New York City To Pay $3.3 Million To Kalief Browder Estate
This brings a new meaning to the term: “A day late and a dollar short”...
New York City has agreed to pay the estate of Kalief Browder $3.3 million for its involvement in the 2015 suicide of the 22-year-old.
Browder was imprisoned at just 16 for allegedly stealing a backpack. He was never charged with an actual crime or found guilty of the robbery but spent three years on Riker’s Island awaiting trial after being unable to come up with bail. For nearly two of those years he was held in solitary confinement. Three years after his release — and a difficult attempt to reacclimate to life on the outside — Browder hanged himself in his childhood home.
On top of all this, Browder's mother died a year and a half ago. She fought hard until the end for justice for her son. Both Kalief and his mother are survived by his six siblings and father. The family will continue to push for jail reform to address issues of solitary confinement and younger inmates being kept with older ones, according to family lawyer Scott Rynecki.
Venida Browder holding a picture of her son, Kalief Browder. Via SAM COSTANZA/FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS