Video After The Jump
Kalief Browder committed suicide on June 6, 2015, at the age of 22, but in many ways he actually began slowly dying years prior.
Browder was arrested in May of 2010 in the Bronx, New York, at the age of 16 for allegedly stealing a backpack. Ordinarily, he would have been released right away because he was a juvenile, however because he was already on probation the judge in the case ordered Browder to be held in Rikers Island, with his bail set at $3500.
Unable to make bail, Browder spent three years in Rikers without a conviction. Two of those years he was held in solitary confinement.
Browder refused to take a plea deal, insisting he was innocent. While in jail he endured beatings by guards and other inmates. He attempted suicide six times while incarcerated.
In June of 2013, his case was dismissed without ever going to trial.
Jay Z and the Weinstein Co. held a press conference Thursday, October 6, announcing they would be producing a six-part docu-series on Browder and the criminal justice system titled "Time: The Kalief Browder Story."
During the press conference Jay, born Shawn Carter, recalled meeting Browder after reading about his plight in a piece written by The New Yorker.
Read what Hov had to say via The Fader below.
I look at Kalief Browder as a modern day prophet. Our prophets come in many different shapes, forms, or mediums. This young man just by the fact that he brought all of us here today lets you know how powerful of a soul he was. I came across his story in The New Yorker and I called Chaka Pilgrim, who has worked with me forever. She's sitting here today. I said, "I need to meet this young man, can you find him?" I was thinking that it would take a while and my phone kept ringing. I didn't answer because sometimes I don't answer her call [laughs]. She kept calling so I knew it was important. I was like okay, you're not going to believe this. She was at another event and she ran across his lawyer who was helping him out, he's a brilliant young man who was helping Kalief seek justice. It was meant to happen. Kalief came to the office and we met and I wanted to give him words of encouragement, that I saw his story, and that I'm proud of him for making it through, and to keep pushing. He told me that he was going to college. This story, in the movies it would've ended differently. I got a call from Chaka and she told me that he had taken his own life. I was thrown of course. I was asking myself, this story doesn't end like this, it's not supposed to end this way. That's not how the story goes. Not in the movies, not in real life. Shortly after things start happening, Obama starts talking about a crime bill and eliminating solitary confinement for minors. I know that was Kalief. All of these things start happening and we came across these fabulous filmmakers and everything started happening the way it should have been. I knew right there that he was a prophet. Some of my prophets go in tragedy, Martin Luther King ends tragically but what comes from it, the life and the next iteration and the lives saved and how this man has moved culture forward is incredible. And I think you [to Venida Browder, mother of Kalief] should be and you are incredibly proud of your son and what he has accomplished, I know it's difficult to you and your family to not have him and not be able to speak to him but he's here. He's here today and he's done more in 19 years than what a lot of us will do in a lifetime, so on that note, I would like to thank you for bringing us Kalief's energy in this world.
"Time: The Kalief Browder Story." will debut in January on Spike.
**UPDATE**
Footage of Jay Z speaking on Kalief Browder and juvenile solitary confinement added.
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