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New York City agreed to pay the estate of Kalief Browder $3.3 million for its involvement in the 2015 suicide of the 22-year-old Bronx native. Browder was unlawfully imprisoned on Rikers Island and made national headlines.
He was accused of stealing a backpack in which contained cash and an iPod, was detained and held on Rikers Island for three years, with most of his time spent in solitary confinement. After a lack of evidence, he was forced released two years after. He then committed suicide just outside his mother’s home. Many believe it was due to the conditions at Rikers Island. He was only 22 years old.
The New York City Law Department said, in a statement, “Kalief Browder’s story helped inspire numerous reforms to the justice system to prevent this tragedy from ever happening again, including an end to punitive segregation for young people on Rikers Island. We hope that this settlement and our continuing reforms help bring some measure of closure to the Browder family.”
Almost 4 years after his death, his family released a settlement.