Kalief Browder’s life is one of the many tragic commentaries of the criminal justice system that has perpetually destroyed Black and Brown lives. He was teenager, just 16 years old when he locked away in the jail system. He was forced to spend hundreds of days in solitary confinement. After three years, he was finally released from prison but he was never the same. In 2015, in a sad ending, Browder took his own life.
Now, the city of New York has settled with the Kalief Browder’s family in the wrongful death case. It’s reported that the settlement for $3.3 million dollars.
Paul Prestia, Browder’s long time attorney commented on the saying, “It’s bittersweet that the city had a chance to settle the case while he was alive or before his mom passed away, but I hope his surviving family members can take some justice from this. He was a hero whose story touched so many people around the world, and I’m thankful he was a part of my life. He changed the criminal justice system.”
After Browder’s death, public outcries led to a movement to reform Rikers Island. Jay Z produced a six-part documentary about Browder’s life and death. The film showed Browder being slammed to the floor by a correction officer taking him from his cell to the shower in 2012. “After that happened, to be honest, I was scared to come out of my cell to get in the shower again,” he told the New Yorker.
