The head of the troubled upstate prison where a handcuffed inmate was beaten by staffers and later died has been replaced, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Monday, along with a host of measures she promised would boost oversight and accountability for correction staff statewide.
The personnel change and other measures come after the state Attorney General’s Office on Friday released videos from body-worn cameras showing multiple correction officers taking turns punching and kicking 43-year-old Robert Brooks while he was handcuffed and delirious in the medical exam room of the Marcy Correctional Facility.
New York’s Department of Corrections and Community Supervision announced Brooks’ death on Dec. 15, and New York Attorney General Letitia James opened an investigation the next day as required by state law. A week later, Hochul ordered the correction department to start the process for terminating 14 correction employees who were identified as being either directly involved in the attack or who failed to intervene. One employee has since quit.