‘SICKENED’: NY GOV. KATHY HOCHUL VISITS PRISON WHERE GUARDS KILLED ROBERT BROOKS, VOWS CHANGE
GOV. KATHY HOCHUL SAID SHE WAS "SICKENED TO THINK OF THE ACTIONS OF DEPRAVED INDIVIDUALS WITH NO REGARD FOR HUMAN LIFE.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul visiting the Marcy Correctional Facility on Monday, vowing to correction the faliures to contributed to a beat-up squad of prison guards killing Robert Brooks. Photo credit: unknown, vit the Governor’s Office.
Dec. 30, 2024
Saying she was “heartbroken” and “sickened,” Gov. Kathy Hochul visited the Marcy Correctional Facility on Monday, where a beat-up squad of guards killed Robert Brooks Dec. 9. She appointed a new superintendent and vowed change.
“Today, as I stood in the room where Robert Brooks was killed, I was once again heartbroken by this unnecessary loss of life," Governor Hochul said in a late-afternoon news release. She added she was "further sickened to think of the actions of depraved individuals with no regard for human life.”
Brooks was beaten, kicked and choked to death by a "murder squad" of state prison guards at Marcy, a medium-security state prison near Utica in upstate New York. Per a 2015 Executive Order, Attorney General Letitia James is investigating the killing, not the local Oneida County District Attorney.
James released video on Friday captured by cameras four of Brooks' killers wore. The video captures Brooks' killing and is worse than the video that shows George Floyd and Eric Garner being killed by police. Both Garner's 2014 killing and Floyd's 2020 killing were transformative events in the Black Lives Matter movement.
While James released the video and is conducting a criminal investigation into Brooks' killing, since 2022 she has defended the alleged leader of the beat-up squad that killed Brooks and an alleged squad member from a federal civil rights lawsuit alleging they used excessive force against another prisoner in 2020.
Sgt. Glenn Trombly is the alleged leader of Marcy's beat-up squad, The Free Lance reported exclusively Dec. 26. C.O. Anthony Farina is an alleged member of the Marcy beat-up squad, and was beside Trombly when they killed Brooks, according to Gov. Hochul and police.
On Dec. 21, Gov. Hochul announced she'd ordered the Commissioner of the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision to fire those responsible for Brooks’ death. On Monday, Gov. Hochul said the officers were suspended without pay while the firing process played out.
C.O. Farina quit while being questioned by police. DOCCS said it would fire Sgt. Trombly, the beat-up squad's alleged leader, Sgt. Michael Mashaw and C.O.s Matthew Galliher, Nicholas Anzalone, David Kingsley, Nicholas Kieffer, Robert Kessler, Michael Fisher, Christopher Walrath, Michael Along, Shea Schoff and David Walters, DOCCS said. It also said it would fire a nurse: Kyle Dashnaw.
Brooks was in the middle of a 12-year sentence for first-degree assault.
“Mr. Brooks and his family did not deserve this," Gov. Hochul's Monday news release said. "The system failed Mr. Brooks and I will not be satisfied until there has been significant culture change. “
She promised change not only at Marcy but throughout the entire state prison system. Her first step was appointing a new superintendent at Marcy, Bennie Thorpe. Thorpe has worked for more than 20 years in corrections and "has never served at Marcy or nearby facilities, giving him expertise and a fresh perspective on what must be done," the governor said.
Hochul spoke with both Marcy's leadership team and "incarcerated individuals.” She said she told them "every single individual who enters a DOCCS facility deserves to be safe, whether they are employed there or serving their time."
The governor said she was also "implementing a number of new policies" across the state's entire prison system. These include $400 million worth of new cameras to cover every state prison in New York, more misconduct investigators and $2 million for prison watch-dog Correctional Association of New York.
Jennifer Scaife, Executive Director of the group, called Brooks' killing "a watershed moment for New York State." She commended Gov. Hochul for her "swift action" and "willingness to bring comprehensive reform."
But Democratic State Assemblywoman Marianne Buttenschon (District 119) joined the Republican Senate minority assistant leader Joseph Griffo (District 53), and Republican Assemblyman Brian Miller (District 122) to condemn Hochul's visit to Marcy.
“We are concerned about the governor’s decision to tour the Marcy Correctional Facility today," the three state lawmakers said in a joint-statement. They were "disappointed in this timing" and worried it might cause "potential unrest within and outside the facilities."
Meanwhile, the Onondaga County Medical Examiner's office, which is conducting Brooks' autopsy, told The Free Lance that "The autopsy is not complete."
Gov. Hochul's Monday news release included this list of "corrective actions":
The expedition of $400 million to install fixed cameras and distribute body-worn cameras at all DOCCS facilities. According to the Governor’s office, Martuscello has been directed to expand the policy for activating body-worn cameras whenever staff members come into contact with incarcerated individuals.
Adding DOCCS staff to the Office of Special Investigations. The governor has said that this will ensure that complaints are handled immediately and that anyone found of wrongdoing will be held accountable in a timely manner.
Directing DOCCS to bring in an outside firm to conduct a review of practices, culture and patterns across the state’s entire correctional system.
Expanding the DOCCS whistleblower hotline to facilitate anonymous tips from employees and contractors as well as incarcerated individuals.
Deploying $2 million to expand DOCCS’ partnership with the Correctional Association of New York (CANY). The Association is charged with visiting and examining the state’s correctional facilities.
Launching a new partnership with AMEND, which is a public health and human rights program. The program works in prisons to assess the culture of facilities and offers recommendations to reduce misconducts and improve health and well-being. AMEND will also be reviewing training curriculums and provide recommendations to improve them.
Launching a new partnership with Chicago Beyond. The program will be conducting analyses within several facilities to improve practices within the facilities.
Creating a new dedicated unit on the future of prisons in the state within the Council of Community Justice. The unit would be tasked with:
creating a strategy for creating a healthier environment within correctional facilities,
creating and improving training and professional development for staff,
addressing staffing needs,
the state of healthcare in prisons,
analyzing the projected population for prisons over the next 20 years under different policy options, and
the physical state of facilities.