Family members of Robert Brooks say a $24 million settlement with New York state is not the end of their efforts to seek justice in his slaying.
“The reality is that the fight is not over. This is just the beginning,” Brooks' brother Jared Ricks said at a news conference Monday in Rochester. "My family is committed to continuing the conversations with the people that hold the power in Albany, D.C., so nobody else's family has to navigate through a tragedy of this magnitude.”
Brooks was beaten to death in December 2024 by guards inside the Marcy Correction Facility. Their body-worn camera video showed them punching and kicking Brooks while he was restrained in the prison infirmary. He later died at a nearby hospital.
“The first time I watched that video, what hurt me the most was seeing my father alone,” said Robert Brooks Jr. “It was him against 10 other officers. There was no concern for him.”
The Brooks family's lawyer Elizabeth Mazur said the settlement – announced last week – is thought to be the largest in the history of prison death cases not just in New York state but the nation.
“It's a very large amount of money, and candidly, it had to be,” she said. "I'm not going to recount all the vile things that happened to Robert during his final 30 minutes on Earth, but we had overwhelming medical evidence of the pain and terror that Robert endured, not just physically but mentally. ... Robert knew he was being killed. The medical evidence showed that Robert ultimately choked to death by his own blood.”
Brooks was serving a 12-year sentence for stabbing his former girlfriend in April 2016 in Greece. In prison, Mazur said, he earned his GED, "he got treatment for the mental health issues that brought him to prison, and he maintained loving relationships with family members. He also got his American Sign Language certificate and worked in horticulture.”
“People in the free world tend to undervalue the lives of people who are confined in our jails and prisons,” she said. “We tend to see incarcerated individuals as less than fully human. Robert Brooks was a beloved father, grandfather, son, stepson, brother, nephew, cousin, and uncle.”
In preparing their case alleging civil rights violations, the family’s legal team listened back to hours of recordings of his phone calls from prison.
“Robert had the ability to find deep joy in small things,” Mazur said during the news conference. “During one call with his mother, Robert explained that his horticulture class helped him see God everywhere, even in prison surroundings. I'm gonna end with one of his quotes: ‘That's life, you know. Just seeing how wonderful God is, even in here. I was thinking about it last night, and I almost started crying. Everything's got life in it. Even dirt ain't worthless.’”
Seven guards ultimately were convicted in Brooks' slaying. The family says they plan to use the money to create a foundation that will support continued efforts toward prison reforms.
