Kalief Browder, Held at Rikers Island for 3 Years Without Trial, Commits Suicide

The fact that Kalief Browder was innocent is a tragedy.

The fact that his mother found his lifeless body is a tragedy.

The fact that he was abused in prison by guards and prisoners alike is a tragedy.

The fact that he was imprisoned without trial so far beyond due process is criminal. And solitary confinement. And the abuse. And that he was a child in the eyes of the law. And that there was nothing that he could do. And that he didn’t have the “right” temperament to survive the abuse. Oh, and the fact that he was black.

There is absolutely nothing – I repeat no thing – to defend in the system. There is nothing acceptable about the tragic life and death of Kalief Browder.

Solitary confinement is criminal abuse – for any age.

Innocent people shouldn’t be in prison, not jail, prison, for 3 years without a trial.

Our people shouldn’t be so scarred by their unjust imprisonment that they come to believe that suicide is a way of escaping the ongoing pain they continue to live with.

Mothers shouldn’t be finding their sons dead when they’ve done nothing wrong

but the system has failed them,
the state has failed them,
their neighbors have failed them.

And we are left with these broken lives.

There is no justice here. There is nothing we can accept.

 

There’s a reason the Baptismal Covenant concludes with a command that seems fitting for virtually any situation in life and in our world: a command that we honor and respect “the dignity of every human being.” No exceptions. Not particularly the innocent. Every.

And still we support this system. A system that erodes the dignity and eviscerates the souls of millions of human beings. A system more obsessed with vengeance than affirming worth and helping rehabilitate. A system which encourages our worst tendencies and embraces our darkest desires. A system so unlike the dream of GOD.

We did this. We failed this young man. GOD have mercy on us.

And let us work to completely reform this unjust system.