Albany, NY (WRGB) — The family of Robert Brooks met with Governor Kathy Hochul at the State Capital on Monday, calling it a good first step as they advocate for prison reform.
Robert Brooks was killed while in custody at Marcy Correctional Facility in December 2024, the video of his beating going viral and sparking a movement to end violence in prisons. A prison omnibus package, inspired by this movement, aimed at transparency and oversight was signed by Governor Hochul in December.
Now, the Brooks family says the work will continue, with the meeting with the Governor aimed at pushing for more change.
“The meeting, in my eyes, my personal opinion, was very good, because it was a first step into what we can accomplish in the future,” Robert Brooks Jr., the son of Robert Brooks, told CBS6’s Power & Politics on Monday. “She was very caring. She heard my story, she listened to my father’s story, and she was compassionate. And I feel as in everything she says I think will align with the things I want to do in the future. And I told her personally, I pray we can have a good friendship in the future. And she said, out her own lips, out her own words, like, ‘I don’t see why we couldn’t be.’ So I’d say it was a good first step.”
Stay tuned for the full conversation as a Power & Politics podcast on Friday, January 16th.