Photos: Body-Cam\Office of New York Attorney General
The Legal Defense Fund (LDF) today condemned the brutal killing of Robert Brooks, who was beaten to death by a group of corrections officers at the Marcy Correctional Facility in upstate New York. LDF President and Director-Counsel Janai Nelson issued the following statement:
“The Legal Defense Fund condemns the sadistic and violent killing of Robert Brooks in the strongest terms possible. The video released of Brooks’ final moments is gut-wrenching and horrifying. The group of corrections officers in the video beat and terrorized a human being who was shackled, restrained, and showed no signs of provocation. The officers in the video, who are at times seen smiling in apparent enjoyment of the brutal ordeal, displayed unimaginable cruelty and a callous disregard for human life. They should be brought to justice and fully held to account.
“This horrific attack is not an isolated incident – it reflects a broader, systemic failure to protect the dignity, humanity, and safety of human beings behind bars. It also is a stark reminder of the grievous harms of mass incarceration, which has disproportionately devastated the lives of countless Black families and communities. The failure to protect incarcerated people’s basic rights, combined with corrections officers seemingly unfettered discretion with little to no oversight, too often creates an environment that facilitates rampant human rights violations and unspeakable crimes like those suffered by Robert Brooks. LDF applauds the New York Attorney General for her office’s swift investigation of this heinous crime. Let this painfully dehumanizing video serve as a stark reminder of the urgent need to replace what is an unquestionably barbaric carceral system with a public safety framework that serves and protects us all. We must also work to immediately improve the conditions and safety of the almost two million people who are held in our jails and prisons – the largest incarcerated population in the world.”
Founded in 1940, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) is the nation’s first civil rights law organization. LDF’s Thurgood Marshall Institute is a multi-disciplinary and collaborative hub within LDF that launches targeted campaigns and undertakes innovative research to shape the civil rights narrative. In media attributions, please refer to us as the Legal Defense Fund or LDF. Please note that LDF has been completely separate from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since 1957—although LDF was originally founded by the NAACP and shares its commitment to equal rights.
