Teen Thrown In Violent New York Prison For Years Without Ever Having Been Convicted – Kalief Browder
Caleb, thanks for much for bringing this to attention. Browder’s attorney interviewed with Huff Post and answered a question I had. The answer? Charges were dismissed.
Posted on 12/06/2013, in Uncategorized and tagged 3 years in jail, Kalief Browder, New York. Bookmark the permalink. 18 Comments.
We Hold These Truths To Be Self-Evident 
I remember reading about this when he was released. I don’t understand how this could happen. And what breaks my heart is, there is NOTHING, absolutely NOTHING that can compensate for what was taken from this then child, now young man. There is nothing that can ever make this up to him. This is like the wrongest of wrongs of all that our “system” is supposed to be about and I just want to hold this kid and somehow make it up to him – and I can’t.
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Rachael, mind-boggling, isn’t it? They arrest a kid who knows nothing about criminal procedure, whose parents know nothing about criminal procedure and cannot afford private counsel, and the result? Injustice. Kalief has been able to get his story out in public. Just imagine those people who have been unable to get their story out. That is frightening.
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Exactly! That’s what I’m always trying to tell people when they treat cases like this as if they are some rare isolated incident. Or when there is an incident of police brutality many ppl believe it is THE police officer involved when in reality it’s THE entire system that in fact sanctions their behavior and allows them to do this time and time again.
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Caleb, thanks again for bringing this to our attention. You are absolutely correct about the system that sanctions injustices. I remember a time when even lawyers said “You can’t fight city hall” and victims had no option to redress grievances.
For too long, people have lived in a mindset of oppression that there is nothing they can do, or that their lives will be placed under a microscope where haters will twist anything into painting them as “inferior” getting what they deserved.
There’s no way that New York can roll back time to restore those years to Kalief, but I do hope that Kalief receives enough in financial redress to get his education and gainful employment.
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Hell yea, and from the interview you posted from HuffPo with Marc Lamont Hill, it appears Kalief will be trying to help others who went through the same thing and to try and prevent it happening to more ppl in the future. He seems like a truly resilient person, although I’m sure he will always be haunted to some extent by those 3 years of terror.
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It is frightening, and I’m sure there are so many more stories like his. I am looking forward to seeing how the lawsuits play out in our so called judicial court system.
I don’t know how I missed this story, but about a year ago I ran accross it. It’s about African Americans who were tortured by police in Chicago, while they were in jail. They have identified over 110 that were tortured in between 1971 thru 1991. If you haven’t read this story, it’s a must.
http://chicagotorture.org/history/
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dreamer, I remember Jon Burge. It was because of him, and the travesty of the Rolando Cruz case, that then Gov. Ryan commuted the death penalty in Illinois.
There was a time when innocent Black men confessed to anything because they knew to do otherwise resulted in torture and longer sentences in retaliation. Since employers began background checks, those confessions came back to haunt them. It places them in another type of prison.
That has backfired now. Even young Whites who were arrested for shoplifting find that they cannot get a job because of background checks. As with other things in America, when any policy or rule is in place to oppress one group of citizens, it trickles down to all.
For instance, there was a time when a high school diploma was sufficient to get a job. Now, employers want a college degree. Now that more minorities have college degrees, we have a fight over raising minimum wage because people of all races with degrees are working in minimum wage jobs.
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There is NO doubt in my mind that there are other Kaliefs in there. I can’t even begin to imagine the frustration of being stuck in there and not being able to do anything, not able to be heard.
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Rachael,
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Here is the Huff Post interview with Kalief’s attorney.
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There are no words for how sickening this case is. I wonder how many similar cases there have been, are happening now, and will happen in the future.
On one hand, you could argue that someone’s past life karma could create such a thing, but on the other, this type of suffering is so unreasonable and so unreal. My heart is broken for him and his family and I hope they find the peace that they deserve.
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I agree. I don’t think whatever karma has in store could ever be enough punishment for those who would commit such heinous acts against people.
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OMG! I can’t imagine the horror that young man faced.
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In total disbelief with our so call justice system. My heart goes out to Kalief whose life will never be the same because of this injustice. These systems will forever be flawed because of the people who are put in charge. Thank goodness for social media and bloggers such as your self who brings these injustices to light. I can remember at 16 when my friend and I was accused of taking a purse at school and was given in school suspension, only if we admitted we did it. If we didn’t admit we did it we would have been suspended for 5 days at home. I can remember sitting in the principal office, already had signed the form, when the young lady that accused us came in with her purse.
This young man maintain his in innocence under those horrible circumstances. My prayers are with this young man.
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BB7 thanks accepting my follow on Twitter. I have been keeping up on your blog! Amazing stuff!!!!!!
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He Ran — forgive me for not knowing your Twitter handle. I’ll send out a tweet. Thanks also for keeping up with Blackbutterfly7.
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This sounds like the USSR of the past.
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Yahtzee. It does. Or like being a POW in a foreign land.
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