The murder of Robert Brooks by correction officers in an upstate prison in 2024 set off a cascade of calls for reform
Months later, another inmate at a nearby prison, Messiah Nantwi, was also killed, allegedly beaten by officers.
What You Need To Know
The state commissioned this independent review in January 2025
The report found violence, morale and cultural issues within state prisons
The state allocated as much as $9.3 million for the review
“As commissioner, I certainly need to ask the question of and question everything that’s going on in the system and we engaged in a private law firm to do a cultural assessment,” Daniel Martuscello, commissioner of the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, told NY1 earlier this year.
That report was finally released on Friday — the start of a holiday weekend — and its analysis is stark. It shows that these prisons are riddled with violence, a lack of accountability and severe culture and morale issues.
“I am alarmed. I am not surprised,” Jennifer Scaife of the Correctional Association of New York said.
“The report is lengthy, and it’s both shocking and not shocking,” Antony Gemmell of the Legal Aid Society said.
The report from the firm Wilmer Hale lists dozens of recommendations, including enhancing training, auditing body-worn camera footage and giving the commissioner the ability to fire officers for misconduct — a process that currently goes through arbitration.
In response to the assessments, Martuscello issued the following statement:
“These reports reflect both the important work already underway to strengthen safety, accountability, and professionalism across DOCCS, and the significant work that still lies ahead. We remain committed to instituting meaningful reforms… and working closely with external partners, service providers, and stakeholders to strengthen transparency, improve operations, and advance safer conditions for everyone in our facilities and communities.”
Officials said the department already completed implementing a dozen of the recommendations and was in the process of implementing 47 more from multiple independent reviews.
Stakeholders involved in the prison system were not surprised by the report’s alarming contents.
“Failures to appropriately discipline employees for misconduct or violations of organizational policy to this mutual distrust among incarcerated people and staff,” Scaife said.
The report confirms violence long known to occur behind bars. It says inmates witnessed others being beaten in transport vans or were beaten there themselves.
There were other accounts of inmates being beaten in the infirmary, where camera coverage was less likely.
Much of the report’s focus was on the two state prisons where these murders occurred.
The report found that at these facilities there were “goon squads” who took things too far and used excessive force.
Those kinds of squads were also reported in other prisons across the state.
In response to the report, the head of the officers’ union, the New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association, Chris Summers said: “Our members have been sounding the alarm for years. Instead of listening to the correction officers who work inside these facilities every day, DOCCS and New York State policymakers dismissed their concerns.”
“Now, they are releasing reports and independent assessments that confirm many of the same warnings our members have been raising all along. New Yorkers deserve more than carefully timed press releases issued over a holiday weekend.”