Hard ‘Time’
‘Browder’ tells horrific tale of teen jailed for 3 years without trial
Imagine: You are 16 years old and returning home one night from a party.
Police stop you and accuse you of stealing — a backpack.
The alleged victim makes contradictory statements as to when the backpack was stolen. That night? Last week? But police believe him and arrest you.
Bail is initially set at $3,000, but your family does not have the means to even raise that.
Your court case is postponed repeatedly for a variety of reasons, including an accommodation for the DA's vacation.
You end up spending three years behind bars — more than two in solitary confinement — at Rikers Island, one of the nation's most notorious hellholes — without ever having been convicted of a crime.
This is the horror that befell Bronx teenager Kalief Browder, the focus of a six-part documentary series launching tomorrow on Spike from executive producers Jay Z and Harvey Weinstein.
“I just need to get my story out,” Kalief tells the camera early on.
He was “snatched” off the streets, says his mother, Venida, in May 2010. Vowing his innocence, he refused a plea deal.
At Rikers, he says, he was abused physically and mentally. The guards repeatedly starved him while he was in solitary.
The second episode, airing March 8, supports many of Kalief's claims, right from the Rikers Island cameras.
Video captures inmates repeatedly jumping Kalief. In one harrowing sequence, a corrections officer observes an assault — and backs away, letting the beating continue.
There's a comparison to “Lord of the Flies,” and it fits. Because Kalief refused to join a gang, he became a target for many in the prison. Guards apparently used inmates to police each other.
We consider a speedy trial one of the bedrocks of our criminal justice system. The idea that a teenager would be locked up in solitary for more than 800 days is horrific. Solitary is “like dying with your eyes open,” former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik says.
The charges against Kalief were ultimately dismissed, and he was set free — physically, at least.
“Time” makes it clear that a big part of Rikers took up space in Kalief's head. “It just won't leave me,” he says. His decision to sue the police department and the district attorney's office, among others, only gives his tormenters another opportunity to tear him down through an exhaustive deposition process. Every thing about his family is suddenly fair game.
“Time's” biggest takeaway is that cases like this — indigent defendants being abused by the judicial and then the corrections system — are more the norm than the exception.
Civil rights activist Al Sharpton, CNN contributor Van Jones and Jay Z are among those providing perspective here.
Kalief is not here to appreciate any reception for this documentary series.
In June 2015, unable to cope any longer with the traumas he suffered while incarcerated, he hanged himself.
Venida wonders, “We're supposed to trust in this justice system. Where's the justice?”
“Time” is a small but important step toward finding that.