Kalief Browder was just 16 years old when he was stopped by police. He was falsely accused of stealing a backpack, charged with robbery, and sent to Rikers Island to await trial. He spent over 1000 days in jail and 14 months of that was in solitary, where he suffered abuse and inhumane conditions from guards and detainees.
Despite his mistreatment, he maintained his innocence. But solitary confinement permanently damaged him. After being released, Browder struggled with mental health, sadly ending his life in 2015. Even worse, he isn’t the first or last young person to endure this.
More than 95,000 kids are incarcerated in adult prisons each year. Guards argue that solitary confinement protects children from abuse by incarcerated adults, but this ignores the physical, psychological, and neurological toll solitary confinement takes on their still-developing bodies.
Incarcerated children are at higher risk of self-harm and suicide than adults; solitary confinement only increases this risk. Kids in prison can’t be kids. Prisons steal the joy from the lives of young people like Kalief Browder.
Solitary confinement is evil enough, but putting kids through this shows how twisted the prison industrial complex is. Anything that can destroy the lives and futures of young people should be dismantled for the safety of future generations.