Kalief Browder
The state of New York is responsible for this young man's death. In 2010, Kalief Browder, just 16 years old, was arrested for stealing a backpack. He denied this until the day he died. Locked up in one of the most brutal prisons in the country, Browder spent nearly three years at Riker's Island without a trial. During those three years, he spent nearly two whole years in solitary confinement and told his family that
he was regularly starved and beaten by guards. Videos were released showing him being slammed around and mobbed by guards on multiple occasions. Finally, without any real explanation for what happened and without ever facing a trial, Browder was simply released from prison—having never been convicted of a crime.
So outrageous has his case been that Rand Paul cited this extreme injustice regularly as proof of our broken system. Jay Z reached out to Browder and connected with him after his release. Rosie O'Donnell was moved by his case and befriended him. None of it, though, was enough to help him overcome the brokenness in his heart and soul.
A crime was committed though—against Kalief Browder by the state of New York. Officials there ruined this boy's life. Hardly old enough to drive when they locked him up, the destroyed his soul in that prison. Overwhelmed by it all, he attempted suicide multiple times in prison as a means of escape, but never succeeded.
This weekend, Browder tore some strips away from bedsheets, pushed the air conditioner out of an upper floor bedroom, tied those sheets around his neck, and hung himself out of that window. He died there, instantly, we hope.
However, we cannot allow this injustice to disappear. Perhaps no story ever shows just how broken our so-called justice system truly is.
