Teen Who Spent Three Years At Rikers Commits Suicide

The New Yorker magazine reports a young man whose experience as an incarcerated teenager became a rallying point for reform at Rikers Island jail committed suicide Saturday at age 22.   

Kalief Browder of the Bronx was 16 when he was arrested on a robbery charge. He spent three years in jail—roughly two of which were spent in solitary confinement—without being convicted. He has maintained his innocence. According to New Yorker writer Jennifer Gonnerman, Browder endured violence by Rikers guards and other inmates, as caught on video.

After his release, Browder shared his story widely in an effort to spur reform at the troubled jail. Browder reportedly suffered from depression during his time in prison and afterwards, but was making strides and had enrolled at Bronx Community College.

"All he really wanted, I think was just to have a normal life. You know, what every 21, 22-year-old wants. Go to school. Get a job. Move out of his mother's house. Get his own place. And he never really got that chance," Gonnerman told WNYC.

You can read the full story by The New Yorker here.