ROCHESTER — The family of Robert L. Brooks, Sr., the inmate killed by a violent beating from correctional officers at Marcy Correctional Facility last month, has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the officers involved and the commissioner of the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. The family addressed the media for the first time on Wednesday from a hotel in Rochester, where they announced the lawsuit. Brooks’ son, Robert L. Brooks Jr., and his brother, Jared Ricks, are seeking a jury trial against the 17 officers, supervisors, and nurses who watched as Brooks was beaten by about five officers.
‘WE WANT CHANGE’
The attack, caught on body cameras worn by the officers, resulted in Brooks being transported to a nearby hospital, where he was declared dead in the early hours of Dec. 10. The state has suspended 16 officers, supervisors, and nurses without pay over the incident, while one resigned before facing discipline. In their complaint, Brooks’ family alleges that the COs used excessive force against Brooks and demonstrated deliberate indifference to his clear suffering and medical distress. Video of the incident showed Brooks bloody, dazed, unable to stand or hold his head up, and showed officers beating him with their fists, feet, and even his own shoes while a group of officers and nursing staff looked on.
“Our family is devastated. But we are also committed. We are going to use our agony to fight for justice, so that no one has to watch clips of devastation 30 minutes at a time, or go through the plethora of emotions that I’ve gone through in the last month,” Ricks said. “We want these killers prosecuted. We want change.”
In their complaint, the family alleges that a culture of abuse permeates the entire state prison system and accused state officials of turning a blind eye to cases of violent attacks by staff on inmates, including in other cases involving the officers accused of beating Brooks last month. They cite media reports from 2016 that demonstrated a rash of brutal incidents involving state corrections staff at a number of prisons, including Clinton Correctional Facility and Ulster Correctional. They also cite a 2016 lawsuit by then-U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara, who argued that excessive use of force “has reached crisis proportions in New York state.”
The complaint filed by the Brooks family references more than 20 instances of brutality allegations leveled against corrections officers in New York in the last decade involving dozens of victims, all of which ended in judgments for the plaintiffs in the thousands to millions of dollars. The filing also argues that Marcy Correctional Facility is particularly violent. It references a 2023 report from the Correctional Association of New York, an independent monitor for the state prisons, that found 80% of people incarcerated at Marcy CF who responded to a CANY poll had experienced verbal, physical, or sexual abuse at the prison.
The family also cites other cases involving the COs they’ve accused in Brooks’ death — four of the COs involved in the case are actively defending themselves against other allegations of abuse, and the state Attorney General’s office recently announced it was dropping its defense of the accused in those cases. The family is seeking compensatory damages for wrongful death and severe emotional pain, as well as suffering before death for Brooks himself. They’re also seeking punitive damages.
‘ROBBED US OF THOSE DREAMS’
In their address to the media on Wednesday, Brooks’ family members said they want this case to be a wake-up call that leads to change in the state prison system, and an end to policies that permit brutality against incarcerated people.
“While my father was serving out his sentence, we would communicate regularly. Together, we had begun to dream about a new life together when he got out,” said the junior Brooks. “Those officers, and the system they work for, robbed us of those dreams. I will never get my father back. They have taken him from me forever. But we will not allow his death to be in vain.”
The family’s federal lawsuit comes before state authorities have charged any of the COs involved with a crime as a result of the incident. After the AG’s office announced it had been defending some of the COs in other cases, they recused themselves and handed the case to the Onondaga County District Attorney’s office, which continues to investigate.