Hochul Installs New Leader at Prison Where Inmate Was Fatally Beaten
The New York Times
Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York moved to try to contain the fallout from the death of Robert Brooks, in which 14 corrections workers have been implicated.
Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York on Monday installed a new top leader at the upstate prison where 14 corrections workers have been implicated in a fatal attack on an inmate that was captured on video.
After a visit to the prison, the Marcy Correctional Facility, Ms. Hochul said she had directed the state’s corrections commissioner to immediately replace the acting superintendent with a permanent superintendent from another New York prison.
The governor’s order came three days after footage of the deadly beating of the man, Robert L. Brooks, was made public by the state attorney general’s office as part of an investigation that could lead to criminal charges.
In releasing the footage on Friday, Letitia James, the attorney general, described the behavior it showed as “shocking and disturbing.” Ms. Hochul sounded a similar tone in a statement issued after she visited the prison.
“As I stood in the room where Robert Brooks was killed, I was once again heartbroken by this unnecessary loss of life and further sickened to think of the actions of depraved individuals with no regard for human life,” she said. “Mr. Brooks and his family did not deserve this.”
The governor had previously directed the corrections commissioner, Daniel F. Martuscello III, to begin the process of firing the 14 employees — 13 officers and a nurse — implicated in Mr. Brooks’s death. Thirteen have been suspended without pay, officials said; one has resigned. Several of the officers have been previously accused in lawsuits of physically abusing other inmates.
