0:00

On a cold night in 2010, a boy

0:02

is stopped by the police while walking home from

0:04

a party in the Bronx. He's only 16. He's

0:08

been stopped by the police before, but this

0:10

time is different. The Generation Y

0:12

podcast has a special four-part

0:14

series that will unravel the story of

0:16

Kalief Browder, a young boy who was

0:18

falsely accused of stealing a backpack and

0:21

held without bail at Rikers Island for

0:23

three years. During that time,

0:25

he endured regular abuse by prison

0:27

staff and inmates, and was held in

0:29

solitary confinement for more than 700 consecutive

0:32

days. Three

0:34

years later, Kalief was released, never

0:37

once having stood trial. He

0:39

struggled to return to normal life and

0:41

tragically took his own. Kalief's

0:43

case ended up being a catalyst for change

0:45

in the use of solitary confinement against

0:47

minors in federal prisons. But we

0:50

still have a very long way to go. We

0:52

say innocent until proven guilty, but

0:54

where do we draw the line between due process

0:57

and cruelty? I'm about to play a clip

0:59

from this four-part series on Generation Y.

1:02

While you're listening, follow Generation Y

1:04

wherever you get your podcasts. Hey,

1:06

Prime members, you can listen ad-free

1:08

on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon

1:10

Music app today.

1:13

[♪ music begins and fades

1:15

out ♪ Most

1:19

people, if they were to

1:21

be jailed or incarcerated

1:23

for 30 days,

1:25

they would lose their house, they would lose their

1:27

job, they would lose everything. Just 30

1:30

days behind bars. There are

1:32

so many other punishments, there

1:35

are so many other impacts that incarceration

1:38

have that no one weighs out because

1:40

we just think, time behind bars.

1:43

We just think, did

1:45

the punishment fit the crime? And then, on

1:47

top of that, people want jailhouse

1:50

justice. They want prisoners

1:52

to suffer more while they're

1:54

behind bars, as if they're not suffering

1:56

already.

1:58

And I've spent time in the military. I've

2:02

been isolated from my family

2:04

and friends. I can't imagine

2:07

what it would be like to be put in solitary for

2:09

even a

2:10

few days, much less months

2:12

or years. So we've already

2:15

talked about the harm

2:17

that solitary confinement does. And

2:19

then when you add in the fact that Khaleep

2:21

Browder was just picked off

2:24

the street, no proof of crime,

2:27

of laws broken,

2:28

just picked up off the street and

2:31

put behind bars. I never convicted

2:33

of anything. And then he's punished

2:36

anyway. I think this is

2:38

the weight of the case, Justin, that we

2:40

are somehow in this country

2:43

okay with punishing people

2:45

who we haven't even convicted.

2:48

We're just going to punish them. It seems

2:51

wrong to me. And I don't understand how

2:53

this isn't causing more people

2:55

to stand up and say

2:57

something.

2:58

I mean, we're all ready to try

3:01

and get someone fired from their job because they

3:03

said something we didn't like,

3:05

right? I guess it's not that

3:07

much more of a stretch to say we're

3:09

okay with someone who somehow

3:12

maybe they're not sure,

3:14

probably not even enough information to even

3:16

guess on whether they broke into law or not.

3:19

We're okay with them being put in solitary confinement

3:21

and being beaten and starved. JS because

3:24

people seem to think that it's pedophiles

3:27

and rapists that get that jailhouse

3:29

justice. People just think

3:32

it's murderers who deserve

3:34

the most extreme punishment

3:37

or most extreme factors

3:39

that go along with incarceration.

3:41

But it's everybody being incarcerated.

3:44

There's no distinction between somebody

3:46

who's there for unpaid parking

3:49

tickets or somebody that's there for

3:51

minor drug offenses

3:53

or somebody that is a violent

3:55

offender. It doesn't discriminate.

3:57

It doesn't save the worst for the

4:00

the worst offenders. And here we

4:02

have Kaleef Browder, who again,

4:05

never convicted of his crime

4:07

that he went to Rikers for.

4:09

It's not like the worst of the worst are the

4:11

only ones being put in solitary confinement. The

4:14

guards can put people in solitary

4:16

for any number of reasons. You'd

4:19

be surprised. It doesn't take much.

4:22

Hey, Prime members, you can listen to Generation

4:24

Y ad-free on Amazon Music. Download

4:27

the Amazon Music app today.