Kalief Browder couldn't afford justice

Kalief Browder  was 16 and got arrested in New York. He was accused of stealing a backpack. He was detained and sent to the juvenile section of  Rikers Prison. His family did not have money for bail. They had to get a court appointed lawyer. Things went from bad to nightmare real quick.

An old ploy to get Kalief to confess did not work. A prisoner would be held for a long time without trail.  Eventually he would be offered time served if he confessed to the crime. Kalief would not swallow the bait. He wanted a trail to prove he was innocent. After three years they released him as if nothing happened. The beatings from other inmates did not seem to matter. Even the beatings from the guards were treated as if they were nothing. One guard claimed Kalief tried to hurt him. The video showed the guard slamming a handcuffed Kalief to the ground. The mayor just moans that it should not have happened. Nobody cared about the mental damage that prolonged isolation caused him.

Kalief tried to commit suicide in prison but was stopped. He tried to do it when out but was stopped. One day the demons spawned by a stay at Rikers Prison, took complete hold. Kalief Brown took his life. He died but the injustice that caused his death still exists.

I read the information from the following links and watched news feeds before blogging,

http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/kalief-browder-1993-2015

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/06/08/412842780/kalief-browder-jailed-for-years-at-rikers-island-without-trial-commits-suicide

http://www.myfoxny.com/story/29268204/mayor-laments-suicide-of-teen-held-for-3-years-in-nyc-jail

http://7online.com/news/teen-held-for-3-years-at-rikers-commits-suicide-at-22-in-bronx-home/773554/

http://www.democracynow.org/2015/6/8/traumatized_by_3_years_at_rikers

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/10/06/before-the-law

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/criminal-justice/locked-up-in-america/what-does-solitary-confinement-do-to-your-mind/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solitary_confinement

https://www.afsc.org/resource/solitary-confinement-facts4