Multiple state, FBI and justice department investigations are underway into the disturbing beating of inmate Robert Brooks by new state corrections officers.

The family of Robert Brooks, who was beaten to death last month at an upstate New York prison, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the 17 officers under investigation.

The family of Robert Brooks has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against those involved in his death at Marcy Correctional Facility.

Family of Robert Brooks and their attorneys held a press conference to announce the filing of a civil rights lawsuit following Mr. Brooks’ December 2024 fatal beating by correctional officers at Marcy Correctional Facility.

The governor has ordered all state employees involved in the beating — two nurses and 16 corrections officers — to be fired.

At a Rochester press conference, family members spoke for the first time to the media regarding the death of Brooks, who was beaten by correctional officers at Marcy Correctional Facility and later died in December. The press conference featured Robert L. Brooks, Jr., the son of the deceased, and his brother, Jared Ricks.

Brooks was in his seventh year of a 12-year sentence for stabbing his longtime girlfriend in 2016. He died on Dec. 10, 2024, the day after the beating. In body-worn camera footage released late last month, officers can be seen punching and stomping on Brooks, as well lifting him by the neck in a chokehold.

The son of an inmate who died after a prolonged beating by New York prison guards said in a federal lawsuit Wednesday that his father’s attackers “systematically and casually beat him to death” in a correctional system that tolerates violence.