All language subtitles for TIME.The.Kalief.Browder.Story.Part.2.720p.HDTV.x264-CRiMSON

[gears whirring]

- You have the right
to remain silent

and refuse to answer any
questions, do you understand?

I know,
there's a little fly in here.

- In May of 2010,
16-year-old Kalief Browder

was walking home from a party
in the Bronx

when he was stopped
by the police

and arrested for robbery.

With his family unable to make
the bail

he was hauled off to one of the
toughest jails in the country,

Rikers Island.

- I wasn't friends with
a lot of people in there.

I seen people getting jumped,
people getting cut.

There's so much chaos.

- The gang problem is rampant
across the island.

- You have to fight
for the phone.

You have to fight to be able
to sit at the table.

- The officers allow inmates
to beat up other inmates.

That's part of "The Program."

- The Program.

Correction officers accused of
running an extortion scheme.

- Right and wrong is
weird in there.

Like, what's right to them
isn't right,

and what's wrong isn't wrong.

- I smuggled cigarettes,
liquor, cocaine, razors.

- You don't wanna be
on the gang's bad side

and the correction officers'
bad side.

That's hell.

- I mean, this seems like
"Lord of the Flies."

What's going on here?

- It's easier to win
when you're united.

It's difficult to survive
when you're by yourself.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- When they sent me
to Rikers Island, I was 16.

I would say it was like
hell on Earth.

Sometimes, you know, I feel like
I'm never gonna be the same.

You know, I smile
and I joke a lot

but, you know, deep down,
I'm a mess,

because, like, I'm--I'm 21,

and on the inside
I feel like I'm 40.

- He was a teenage kid

literally snatched
off the street

and charged with robbery.

Kalief Browder has now filed
a civil rights lawsuit.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- The police here
at the 48th precinct.

♪ ♪

- The Bronx DA's office

is refusing to say anything
about this case.

- Returning to
New York's Rikers Island jail

once they've served their time.

Last night...

- Kalief Browder may be
physically free

but mentally he is still
trapped behind bars on Rikers

where every day is a battle.

- He went through hell.

You hear stories

but you don't really hear
stories about Rikers.

He told what
really goes on there.

- Good morning, Mr. Browder.

- Good morning.

- We are going to go through
your time in Rikers in detail.

- Sometimes there's feces
on the wall,

there's mice, spoiled milk
all over the floor.

I used to beg them
to put me in the shower.

They told me
they were going to starve me.

I would be screaming out.

He said, "You're gonna feel
some pain."

He maced me in the mouth.
He punched my ribs.

My back snapped over the rail.
He kept laughing.

- Who was the CO?

- His name was West. Phillips.
Harris. Heartz.

Deputy Butler. Heyward.
It was Captain Mitchell.

- This is about Rikers.

They have this discretion

to just do whatever the f**k
they want to these people.

And they did it to Kalief.

- When they sent me
to Rikers Island,

they sent me to the
adolescents.

They house inmates
from the ages of 16 through 18,

and that's when
everything started.

[dramatic music]

- My experience
on Rikers Island,

I went in
as a very young person.

You know, looking back at it
now, the bus was full.

And it was all teenagers.

[indistinct shouting]

- There's a lot of energy.

I would have to equate it
to like a volcano.

Things can erupt at any time.

- Adolescents is a whole
different ball game.

They uncontrollable. They really
don't care about the rules.

I could line
ten adolescents up

and I go
one, two, three, four,

by the time I get to ten, this
one already done hit this one,

took his sneakers.

- Adolescents were notorious

for breaking each other's jaws.

♪ ♪

- Rikers Island has
a predatory population.

They're usually
the younger inmates.

[buzzer]

Those inmates fight,
stab, slash.

They light people on fire
when they're sleeping.

- Animalescents.
That's what the COs called it,

that's what we call it.

It's animalescents,
it's just like animals.

Like, that's what they called
us, animals.

- Oh, he's an animal.

Oh, he's a menace to society
because he fought police,

because he slashed somebody.

That's not how
you should look at me.

I'm in a negative environment,

and this is how I survive,

by catching infractions,
by fighting, by slashing,

by jumping, by getting jumped.

This is the things
I have to go through.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- Was there a specific dorm
you were assigned to?

- Mod two.

That was the first house
I was assigned to.

♪ ♪

- When I talked to Kalief,

he said, "Ma, the COs
don't run that house.

The inmates do."

There's a table.

So Kalief would go sit at the
table, and they surround him.

What are you doing?

I'm sitting at the table.

You didn't get permission
to sit at the table.

- As soon as
I first got there,

the other inmates that was
running the house

had it in for me.

I would get on the phone
and before you know it

the whole house is jumping me.

- How many people were attacking
you at once?

- Eight or nine dudes.

- You can be hurt
and you can lose your life

over phone time.

I've had friends who lost
their life over the phone.

It's a personal thing to me.

A really close friend of mine,

Tran Smith,

he lost his life over
the phone.

I've seen this story
many times in my life.

Some have come home from
Rikers Island with pride,

a badge of honor like,
I've been to Rikers Island

and then, you know,
I've come home

so now I'm this badass,
you know.

The whole thing
is just so backwards.

[somber music]

- First time I went to Rikers,

I was in juvenile for a
robbery.

♪ ♪

I was in a lot of fights

because I had something
to prove.

♪ ♪

You do it for the name
and the glory

when you're an adolescent.

You want your name to "ring."

These jails has in crowds
and out crowds.

You got the people that's
on the team,

then you've got the punks.

Once we smell weakness,
we own you.

That's The Program.

- The Program is
an identified thing for sure,

and it's been in existence
for a very long time.

You either say you're with it
or you're not with it.

If you're with it means you're
gonna give up your commissary,

you're gonna give up
your phone calls,

you're subject to get violations
if you don't abide by the rules,

and the violations, of course,

is violence from
the other young people.

- It was heavy extortion,
sliding notes under your cell,

this is what we want,
this is what you gotta get us.

You with it, phone,
we need these phones.

I get five muffins on Sunday
when it's muffin day.

So you gets nothing.

And if you
willing to do that,

then that's when you said
you was with it.

So yeah, if you with it,
you was considered a punk.

You was a punk.

I was in adolescent
with Kalief.

I tried to go up to him like,
yo, you gotta do this, do that.

Kalief, he wasn't with it.

He told me, "I'm not jacking
none of that.

"Like, I'm not with that.

You better tell that
to one of these guys."

- If you decline
and say, "No I'm not with it,"

you're subject to getting
jumped...repeatedly.

- Describe where you were
when you got jumped.

- I was in the dayroom.

The dayroom, that's where you
would play your checkers,

you'd play your cards,

you would have your fights.

- How many other people
were in the dayroom?

- Everybody.

[rhythmic beeping]

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

[muffled shouting]

- That's how it operates.

They're gonna keep jumping you
until you say,

"I'm with The Program.
I'm gonna give up my stuff."

Or they're gonna do something
called, put you on a bus.

They're gonna jump you so bad

that you have to get shipped to
a different housing unit.

When you get shipped
to a different housing unit,

nine times out of ten

you're gonna go through
the same thing again.

- How many different houses
were you in within Rikers?

- I don't know.
I know it was a lot, though.

Three Upper, MOD 2, Five Lower,
Main, OBCC,

Three South, Five South,
and One Upper.

- Do you know why you were
moved to One Upper North?

- 'Cause I was jumped again.

- He said he learned how to just
curl up like--like a fetus

to protect his face
and his head,

and meanwhile they're kicking
and stomping and beating

and--and these are kids.

[cell door slams shut]

[indistinct chatter]

- I remember one of the visits,
Kalief was confused

that correctional officers let
the inmates beat him up,

and they didn't do anything
to stop it.

I could see it was
messing with his mind.

You could hear the confusion.

He didn't understand it.

They're not supposed to
let this happen.

- A vast majority of
correctional officers

allows this to go on.

And they're actually a part of
The Program as well.

[indistinct shouting]

[tape rewinding]

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- We did unconventional things
to get inmates to cooperate.

We always would say,
"get with the program."

That was just a phrase,
get with the program.

But somebody turned
"get with the program"

into a gang.

[camera shutter clicking]

- The Program, also known
as the gladiator school.

Correction officers accused
of running an extortion scheme,

recruiting inmates
in a type of fight club

to beat up other inmates
who didn't comply.

- I've seen guys getting pulled
out in flex cuffs,

beaten, stomped.

I've seen people come out with
bloody faces.

It scares me more

because it's the
correction officers doing it.

[cell door slams]

[dramatic music]

- Right now,
in the shadows of Wall Street,

in the shadows of
the Statue of Liberty,

in the shadows
of the skyscrapers

that run the world media,

is an island.

There's no distinction
between minors and adults.

There's no protection
against assault,

where teenagers being treated
like they were in slavery,

right now.

- You wanna start talking about
structural racism?

That is a culture

and we've been doing it
for years.

- Rikers Island is named after
Richard Riker.

Richard Riker was
the chief magistrate

in charge of the court system
of New York City,

the spider at the center of
a web of bounty hunting rings

kidnapping escaped slaves.

[dramatic music]

Even children,

kidnapped and sold
into slavery.

- A few years later,

and it's still happening.

- I was having a conversation
with one inmate

and he asked me, he said,

"Where are all
the white inmates?"

Very seldom did I see
a white inmate

come through Rikers Island.

And if they did,
they didn't stay long.

- Dominique Strauss-Kahn,

the International Monetary Fund
head

charged with
sexually assaulting a maid

at an upscale hotel
in New York City.

- Dominique Strauss-Kahn's bail
was $6 million.

- Strauss-Kahn
should be processed

and released from Rikers Island
later today.

all: Shame on you!
Shame on you! Shame on you!

- The strong survive
and the weak don't.

Sometimes the weak
get slaughtered.

- If you have enough money,
you can go home,

but if you're poor, you have
to sit here until your trial

or until you plead.

People are sitting in jail
for years...

legally innocent
but awaiting trial.

Their crime is that
they're poor.

- My bail is $100,000.

- 50 over 50,
I had no bond.

- $20,000.

- I have a $5,000 bail.

- $1,500.

- The majority
of people who are in Rikers

are there because they cannot
pay bail of $1,000 or less.

- By the time she had the money,
they put a hold on me.

They put a hold on my bail
status so I couldn't bail out.

It was horrible just being stuck
in my cell

and I can't go nowhere,

I can't do nothing because I was
sitting on Rikers Island

to prove my innocence.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- To send a 16-year-old
to Rikers Island

and expect that that child

is going to be able
to protect themselves

or handle themselves
or that any good

is gonna come
from that situation,

it's unconscionable.

[dramatic music]

It's been investigated
by the federal government

for civil rights abuses.

- The blue pellets you see in
these pictures are rat poison.

- Allegedly forced into the food
of inmates at Rikers Island.

- The U.S. Attorney,
Preet Bharara,

announced findings
in this report

conducted from 2011 to 2013.

- The bottom line conclusion
is this,

Rikers Island is broken.

- How did this happen
for decades, all of this?

How is this tolerated?

- Yeah, yeah.

- If you look at what
Giuliani did,

he managed to turn the city's
poverty problems,

race problems,
homelessness problems

into Rikers Island problems.

And then during
the Bloomberg years,

it really expanded with
"stop and frisk."

- Mayor Bloomberg had overseen
those jails for 12 years

and Mayor Bloomberg paid as
little attention to those jails

as he could.

His commissioners couldn't get
him on the phone

about Rikers Island.

- It is just amazing that
we really are

the envy of the country
when it comes to corrections.

- It is a place where beatings
are routine,

while accountability is rare.

Where a culture of violence
endures,

even while a code of silence
prevails.

- When "The New York Times"
wrote investigative pieces

on Giuliani's administration
or Bloomberg's administration,

they would just ignore them.

They wouldn't respond to those
stories and press conferences.

The would just, you know,
look right through you.

[applause]

- President! President!

- In 2008 there was a murder.

Officers used inmates
to enforce order in the house.

They basically allowed
gang members to rule.

And in this case it got out
of hand and he ended up dead.

- The death of
Charnel Robinson's

18-year-old son, Christopher,

at the adolescent jail
on Rikers Island

sparked one of the most
sensational scandals

ever to strike a city agency.

- Around the time
Kalief was there,

there was a series of scandals
about practice of officers

using other inmates as enforcers

in what came to be known as
The Program.

- If I had a problem inmate,

I would get the head gang
member

that runs that part of the jail

and have him do the dirty work.

If it's documented
two inmates had a fight,

so I'm covered
because I didn't do it.

- They're pulling out guys,
guys are coming out, you know,

with their face swollen
and bloody,

their t-shirts ripped up.

- That was basically
The Program.

Kalief, he didn't wanna be
with it.

So if I catch Kalief
and we're all in line,

corridor, mess hall,
we fighting.

- Kalief was short.

He was always small.

- People used to start with him
since Kalief was little.

- In jail everything
is aggressive and physical.

If I can beat somebody up,
even as small as Kalief,

then I get a reputation.

I could imagine
what he went through,

especially not being a part
of the gang and being small.

- I used to tell Kalief,
"Don't fight."

You know, just I figured
you don't fight,

nobody's gonna mess with you.

Stay to yourself,
stay in a corner.

He said, "Ma, you gotta fight."

- The inmates are hyenas,

and the correction officers
are the lions.

[growling]

To survive, he's gonna have
to become a hyena.

- When you take matters
into your hands,

it might work
and it might not work.

It's like a double-edged sword.

- Kalief had to change

and this is what the system does
to people.

[dramatic music]

- I remember Kalief
calling me out.

He said he wanted to fight me
individually one-on-one

and mano a mano.

You know me, I said, "All right,
come on let's fight."

♪ ♪

Kalief was getting
the best of me, matter of fact.

He was kinda fast.

He was like, every jab I threw,
he threw like three.

And now, yeah,
my man Banger came...

♪ ♪

And then we all just
jumped him.

♪ ♪

People say they could
get the one-on-one fight,

but most of the time
they get jumped.

♪ ♪

Kalief was tough.

He still kept trying to fight.

See, you see the goons?

The goons is coming to help me
right now.

♪ ♪

I was just stomping his
face in.

There's never no wins
when you're by yourself.

I never lose.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- There's so much wrong
with this system.

This is supposed to be
the United States.

It's New York City.

This is not
some third world country,

and this is how we treat
our kids once they're locked up.

♪ ♪

- You can't understand it

if you've never been
to Rikers Island.

It's not like out here.

Out here you just live life

and go about your business.

In there,
there's no living life.

There's no life at all
in there.

Nobody wants to hear you.

You're like an unheard voice.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- Over the last few years

we were digging into
the problems at Rikers Island:

abuse,

violence,

corruption.

- Prisons and jails
are hidden away.

They're dark places.

You can't get in
and really monitor them.

Even when you get reformers
at the top,

they don't know what's going on
in the bowels of the jails.

And that gets to the heart of
corruption on Rikers.

♪ ♪

- The system is deeply flawed,

there's no two ways about it.

There has been at times

this knee-jerk tendency
to oppose reform

rather than attempting
to be a part of it.

I think it's a sad story what
happened with our union here.

- Hi, I'm Norman Seabrook,

President of the New York City

Corrections Officers'
Benevolent Association.

- There's no doubt that
the Correction Officers' union

can be very powerful

and they're very
politically important,

but under Norm Seabrook

the Correction Officers' union
took on a power and influence

that had never existed before.

- We are middle-class workers
in this city

and will be treated with respect

or we will shut you down!

[cheers and applause]

This is our city!

- Seabrook's endorsement
was coveted by politicians

and he enjoyed that power.

- The Correction Officers'
Benevolent Association

is extremely proud
to throw our support

behind the next President
of the United States,

Senator Barack Obama.

- You know, I believe
in unions,

but here we have a union that
has done everything possible

to sabotage efforts to hold
their members accountable

when they beat people to a pulp.

- I was at the Department of
Correction during a rare period

where what was happening there
came to light.

I'm a reformer and during my
tenure as a deputy commissioner

I started suspending officers
who were captured on video

clearly using excessive force
against inmates.

That had never
been done before,

and Norman Seabrook
went on his radio show

and said that
he would go after me.

[bagpipe music]

- Time and again Norman
Seabrook

and the Correction Officers'
Union stymied

and stifled reform.

- Flo was very aggressive,
and as a result of that,

he worked very hard
to get her fired.

- I was asked to resign
and I did,

and I was replaced with
a childhood friend

of Norman Seabrook's.

- Norm Seabrook had such a hold
on that place

that one person alone,

I don't think,
could have changed it.

- What this has to do with
is gang behavior.

Gangs don't snitch
on each other.

Gang members cover
for each other.

And anybody that says

that the highest officials
at Rikers Island

aren't aware of it
is daydreaming.

- 95% of us are on this job
because we wanted a better life,

we want to support our families,

we want to do
what we need to do.

But there are some bad seeds,

and they need to be weeded out,
absolutely.

- I've seen officers that used
to steal money from the inmates,

take commissary
from the inmates,

paperwork's falsified
to sell cigarettes.

- That's the first thing
that I started doing

was the cigarettes.

I paid $50 for
a carton of cigarettes,

inmate gave me $1,500.

So it was easy money,

and over the course of time,

it turned to cocaine
that I would bring in.

- Arrests that both included
inmates and correction officers.

- Just last week a correction
officer was busted

trying to smuggle 61 grams
of K2 into Rikers

hidden in his sock.

- I walked right through
the metal detector

with whatever it is
I wanted to walk in with,

and I didn't get caught
because as an officer

there's no ramifications.

Who's gonna watch me?
Who's gonna check me?

- Rikers guards took thousands
of dollars in bribes

to bring in scalpels and drugs
wrapped around their ankles.

- The idea that an officer

would bring in scalpel blades
into a prison

where it's as likely to be used
on other officers

as it is to be used
on--on other inmates,

to us, has been astounding.

[dramatic music]

- Right and wrong
is weird in there.

Like, what's right to them
isn't right,

and what's wrong isn't wrong.

- Kalief had this spirit
of someone

who stood up for themselves

in the face of
whatever the odds were.

- I was the type of person,
I stood up for what was right.

Even when I was in jail.

- He had that no-filter type
of personality,

and he would tell you, "Listen,
let me tell you something.

I'm gonna tell you how it is."

- Kalief will talk.

He was a talker.

If he felt
things weren't right,

he would speak up on it,

and they didn't like that
too much.

♪ ♪

- If he's just a mouthy inmate,

of course he's gonna get
mistreated,

and inside that jail,
who's gonna govern me?

- Once I had an argument
with one,

it escalated into every
correction officer

in that house
having a problem with me.

When they don't do
what they're supposed to do

and you try to tell them the
rules, they don't like that.

They get mad

and they make examples
out of people.

♪ ♪

There was a situation
when I was in Five Lower.

We were supposed to come out
of our cells at 4:30,

but every day
we're still in our cells

at about 6:30, 7:00
just trapped in our cells.

We didn't eat or anything.

And then when they let us
out of our cells,

you know, the first thing
on my mind was eat,

but the food wasn't ready yet.

Later on,
about five, ten minutes

after we come out of our cells,

the deputy came,
the captain came,

and then three, four correction
officers came with them

and they told us we had to go
back in our cells.

You know, I should've
just went in my cell,

but we just came out.

I didn't even eat, so,
you know,

I didn't listen to the rules.

The dep and the captain

and the correction officers,

they took me in my cell
where there wasn't any cameras

and they jumped me.

[dramatic music]

They cuffed me to the back and
they was just beating on me.

Sometimes things just happen
like that.

- In prison,

you don't wanna be
on the gang's bad side,

and the correction officers'
bad side.

That's hell.

[indistinct shouting]

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- Kalief was my friend.

I've never been to jail.

I don't know what it's
like in there.

He's been writing me...

♪ ♪

And I was writing him.

♪ ♪

I was writing letters in school,

supposed to be doing my work.

♪ ♪

And my favorite color's red,
so I wrote him in the red ink.

I didn't think anything of it.

He said,
"Cool it with the red ink.

You got the COs
thinking I'm Blood."

- Okay, now when
you first entered Rikers,

were you affiliated
with any gang?

- No.

- Now, Mr. Browder,
I understand

that you have tattoos on
your forearm, is that correct?

- Yes.

- What does your tattoo say?

- It says "Spade."

- Spade, like that card spade?

- Yes.

- Is there any significance
to that?

♪ ♪

- With my father leaving,
Kalief was confused about a lot.

He went out to look for
the next person to come in

and say, "Okay, Kalief,
I got you."

- Our block was Blood,

a few blocks down
used to be Crip.

Down the block Latin Kings.

- And he joined Bloods gang.

Everybody on our block was,

so it was bound to happen
to one of us.

- His big homie gave him Spade,

that was his Blood name.

- At first I didn't like him
being Blood,

but hey, he did it for
a reason, you know?

Everybody that's in that circle
is like family to you.

So I couldn't knock him.
I couldn't get mad at him. No.

- I always found it amazing

how people could kind of
criticize that

and talk about how bad we are,

but, you know, some of us just
make due with what we got.

And sometimes we are
just trying to survive.

- Kids go through
all kind of phases.

Sure, he may have been getting
in trouble before,

but suddenly he gets hit
upside the head

with a big injustice stick.

[siren wails]

In that moment,
he was innocent,

and that matters to people.

- I didn't rob nobody.

- You didn't?
- No.

- After he got locked up,
that's when he changed.

He didn't want people calling
him Spade no more.

He was like,
"I'm not that person.

Don't call me Spade;
call me Kalief."

- When he was on the streets,
he was gang affiliated.

When he got in--in jail,

he refused to be
gang affiliated.

So some people say, well see,
but he was in a gang,

but then he wasn't in a gang.

Well is he good? Is he bad?
He's a kid!

So it doesn't exonerate him
and make him perfect

that he wasn't in a gang
when he was in jail,

and it doesn't make him
a horrible person

that when he was in pain
he turned to the streets.

What it does, it makes him human
the whole time.

And everybody
loses track of that.

- When I was in there,
I wasn't in a gang,

so they would call
that neutral.

And when you're neutral,
it's not easy.

- Because if I--
if I joined a gang,

then I'm gonna have to
participate in stuff

that I don't agree with.

- Tell me what happened
in Five Lower.

- I was sleeping in my cell,

and I heard a bunch of tussling
and a bunch of feet moving.

- You said there was lots
of gangs in this area.

What gangs were in that area?

- There was a gang called YG.

- What does that stand for?

- Young Gunners.

- Young Gunners was a gang
started on Rikers

in the adolescent jail.

They started the organization to
control the housing areas,

to get what they want.

- I came out of my cell
to see what was going on,

and I looked down the tier

and there were people fighting
everywhere.

- If you're not going to be
a gang member,

you better have
a good reputation

as far as being able to fight
and hold your own.

- Now, did you have
any previous difficulty

with this inmate?

- Yes.
He was a bully.

- So you struck the first blow?

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- I asked him, "Are you
keeping out of trouble?"

And he said, "Don't worry
about me being in trouble

'cause I'm the trouble."

♪ ♪

- One thing about Kalief,
he knew how to fight.

This little midget
knew how to throw his hands.

♪ ♪

- If you're known to fight

and get a reputation
for fighting,

you may get left alone
a little while,

but if you do something
to a particular gang member,

they'll follow you
wherever you go.

- Were you moved
to another housing unit?

- Yes.

- And you were on One Main?

- Yes.

When I came in, everybody was
on their cell doors

just looking at me.

Once I walked into the house
they told me, you're dead.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- I was really inside with
Kalief Browder,

so I know the story
from what happened inside out.

♪ ♪

Yeah, I remember that day.

I remember the day that
Kalief Browder got jumped.

♪ ♪

- Kalief Browder, we was
in the same housing unit.

He was new to the house
at the time.

- Right there, black do-rag.

- What happened earlier
that day, do you remember?

- I was standing by the phones

and one of the guys came up
to me and he spit in my face.

- Kalief reacted to what
happened earlier that morning.

He probably let it sit
in his head and it molded,

it sat in his head all day,

this person disrespected me
and I can't let it rock.

♪ ♪

- Kalief, right here, is
putting on his Patakis tight.

Usually that means you
about to fight or do something.

- He had situations
with people,

people had situations with him.

get bullied, get bullied.

'Cause bullies aren't
bulletproof.

- Do you know why
you were jumped?

- Because I punched a guy
that spit in my face.

[dramatic music]

- He came into our housing unit

and punched somebody
in the face,

so before you hurt my brother,
we gonna hurt you.

♪ ♪

See, the police is there
trying to break it up?

There's only one guard on the
bubble, one guard on the floor.

What is 2 guards gonna do
for 33 people?

♪ ♪

- Why are so many inmates
in the hallway?

You're not supposed to have
that many inmates on the tier.

During this fight,

those inmates were supposed to
be pushed in their cells

and the cells closed.

- I would've sprayed them all.

♪ ♪

I know those two officers.
I know them both.

♪ ♪

They're nice people,

but they're sheep.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[door slams shut]

[dramatic music]

- Now, Kalief, how many other
inmates were in One Main

when this fighting began?

- I don't remember,

but I know the housing areas
hold up to 30 people.

- And how long
did this whole attack last?

- I don't know.

- Five minutes, ten minutes,
half an hour?

- I can't tell you.

I mean, it feels different

when you're getting beat up.

- You know, the officers
were there.

To some people,
it might look like

they were trying to
break up the fight,

but you could also suppose,

did they really do everything
they could to protect Kalief?

I don't know.

You know, in that video, to me,

it almost looks like they were
in cahoots with the inmates

or allowed it to happen

or turned their, you know,
turned their cheek to it.

- Sometimes it's like, okay,
we got this one here again.

Oh, my God,
I gotta deal with him?

If he's mouthy, okay,
and I let them whip his behind,

maybe he'll shut his mouth

if he get his behind
whipped enough.

- If something breaks out
like that,

it should be stopped
right away.

It wasn't stopped right away.

It wasn't stopped until
they felt that he got enough.

- That facility is so old

that even though officers
pressed the button

and the cell door closed,

the inmates were able to kick
that door open

because it's not
a very secure door.

I couldn't believe how that
could happen in a jail.

You can't keep a house safe

if you can't keep inmates
locked in their cells.

[indistinct shouting]

- Then the turtles came in...

locked everybody
in their cells,

took them out of
the housing area.

[dramatic music]

The police had to make
a report.

♪ ♪

- What happened to you
as a result of this fight?

- Well, I caught more box days.

- What is box days?

- Solitary confinement.

♪ ♪

- I think I did 40 days
for that.

♪ ♪

40, 45 or something like that.

♪ ♪

- See, the police is there
trying to break it up?

That's basically like
an easy pass to the box.

♪ ♪

- Did they send you immediately
to solitary confinement?

- Immediately.

♪ ♪

- How long were you in
solitary confinement?

- I don't remember exactly
how long I was there...

♪ ♪

But I know I was there
for months.

- Five months? Six months?
More? Less?

- More.

♪ ♪

- The solitary confinement unit

was known on Rikers
as "the bing."

[shouting and pounding]

Five-story tower,

100 cells on each floor.

It was coined to describe
the human brain

under the strain of solitary.

The brain simply goes "bing".

[banging]

If they had
no mental health issues

before they entered solitary;

they do now.

A lot of blood,
a lot of cutting,

babbling incoherently,
people smeared in feces.

- You hallucinate.
You talk to yourself.

You count the springs
on the bed.

You count the cracks
on the walls.

You do everything in your power
to occupy the time.

[dramatic music]

And then at some point
you run out of things to do.

And when you
run out of things to do,

it's like dying
with your eyes open.

♪ ♪

- I tried telling
the correction officers

that I wanted to see
a psychiatrist

'cause I wasn't feeling right,

but they didn't wanna hear me
out, nobody wanted to listen.

It just--it just gives me
a crazy feeling in my head.

[horn sounds]

[thunder rumbling]

- [babbling]

[horn sounds]

[crash

[dramatic music]

[horn sounds]

[indistinct radio chatter]

[horn sounding]

[sizzling]

It's just...

- Describe that scene to me.

What if that's true with like...

If you are a 16-year-old.

[overlapping indistinct chatter]

[clock ticks]