Kalief Browder was imprisoned at Rikers Island at age sixteen for three years without conviction, much of which was spent in solitary confinement. Jennifer Gonnerman highlighted the failures of the criminal justice system through Browder's case, including court delays, the harsh use of solitary confinement, prosecuting minors as adults, and correction officer brutality. Tragically, Browder died by suicide on June 6, 2015. Excerpts from Gonnerman's interviews with Browder reveal the profound psychological impact of his imprisonment in a small cell.
Kalief Browder was jailed at Rikers Island at the age of sixteen; he spent three years locked up without ever being convicted of a crime, and much of that time was spent in solitary confinement.
The New Yorker staff writer Jennifer Gonnerman wrote about Browder and the failings of the criminal-justice system that his case exposed: unconscionable delays in the courts, excessive use of solitary confinement, teen-agers being charged for crimes as adults, brutality on the part of correction officers.
On June 6, 2015, Browder died by suicide. Gonnerman shares excerpts from the interviews she recorded with Browder, in which he described the psychological toll of spending years in a twelve-by-seven cell.
This segment originally aired on June 3, 2016, and serves as a reminder of the ongoing issues within the criminal justice system.
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