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Abuse by guards is common at NYS prison where inmate was beaten, report, lawsuits claim
By
Giulia Heyward
Published Dec 29, 2024
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Will Waldron/Albany Times Union via Getty Images
By
Giulia Heyward
Published Dec 29, 2024
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The high-profile beating of a handcuffed state prisoner earlier this month isn’t the first time people in custody at the Marcy Correctional Center have suffered abuse at the hands of staff, according to a former inmate, a watchdog report and several lawsuits filed by people formerly incarcerated at the prison.
On Friday, New York Attorney General Letitia James on Friday released what she called "shocking and disturbing" body-worn camera video showing at least eight correction officers beating Robert Brooks on Dec. 10. Brooks, 43, died the next day. Several state and city officials have condemned the incident.
At least two federal lawsuits, a 2022 monitoring report and one person who spent time at the prison said such abuse is common at the facility in Oneida County, roughly 200 miles northwest of New York City.
One Queens man who spent roughly three years at the upstate prison nearly a decade ago said he was nor surprised to hear about the beating.
“Men do commit crimes, get convicted and have to do their prison time and pay their debt to society. But it does not mean that they need to be treated like farm animals, and beaten and abused,” said 54-year-old Alvaro Hernandez.
The DOCCS did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Gothamist. But in a statement to the New York Times, state Correction Commissioner Daniel F. Martuscello III vowed to make real change in the department.
“It is not enough to simply condemn this horrific act and then go back to business,” he told the Times in a statement. “Institutional change must follow.”
In 2022, the Correctional Association of New York, a nonprofit organization that provides independent oversight of state prisons, reported various abuses after a 2-day visit to Marcy. The report said prisoners reported being denied access to the mess hall when guards said they failed to meet grooming standards — a practice the report said disproportionately affected Black people. The report also said incarcerated people reported “rampant abuse” by staff, including racialized abuse and discrimination.
Brooks was Black and the correction employees involved in his death appeared to be white.
At least two federal lawsuits also describe serious abuse by correction officers at the Marcy facility.
In one federal lawsuit obtained by Gothamist, former inmate Adam Bauer said a corrections officer assaulted him in 2020 when he was caught smoking a cigarette in a bathroom. Bauer said other corrections officers came into the bathroom and joined in on the attack. Bauer said the attack was investigated, but the attack was found to be justified.
The lawsuit alleges that Bauer suffered “substantial physical and mental injuries” from the assault.
In another lawsuit obtained by Gothamist, William Alvarez said a corrections officer told him to lower his voice while speaking to another inmate while incarcerated at Marcy. Afterwards, the same corrections officer found Alvarez in the bathroom and discharged a “chemical spray” into his face, the lawsuit says.
The officer then claimed Alvarez had attacked him, and enlisted other corrections officers to join him in beating him up, the lawsuit says.
Hernandez said he was not surprised by what happened to Brooks. He said he saw corrections staff routinely attack his fellow inmates and then later cover their tracks by charging the prisoners with assault instead.
“Because of the authority they feel they have, they do whatever they want to do, when they want to do it. They make the rules and they break them as they see fit,” Hernandez said.
Tagged
public safety
new york state
Giulia Heyward
Giulia Heyward is a breaking news reporter on the Day-Of desk. She previously worked at NPR, as a breaking news reporter, and the New York Times, as a reporting fellow on the national desk. Her work has also appeared in CNN, The Atlantic and Politico. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or more securely on signal at 917-715-1458.
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