Traumatized by 3 Years at Rikers Without Charge, Ex-Teen Prisoner Kalief Browder Commits Suicide

Traumatized by 3 Years at Rikers Without Charge, Ex-Teen Prisoner Kalief Browder Commits Suicide ( democracynow.org )

submitted 2015-06-08T19:17 by salvia_d

2 comments

shoryu890 2015-06-08T20:09

This is extremely depressing.....

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/06/08/kalief_browder_suicide_had_been_held_three_years_on_rikers_island_without.html

"As of late March, over 400 people had been locked up for more than two years without being convicted of a crime, according to city data that is to be released publicly for the first time. And there are currently a half-dozen people at Rikers who have been waiting on pending cases for more than six years."

This is also really messed up. How is it possible to be locked up for more than two years and not be convicted? Are they just on trial for that long? I'm not familiar with the system.

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bill.lee 2015-06-08T20:19

My best guess is that they have been formally charged and are awaiting trial and unable to post bond/bail. So, in this sense the jail system is a recreation of the debtor prisons of old. The sheer influx of people into the system really presents a person from getting a speedy trial. Someone with more background knowledge might be able to nail down some more specifics.

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