Father of Robert Brooks Speaks to Lawmakers at the NYS Capitol Building

The father of Robert Brooks, the NYS inmate who was beaten to death on camera inside the Marcy Correctional Facility in December, spoke to lawmakers and lobbyists at the Capitol building Wednesday.

Robert Ricks, Brooks's father, was invited by NYS Senator Julia Salazar.

"I've found that it's the norm that happens all the time, not just regularly, just all the time. And so having experienced the trauma, the, the atrocity, of seeing my son in a body bag and then seeing him beaten to death is sad and it's painful and it's hurtful, but it's also enraging," Ricks told reporters on Wednesday. "So for me, at this juncture, it's about change. I work with about 100-125 kids a year, from the age of five to the age of 17, and the reality is that some of them are going to go to jail, because this system makes it so. The structure of the system makes it so that some of our kids are going to go to jail. So anything that I can do as a father, as a community member, as a man, to assist them in coming home better than they were when they were incarcerated and not in a body bag like my son did. That's the charge. That's my goal, to do whatever I can do to help assure the fact that our kids, our fathers, our family members, can be incarcerated and come home in one piece. So that's where that's where I am as a father, and that's where my family is as a family."

Ricks says he believes Marcy Correctional Facility should close in order to send a message, and an example. to other facilities and communities. But, he stopped short of saying Daniel Martuscello III should resign, instead calling for systemic change. He's backing the three bills introduced by State Senator Julia Salazar of which would provide greater oversight into the state prison system, but also says change needs to go farther.

"One of the things that I would like to see happen on a personal level, is that when something happens to a prisoner, at least when they die, or they meet their demise in prison, then that individual is home so that the autopsy and the investigative work can be done outside of the prison," Ricks said. "Because I believe that a lot of stuff is is covered up by the actions of the people that do the autopsy. From what I see is that it's just, it's just a lot of people doing a lot of things that isn't in the best interest of the prisoners, and that isn't bringing the information that needs to come out to the public."

Salazar is the Senate Chair of the Committee on Crime Victims, Crime and Correction, saying she feels confident about the prospects of the legislation she's proposed.

"Some of the changes as we're talking about would have a fiscal impact, so just creating a new agency that's truly independent, or expanding the State Commission of Correction, or adding more resources to the Correctional Association, I think it is critical that we have those conversations in the budget, but these conversations need to continue beyond the budget as well," Salazar says.

In 2017, Brooks was sentenced to 12 years in prison for stabbing his girlfriend, making him a convicted felon. His father says though, Brooks had taken steps to change and reform, getting his GED, taking horticulture and sign language classes, with a goal of making a positive impact when he got out of prison.

"I saw the opportunity for him to sit back, relax, think about some things, realize some things," Ricks says. "Get prayed up, get centered, start reading, start focusing on the next phase of his development. I saw that happen, and I feel like the system denied him the opportunity to be all that he could be, for himself, but also for the community. Because I just believe that you can't teach what you don't know, and you can't leave where you don't go. So for a young man to go to jail, go through the things that he went through, and then come out and be like, 'Listen, if you go down that road, down there, no, you ain't got to go down there. I did the research for you. You don't have to go down there, but if you go down there, this is what's going to happen to you.' That has a real impact, because it's not something that he got in a book in a college or something that somebody told him he know it. And I think that has such a profound impact on the young people in our community, having survived some of the things, that if they don't straighten up and fly right or decide to do something different, that they're going to end up in the same place. And that's what my son was preparing for, to be a voice, to be a change maker, and this system denied him that. And not only did it deny him, it denies so many young men and young women that the reality is because of the way the system is structured, our kids are going to go to jail. I just want them to come home and be the best that they're capable of being."

On Thursday, Ricks along with DOCCS Commissioner Martuscello are both scheduled to testify at the NYS Legislative Budget Hearing for Public Safety.