WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) – A recent New York Times investigation claims Robert Brooks may not be the first inmate in New York’s prison system to have died at the hands of corrections officers, reporting that others met a similar fate at state facilities years before.
The December 2024 beating death of Brooks made national headlines. The incident was caught on camera, and corrections officers, including Adams resident David Kingsley, sit in prison for their part in the murder.
Brooks’ death led the state to strengthen prison oversight, but the New York Times article reports similar cases from before December 2024 went unnoticed.
According to the New York Times, Upstate Correctional Facility inmate Ladale Kennedy was found unresponsive in his cell in 2022, hours after officers allegedly struck, pepper-sprayed, and put a spit hood over him.
The article states he was pleading with the officers and a nurse, saying he couldn’t breathe. A portion of this is on video.
In the case of Green Haven Correctional Facility inmate Clement Lowe, the article reports he told his daughter the officers at the prison, north of New York City, “stomped on him and lashed his head with batons.”
After the alleged beating, he was transferred to Upstate, where he died of a brain bleed in November 2023. According to the article, he wasn’t given medical care while there, despite his worsening condition.
“We’re concerned that this is unfortunately part of the culture that has evolved over time in the prisons, and one of the things I think in the past legislative session and budget session, the legislators and the governor have taken some steps to begin addressing,” said Jennifer Scaife, executive director of the Corrections Association of New York.
Recent legislation signed by the Governor increases the usage of body cameras and requires autopsy reports of inmates to include copies of photographs and X-rays, among other things.
Local lawmakers say the new law vilifies corrections officers. Prison worker unions say it will worsen the ongoing staffing crisis.
The Department of Corrections and Community Supervision said all deaths are investigated thoroughly by several organizations and reviewed by the State Commission of Correction. A spokesperson said Kennedy’s death was listed as undetermined, and Lowe died of natural causes.
Jose Saldana, a former inmate of 27 years and advocate for aging prisoners, said there’s no accountability, telling the New York Times, “If Robert Brooks’s brutal murder wasn’t inadvertently captured on a camera, they would have gotten away with it.”
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