#Rayshard Brooks reflected on ‘mistake’ that led to prison time before death

Four months before he was gunned down by an Atlanta cop, Rayshard Brooks reflected about a “mistake” that landed him behind bars — telling an interviewer that “you get treated like an animal,” according to a report.

The 27-year-old responded in February to an ad on Craigslist posted by Reconnect, a company that focuses on fighting incarceration and seeking for people to share their stories, CNN reported.

In the 40-minute video, obtained by network political commentator Van Jones, Brooks discusses his legal travails and stint in the slammer.

“I just feel like some of the system could, you know, look at us as individuals,” he says.

“We do have lives, you know, was just a mistake we made, you know, and, you know, not, not just do us, as if we are animals. You know, lock us away,” Brooks adds.

The young man explained that he was arrested for false imprisonment and financial credit card fraud, saying he copped to a guilty plea and was sentenced to a year in prison after his lawyer told him he could have faced up to a decade.

“I’m like, ‘Oh my God. I have kids out here’ … so I’m trying to do the best option I can to be back to society,” Brooks told the interviewer, adding that being locked up 23 hours a day “messed” with his mind.

“Going through that process, it hardened me at a point, you know to like, hey, you know, I have to have my, my guard up because the world is cruel, you know, it took me through seeing different things and, you know, in the system you know it just, just makes you harden to a point,” he said.

Brooks bemoaned the criminal justice system and the prison record that scuttled his job prospects.

“You go to filling out your application and you get to this question, ‘Have you ever been convicted of a crime or have you ever been arrested?’ And, you know, you sit in there like, ‘Oh my God … I hope this doesn’t, you know, hinder me from getting this job,’” he said.

“Then you finish up the application and you have some employers that come back to you: ‘Well Mr. Brooks, unfortunately, we can’t hire you due to the fact that you’ve been incarcerated or you’ve been … arrested for this and that,’” he added.

“Your heart just breaks. You put up so much energy, you have so much hope, you’re going out trying to provide,” Brooks continued.

“They’re not funding us, you know, they’re not saying, ‘Hey, let’s give him a check … maybe some type of help towards him getting himself back together’ … It’s just a lot of pressure. You know with, you know, just having all of that on your shoulder and on your back … Some people they just can’t deal with it. You know some people say, you know, they’re considering suicide.”

Brooks said that when he was released from prison, he was saddled with debt and had to pay court fees and restitution fees, plus provide for his wife and kids.

He said what he needed was some assistance to make it in society.

“I feel like it should be offered, you know, to certainly, I mean, every individual who has been through these things to be assigned to a certain person to help guide, you know, I mean that’s what probation but probation is not there with you every day, like a mentor or something,” he said.

“They’re not taking you out to find a job, you have to do these things on your own, you know, and I feel like it should be a way for you to have some kind of person like a mentor assigned to you to, you know, keep your track, keep you in the direction you need to be going … yet I’m out now and I have to try to fend for myself.”

Despite his challenges, Brooks struck an optimistic note by saying: “I’m trying, you know. I’m not the type of person to give up. You know, and I’m gonna keep going until I make it to where I want to be.”

On Wednesday, prosecutors announced that former cop Garrett Rolfe will be charged with felony murder and could face the death penalty for shooting Brooks in the back during a confrontation outside a Wendy’s.

Rolfe will face 11 charges in all, including aggravated assault.

Devin Brosnan, the second officer involved in Brooks’ death, will face three charges, including aggravated assault for standing on Brooks in the parking lot.