Estimated 75 People Dead in NY Prisons Since Guards’ Murder of Robert Brooks; Legislature Has Done Nothing to Address this Crisis

(New York) – Today, exactly six months after staff at Marcy Prison murdered Robert Brooks on video, Jose Saldaña, Director of the Release Aging People in Prison Campaign (RAPP) and a survivor of 38 years in New York State prisons, released the following statement as the 2025 New York State Legislative Session nears its end:

“After the brutal murder of Robert Brooks by 154 prison guards and sergeants at Marcy prison, everyone from the Governor to the prison commissioner to state lawmakers promised sweeping reforms. Yet in the six months since that horrific day, conditions in prisons have only gotten more punitive, programs are routinely cancelled because guards prefer to stand around, family visits are delayed, if they’re available at all, and roughly 75 people have died in prison. Meanwhile, the Legislature has done absolutely nothing to address this crisis…