JUAN GONZÁLEZ: ajuda.cyber8.com.br Last week, the brand new York City Department of Corrections introduced it'll cease utilizing solitary confinement to punish adolescents held in its troubled Rikers Island jail advanced, the second-largest jail system within the nation. But a federal prosecutor mentioned the city’s reforms had been transferring too slowly to deal with a, quote, "culture of violence," and warned he could file a civil lawsuit over situations for teenagers held in Rikers. New York is one in all only two states nationwide that mechanically cost 16- and 17-year-olds as adults. AMY GOODMAN: Well, right now we look at the incredible story of a 16-yr-previous high school sophomore who was jailed at Rikers Island for practically three years after he refused to plead responsible to a criminal offense he said he didn't commit. It was May 15, 2010, when Kalief Browder was strolling house from a occasion along with his mates in the Bronx and was stopped by police primarily based on a tip that he had robbed someone weeks earlier.
He told HuffPost Live what occurred subsequent. KALIEF BROWDER: They'd searched me, and the man really mentioned-at first he mentioned I robbed him. I didn’t have something on me. MARC LAMONT HILL: Whenever you say "nothing," you imply no weapon and none of his property. KALIEF BROWDER: No weapon, no cash, something he said that I allegedly robbed him for. So the guy truly modified up his story and ankaramerdiven.com mentioned that I actually tried to rob him. But then another police officer came, they usually mentioned that I robbed him two weeks prior. After which they said, "We’re going to take you to the precinct, and almost certainly we’re going to let you go home." But then, brain booster supplement I by no means went house. JUAN GONZÁLEZ: www.mindguards.net Kalief Browder did not go dwelling for 33 months, even though he was by no means convicted. For almost 800 days of that time, he was held in solitary confinement.
He maintained his innocence and requested a trial, ad-avenue.net but was only offered plea deals while the trial was repeatedly delayed. Near the end of his time in jail, the choose supplied to sentence him to time served if he entered a guilty plea, and icfoodseasoning.com told him he could face 15 years in prison if he was convicted. He refused to accept the deal and was only released when the case was dismissed. AMY GOODMAN: Well, for extra, we’re joined by Jennifer Gonnerman, reporter, writer, contributing editor at New York journal, and 120.55.59.89 contributing writer to The brand new Yorker magazine. She recounts Kalief Browder’s story in the current concern of The new Yorker in a piece headlined, "Before the Law: A boy was accused of taking a backpack. The courts took the subsequent three years of his life." Jennifer Gonnerman has lengthy chronicled problems with the criminal justice system. Her book, Life on the skin: The Prison Odyssey of Elaine Bartlett, tells the story of a girl who spent sixteen years in prison for a first-time offense underneath New York’s Rockefeller drug legal guidelines.
And we’re joined by Kalief Browder’s current lawyer, Paul Prestia, who has filed a lawsuit towards town, the NYPD-the new York Police Department-Bronx district attorney and the Department of Corrections on Browder’s behalf. Prestia can also be a former assistant prosecutor in Brooklyn. Jennifer Gonnerman, Paul Prestia, welcome to Democracy Now! Jennifer, inform us Kalief’s story. JENNIFER GONNERMAN: Well, you probably did a reasonably good job of setting it up, and it was terrific that we received to listen to Kalief’s voice describing what happened. But simply to recap a bit, May 2010, he’s coming home from a celebration late one evening in the Bronx, walking together with his good friend down the street, and a police automotive pulls up. There’s anyone in the again seat who factors him out, mind guard brain health supplement brain support supplement natural brain health supplement saying, you realize-accusing him of a robbery that had happened one or two weeks earlier. AMY GOODMAN: Well, first, he really says, "I didn’t steal anything tonight.
JENNIFER GONNERMAN: Right, right. JENNIFER GONNERMAN: Right, so there was, from the start, it sounded like, at the least the way Kalief tells it, some confusion in regards to the dates, which is significant. And he goes into the precinct pondering, "I’m just"-and he’s in the holding cell, considering, "I’m simply going to be right here for a couple hours. We’ll clear up this misunderstanding." And, as you said, he ended up doing virtually three years on Rikers Island, for many causes, but the system kind of completely failed him in every potential manner. There was no speedy trial. memory and focus supplement through that point, he was locked up in the adolescent jail on Rikers Island. AMY GOODMAN: Explain Rikers. JENNIFER GONNERMAN: Sure, certain. You recognize, once we discuss Rikers Island, it’s a jail complex. There’s 10 different jails there. And I feel lots of people get confused between prison and jail. A prison is the place you go after you’ve been convicted and sentenced. A jail is the place you go while you’re waiting to your case to go through the courtroom.