Shocking videos capturing the inhumane treatment of an African-American inmate who died hours after being beaten by guards at a New York state penitentiary have been released by state authorities.

The events unfolded on the evening of December 9, at a prison in upstate New York. Inmate Robert Brooks, 43, died on the night of December 9-10 while serving a 12-year sentence for violent crimes.

The incident occurred after Brooks was transferred from Mohawk Correctional Facility to Marcy Correctional Facility on December 9.

According to the autopsy findings published in the press, his death was due to “asphyxiation due to pressure on the throat”.

Brutal abuse

Captured by cameras worn by prison staff, the footage shows the inmate, with his hands tied and face covered in blood, being repeatedly beaten while at least six prison inmates around him watch the brutal beating.

Repeatedly, the guards clamp down on his neck.

While the prisoner is sitting down and visibly injured, a guard wearing plastic gloves, grabs him by the neck with the help of his colleague and puts him against a wall….

Later, the footage shows him again lying on the bed but naked from the waist down.

In the end, the 43-year-old is seen unconscious in a hospital bed while a young man in civilian clothes – who had been watching the whole time from the door – checks his pulse.

Videos have no sound.

The cameras were “on” but the guards “hadn’t activated them so they were recording without sound,” New York State Attorney General Leticia James, a Democrat, explained during a news conference yesterday.

The videos released yesterday are “shocking and shocking (…) I don’t take their release lightly, especially during the holiday season,” said Leticia James, explaining that she made the decision for reasons of “transparency.”

Authorities released few details about the case in the days that followed.

But the Democratic governor of New York, Kathy Hokul, announced last Saturday that she ordered the release of the 14 prison employees who were involved in the deadly violence against Robert Brooks.

“We show no tolerance for those who go beyond the call of duty, break the law and engage in unnecessary violence or targeted abuse,” he stressed.

The US is often rocked by cases of excessive force by law enforcement.

In 2020, the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American man, from suffocation caused by a police officer kneeling on his neck for about nine minutes as he was handcuffed to the curb, slumped on the pavement, begging to be allowed to breathe, sparked wave of anti-racist demonstrations and riots across the country.