Time: The Kalief Browder Story 2017 - NPR online article -
I just need to get my story out. I was going home from a party. There was a guy saying I robbed him. They said, We’re going to take you to the precinct. They said most likely we’re going to let you go home. But then I never went home. Time: The Kalief Browder Story I: The System, Netflix 2017
Kalief Browder was 16 when he was arrested for allegedly stealing a backpack. He spent over 1,000 days on Rikers Island. More than 700 of those days in solitary confinement. Kalief had over 30 court dates. His case was ultimately dismissed. ibid. captions
You are really a hero. ibid. Rosie O’Donnell
Kalief alleges that he was wrongfully arrested by the NYPD, denied a fair and speedy trial by the Bronx District Attorney and was beaten, starved and tortured at Rikers Island. ibid. caption
This happens every day. And I feel like it’s got to stop. ibid. Kalief
On Thursday, New York City’s Law Department announced it had reached a $3.3 million settlement with Kalief Browder's family. The young man from the Bronx, who spent three years detained on Rikers Island without being tried or convicted, was accused of stealing a backpack.
Nearly two of Browder’s three years in jail were spent in solitary confinement. He was released in 2013 after the charges were dropped. And in 2015, plagued by what he said was the mental anguish and trauma from his time in jail, he hanged himself in his mother’s home.
‘Kalief Browder's story helped inspire numerous reforms to the justice system to prevent this tragedy from ever happening again, including an end to punitive segregation for young people on Rikers Island,’ Nicholas Paolucci, a spokesman for the city law department told NPR in an emailed statement. NPR online article 25th January 2019, ‘New York City Reaches $3.3 Million Settlement With Kalief Browder’s Family’
What they’re being punished for is that they don’t have enough money to make bail. That’s their crime. ibid. Van Jones, author & activist
It was like hell on Earth. Time: The Kalief Browder Story II: The Island, Kalief
Rikers Island has a predatory population. They’re usually the younger inmates. Those inmates fight, stab, slash, they light people on fire when they’re sleeping. ibid. Bernard Kerik, former commissioner NYC department of corrections
Before you know it, the whole house is jumping me. ibid. Kalief
A place where beatings are routine while accountability is rare, where a culture of violence endures even while a culture of silence prevails. ibid. Preet Bharara, US attorney for the southern district of New York
Inside the Program: Secrets of Sadistic Rikers. ibid. press article
Delay after delay after delay when their case had no basis. Time: The Kalief Browder Story III: The Bing
The United Nations defines any period longer than 15 days straight in solitary confinement as ‘torture’, When Kalief was 17, his first extended stay in solitary confinement was over 300 days straight. ibid.
97% of criminal case are resolved by plea. ibid. judge
Being in a Kafkaesque world, a world where you are suddenly being taken over by these malevolent forces. ibid. psychiatrist
Go down to any hall of justice in any city in America and what you’re gonna see is poor black and brown people lined up going off to prison for doing stuff that rich people are doing every day. Time: The Kalief Browder Story IV: The Witness, Van Jones, author & activist
Kalief attempted suicide 4 more times while at Rikers. Each occasion, he was sent back to solitary confinement. ibid. caption
They dismiss the case. 2:00 a.m. they release him. They just gave him a Metro card. Time: The Kalief Browder Story V: Injustice for All
I felt like I lost my childhood. ibid. Kalief
In the fall of 2013, Kalief’s story started to spread across local news stations in New York City. ibid. caption
After an attempted suicide, Kalief underwent psychiatric evaluation at St Barnabas hospital. ibid.
Kalief was shot point-blank in his neighbourhood escaping with a flesh wound to his abdomen. ibid.
Kalief spent Christmas in the psych ward at Harlem Hospital. ibid.
Kalief just thought he was cursed. And he couldn’t overcome his nightmares even when he was back in the Bronx. He may as well be back at Rikers. ibid. attorney
When I opened the back door I saw him hanging. ibid. mom
Thank you for trusting me. Time: The Kalief Browder Story VI: The After Life, Rosie O’Donnell text
Rethinking Solitary Confinement. ibid. Barack Obama op-ed
He is the face of Truth and Justice. ibid. mom
Darcel Clark was one of nine judges to preside over Kalief Browder’s robbery case. She allowed the Bronx DA to delay his case for 322 days while he was in solitary confinement. ibid. captions
On Thursday, New York City’s Law Department announced it had reached a $3.3 million settlement with Kalief Browder's family. The young man from the Bronx, who spent three years detained on Rikers Island without being tried or convicted, was accused of stealing a backpack.
Nearly two of Browder’s three years in jail were spent in solitary confinement. He was released in 2013 after the charges were dropped. And in 2015, plagued by what he said was the mental anguish and trauma from his time in jail, he hanged himself in his mother’s home.
‘Kalief Browder's story helped inspire numerous reforms to the justice system to prevent this tragedy from ever happening again, including an end to punitive segregation for young people on Rikers Island,’ Nicholas Paolucci, a spokesman for the city law department told NPR in an emailed statement. NPR online article 25th January 2019, ‘New York City Reaches $3.3 Million Settlement With Kalief Browder’s Family’