A Year of Convulsions in New York's Prisons

"James appeared on his computer monitor, framed by the U.S. and the New York State flags. She explained that the videos were from body-worn cameras that the officers had on "at the time of the incident." The cameras had been powered on, but not activated, so the officers did not realize they were recording. "These videos are shocking and disturbing," James said. "I encourage taking caution before viewing.""

"In the footage, a forty-three-year-old Black man named Robert Brooks appears in prison greens. It is 9:21 P.M. on December 9th, and Brooks is outdoors, on a walkway at Marcy Correctional Facility. He is surrounded by officers. At 9:22 P.M., three of them carry him by his limbs-wrists cuffed behind him, head hanging down-into a building, and then into a room in the infirmary. Two stethoscopes hang on the wall by the door, next to a poster about how to aid a choking victim."

J. B. Nicholas, a publisher and former inmate, tracked the death of Robert Brooks, who died after an encounter with correction officers at Marcy Correctional Facility. New York Attorney General Letitia James released body-worn camera footage that officers had on but had not activated. Footage shows Brooks, wrists cuffed, carried into an infirmary room and placed on a gurney beside medical posters. A group of white officers then began beating him. James warned the footage was 'shocking and disturbing.' The circumstances raise concerns about correctional practices, accountability, and potential racial disparities in the prison system.

Read at The New Yorker