Seems to me like this type of story is disturbingly too common nowadays. This week The New Yorker magazine obtained exclusive security camera footage that put on display the horror of sixteen year old Kalief Browder’s stay at the New York City’s Rikers Island Correctional Facility. In May 2010 Kalief Browder was arrested for allegedly stealing a backpack in the Bronx. Despite his cries of innocence the police took him to Rikers Island. Shockingly Kalief spent the next three years at Rikers Island awaiting trial as his case was constantly delayed by the courts. See the graphic video of Kalief’s treatment after the jump and see the details of his time at Rikers Island.
AST Instagram Twitter
In May 2013 the case against Browder was dismissed. Out of his 3 year stay Browder spent 2 years in solitary confinement including the nine months that led up to this video which show his stay in the “Bing” as it is known by inmates but officially it is known as Rikers Central Punitive Segregation Unit. Rikers Island is known for its high level of staff brutality, mental illness, inmate violence, adolescent abuse, and a host of other bad malevolent practices. On the day of the video a guard came to Browder’s cell door to escort him to the showers. Browder put his hands through the slot in the door to be hand cuffed and the guard opened the door to lead him down the tier. What appears is Browder speaking to the guard and then getting slammed down on the floor.
Browder saw the footage recently and had this to say “I just felt him tighten a grip around my arm,” he recalled, referring to the guard. “In my head, I was wondering why he tightened it so tight, like he never usually does, and that’s when he swung me and kept trying to slam me.” Browder says that, when a captain arrived, the guard explained that Browder had tried to run. “I was on the floor going crazy: ‘He’s lying! I didn’t do nothing!’ ”
Kalief said he was punished for the incident by receiving extra days in solitary confinement. Protocol is to have an administrative hearing before anyone receives extra time in solitary. According to Browder “If I would’ve went to Bing court, I would’ve told them to look at the camera, and they would’ve seen I didn’t do anything. After that happened, to be honest, I was scared to come out of my cell to get in the shower again, because I felt, if I come out of my cell and he slams me again, then I’m going to get more box days.” A Department of Correction injury report which give two explanations for the injuries Browder sustained. When told that a guard had slammed Browder to the floor, a D.O.C. spokesperson sent a written statement: “DOC takes such allegations seriously, and we are looking into this claim, which occurred prior to Commissioner Joseph Ponte’s arrival at the department.
Source:New Yorker
