Tonight marks the debut date of the infamous Kalief Browder documentary miniseries. This series will provide a detailed account of the full criminal story of alleged Kalief, and the tragic recollection of his experience with the justice system. We will be able to see the flaws and brokenness of the system and how it gravely affected the young man’s life. To prepare unfamiliar audiences to this case, here are 5 simple facts to better understand the case and the series as a whole.
1.Kalief was falsely accused:
2. He received no trial
Due to prior run-ins with the law, Kalief Browder was placed on probation before the time of his arrest. With his friend having no criminal activity, he was set free as the case took its course. Kalief however, was held and faced with a $3,000 bail. With an unattainable bail, Browder’s family was unable to pay, forcing the teen to remain in jail. Shortly after, he was placed on a bus and eventually made his way to Riker’s Island. Only being in front of a judge once, he never faced an actual trial.
3. He was held in solitary confinement for over 400 days
While it seems unclear as to why he was placed in solitary confinement, or ‘administrative segregation’ Kalief spent over two of the years in which he was at Riker’s Island in confinement. While there, he faced abuse and mistreatment from prison guards and various inmates all throughout. Video footage was captured and released that vividly show the harassment and violent treatment of Browder during his time in jail. This tragic event had pushed numerous people and even former President Obama into demanding that juvenile offenders no longer receive administrative segregation
4. He was only 16 years old
Kalief Browder was arrested only ten days prior to his seventeenth birthday. His remaining childhood years were spent in one of the most violent prisons in the United States system. The fact of a minor spending his adolescent years in prison, subject to copious amounts of violence is not only shocking but extremely disturbing to comprehend. Released at the age of 19/20, Browder was still a young man with immense potential.
5. Kalief Browder committed suicide 2 years after release
On June 6, 2015, Kalief Browder took his own life in his home in the Bronx. This was also not his first attempt. Many speculate that he had learned how to commit suicide from seeing another inmate’s attempts. He describes in an interview how he only saw the inmate being carried out of his cell. He was struck with the idea when he thought of the bedsheet wrapped around the prisoner’s neck and stated, “So, when I thought about suicide, that was the first tactic I thought about.” He had committed with this attempt a few times but never succeeded; 15 days after cited interview, he hung himself with torn bed sheets in his home.
The story of Kalief Browder is a captivating story, to say the least, and spotlights the corruption of the prison system. Hopefully, these facts can create a better understanding of his life and his case as a whole. His story is complex, disturbing, and extremely powerful when discussing the justice system and the negative effects it has on inmates. While this is not the entirety of his case, these can provide a foundational understanding of the documentary and situation.
