor of legislation to reduce over-incarceration and long prison sentences, which he said perpetuates cycles of poverty and violence.

He urged the Legislature to pass the Second Look Act, which allows people in prison ask a judge to reconsider their sentence, and other legislation to improve treatment for incarcerated people with mental health disorders.

Wilson said it would help more New Yorkers safely exit the state's carceral system and save taxpayer dollars.

"Prolonged incarceration is very expensive and it does not make us safer," Wilson said during his annual State of the Judiciary address Monday. "It entrenches poverty, perpetuates cycles of violence and harms many of the New Yorkers we are trying to protect and serve."

Assemblyman David Weprin has long fought for the Second Look Act and other parole reform to reduce long sentences for good behavior, and people in prison over age 55.

The assemblyman said the state must improve education programs to give New Yorkers the opportunity to change and reintegrate back into society.

"People change in prison," said Weprin, a Queens Democrat. "The nature of the crime can never change but the nature of the indivudal can change and does change."

Ricks on Thursday is expected to testify at the Legislature's annual budget hearing on public protection.