Wrong Place, Wrong Time
He was born on May 24, 1993, and took his own life on June 6, 2015 (Weinstein Production, 2014. His name was Khalief Browned.
On may 15, 2010, Browned left a party with a friend when he was apprehended by police. The police accused Browned of stealing a backpack containing 700 dollars, a credit card, a camera, and an iPod (Weinstein Production, 2014).
After being accused of the crime, Browned was sent to Rikers: a New York City prison for youth. He had spent three years at Rikers, and while there, he was sent to solitary confinement for over 800 days (Leight, 2020), which is immoral and unjustified on many levels. He was sent to jail, but he was sent to a prison that included gangs and illegal activity by the prison guards. As caught on a Riker jail camera, Browned was seen attacked by approximately thirty other jail inmates. On another occasion, Browned was also seen being assaulted by a prison guard that he never physically touched.
Browned knew what was happening to him was wrong and not justified. He spent most of his time in solitary confinement, which has many detrimental effects on the human brain, especially on a young man’s brain that is still developing. While Browned’s mental and physical health was being jeopardized at Rikers, Browned always fought for his right as an American. He refused to accept a plea deal (the typical way of escaping jail in American), and he did what “felt was right.” He continued to declare that he wasn’t guilty, and it was only when the authorities were unable to contact the person who accused Browned that Browned was released from Rikers — with no explanation (Weinstein Production, 2014).
What I had found most concerning Browned’s case is that he was only 16 when he was sent to jail for apparently stealing a backpack. There was no evidence to back up the accuser’s claim, and the process in which Browned went through illustrated the injustices of America’s criminal justice system. Investigators never found any evidence that Browned committed the crime: there was no backpack, camera, iPod, credit card, or 700 dollars found in Browned’s home or physically on Browned when he was apprehended. In what kind of world is a 16-year-old sentenced to jail for stealing a backpack where there is no evidence? Browned was entirely changed because of this unjustified experience, and he developed numerous mental disorders because of how inappropriately he was treated at Rikers — spending over 800 days in solitary confinement.
Following Browned’s death, former president Barack Obama banned solitary confinement for juvenile offenders in America (Smith, 2016). This was an excellent achievement for Browned and is his legacy. As rapper Jay-Z states, Browned was a “prophet (Leight, 2020).” He fought for a fair criminal justice system that he knew was broken and stood up for his right as a human being. While most will agree that it is terribly unfair that Browned had to suffer for the injustices in America be brought to the table, Browned will still forever be remembered for what he did for many black Americans.
References
Leight, E. (2020, October 20). Jay Z, Harvey Weinstein Talk Kalief Browder Doc at New York Event. Retrieved from https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/jay-z-harvey-weinstein-talk-kalief-browder-doc-at-new-york-event-107809/
Smith, D. (2016, January 26). Obama bans solitary confinement of juveniles in federal prisons. Retrieved November 10, 2020, from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jan/26/obama-bans-solitary-confinement-of-juveniles-in-federal-prisons
Weinstien Production (2014). TIME: The Kalief Browder Story. Retrieved from https://www.netflix.com/title/80187052
