All language subtitles for TIME.The.Kalief.Browder.Story.Part.4.720p.HDTV.x264-W4F

- Kalief Browder,
held on Rikers Island

for three years,
accused of stealing a backpack.

- I'm not sure that you can get
three years for a backpack

had he been found guilty.

- This is how it goes on,
day in and day out.

- There were problems
in DA Robert Johnson's office,

especially
with wrongful convictions.

- It was a bull[bleep] case.

- With a witness who's given
different statements

in the police paperwork

about when this robbery
actually happened.

May 1, May 2, May 8,

and then at some point
they knew that victim was gone,

and that victim was
back in Mexico.

- Failure to tell that
to the defense

amounts to a serious
ethical violation.

It also reveals
the judges are responsible

because they let
the case go on.

- There were nine judges
over the course

of dozens of appearances.

We looked at the records,

and it turned out he appeared
in your courtroom

six different times.

Do you feel any sense
of responsibility

for what happened
in this case?

- I think we all share
some type of responsibility

that--
because no young person--

- But only one person was
on the bench as the judge.

- Well, but I'm not the only
judge that was on there.

- She's feisty.
- Oh, jeez.

- She's quick.
- Turn that phone off.

- She's real.

- What do you do
with your life?

Nothing, right?

- She's a bully.

- Pleas are
DiMango's specialty.

- You want me plead guilty
to something I didn't do?

- Come on.

- It didn't matter to her
where the victim was.

It didn't matter
what was happening in Rikers.

If anyone was going to get
Kalief to break,

it was Patricia DiMango.

- Yes or no?

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

[radio fuzz]

[ominous music]

♪ ♪

- When I was
on Rikers Island

and I would receive
a court date,

all I ever thought was
about that court date.

It takes forever to come

because all you think about
is going home.

All you wanna do
is go home.

You don't wanna be there,

you don't wanna be around
none of that stuff.

Then they tell you
your next court date is

two, three months away.

Then those three months go by
and you go back to court,

and you find out that they're
not ready for trial,

and it's just--

it's just--it's just
heartbreaking and it's like--

I felt like they was
just playing with my life.

♪ ♪

- Kalief was going through
this vicious cycle

of solitary confinement
and this vicious cycle in court

where he's shackled
by the hands and feet,

put on a bus.

- They stick you
in the basement of a courthouse

and you sit there till
at least 10:00 in the morning,

which is when they first start
bringing "the bodies" up.

"Is the body up?

Bring the body up.
Bring the body up."

- There's all kinds
of implicit biases

that we are dealing with
and to have a person of color,

you know, show up shackled
in a jumpsuit of some sort

plays
right into the implicit biases

of a judge who's making
determinations

about motions
and release decisions.

- Go down
to any hall of justice

in any city in America,

and what you're gonna see is
poor black and brown people

lined up, going off to prison
for doing stuff

that rich people are doing
every day.

- And then he's put
back on that bus

knowing that he's not going
home to his family, again.

♪ ♪

- Let's say he stole
a backpack.

I mean, so what?

So what? This man did not
deserve to be in prison

three years
and in solitary confinement.

- His time in solitary,

that lack
of human contact

turned to despair.

- Did you ever go
to a clinic to visit

with a mental health
professional?

- No.
I barely seen a psychiatrist.

Sometimes they would
come to my cell.

- Would they come
into your cell?

- No, they would
just knock on my door.

- And stand outside?
- Yes.

- And what would you say?

- I'll tell them
I'm stressed out.

I told them I didn't
sleep right.

I told them I was
being starved,

I was not being put
in the shower,

and I'm feeling suicidal.

- Kalief Browder was put
in solitary confinement

for an enormous amount of time.

I'm gonna tell you as somebody
that's witnessed it personally.

Solitary confinement is
a mind-altering experience.

All you want is to get
out of that cell.

- Former chief of the New York
City Police Department,

he also ran Rikers Island
for years,

and as a convicted felon,

he spent time
in solitary confinement.

- As someone that spent 60 days
inside solitary confinement,

it creates paranoia,
it makes you insane.

There's people out there
that say,

"You do the crime,
you have to do the time."

I don't think those people
understand

what that really means.

Solitary confinement doesn't
make anybody better.

♪ ♪

It makes them worse.

[rhythmic music]

It creates
enormous anxiety.

You have no conception
what's going on

in the world around you,

and there are times when you go
into your deepest depression.

♪ ♪

I can remember thinking, like,
"What would I do to end this?"

You know,
"How can I get out of here?"

♪ ♪

And there was actually a time
that I actually--

[chuckles]
I actually timed the COs

walking their tours,
'cause they would

look in the cells
to check on us, you know.

Could I hang up and get it over
by the time they came back?

♪ ♪

Would I have done it?
I don't know,

but I'm confident...
that everybody--

anybody that's in solitary
that goes through that,

they think about it
at least once, if not more.

- Suicide attempts
on Rikers Island

are very common.

It's nothing like
the outside world

where someone would be
treated

with a sense
of urgency and alarm.

On the inside these are
everyday situations.

[dramatic music]

- You would run
into self mutilation.

It would start
with the cutting of arms,

picking at skin,
then it would escalate.

- I'd go on these binges

where I can cut
for weeks to a month.

The feeling is
almost like freedom,

'cause I control it.

- It's just shifting pain.

You create a new obstacle,
a new pain for yourself.

- I went from
a psychological phase

where I was hanging up
every day,

and it became addictive.

And it was to the point
where I didn't care

if it worked
or didn't work.

- I think 80% of inmates
probably think about suicide

at some point or another.

I've thought about it
many times.

I've tried it.

- It was just a matter of...

all the stress and
everything I was going through.

Being in solitary confinement
that long

without talking to anybody,

I felt like that maybe had
something to do with it.

I felt like I was
losing my sanity.

- When did you formulate
the plan

to try to commit suicide?

- Well, I was actually thinking
about it two, three weeks.

- Did you tell anyone you were
going to do this?

- No.

- And in March of 2012,
he attempted suicide.

[ominous music]

He's literally in a noose,
hanging off the ground.

They came in and started
beating him down.

He ran out of the cell
to get in the hallway

'cause he knew there were
cameras there.

You know, he started
fighting back,

he was [bleep] crazy
at that point.

Could you blame him?

And they "restrained" him.

He attempted suicide,
wasn't cared for properly.

He wasn't even taken
for psychiatric treatment.

Did you know that he had
attempted suicide?

- No.
- He never said that to you.

He never talked about that.
- No.

- Did they ever tell you?
- No.

- Did they ever call you
and say, "Miss Browder,

"by the way, your son
just attempted suicide,

we just wanted
to let you know"?

He was 17. I don't know why
they didn't contact his family.

- And you never saw
any mental health

following this incident?

- No.
It was never reported.

- Kalief's suicide attempt
was never considered

to be a suicide attempt.

It was considered to be
what's called

a goal-directed action
to remove himself

from solitary confinement.

Another term would be
"malingering."

- They know he's desperate
to get out of solitary,

so they say he's doing it
to achieve that goal.

He's a manipulator.

The mental health response
for attempting suicide,

it's very callous.

These mental health staff
become so preoccupied

with trying to find evidence
that the person's malingering

that they miss the real story.

[droning music]

- Corizon was
the hired contractor

to deliver care.

Their truthfulness, you know,
gets questioned.

♪ ♪

- We began finding cases
at Rikers Island.

One in particular was
an inmate who had swallowed

a highly caustic ball
of detergent

and was left to die in his cell
despite asking for help

from medical personnel,
from guards passing by.

- He killed himself.

There's no lie
about killing yourself.

There's no hustle
in that.

- And if what you're willing
to do is try to kill yourself,

to try and hang yourself,
you're desperate.

♪ ♪

- When he was in jail,

and he would go to court
and expect to go home that day,

having those expectations
and not leaving--

well, he just couldn't
take it anymore.

Those were the days
he tried to kill himself.

There was a parallel here.

These prosecutors continued
this whole song and dance

about not being ready
and asking for more time.

The judges let it go.

[clock ticking]

Kalief's defense attorney
let it go.

[clock ticking]

All the district attorney
had to dhein t case

was bring one victim forward.

This wasn't
a complex racketeering case

or a case where, like,
five or ten people got arrested

under drug conspiracy

with loads of paperwork
and wiretaps.

This was one witness.

♪ ♪

- I started researching
this story.

I couldn't find the man
whose book bag

he was said to have stolen.

Some people even said that
that man doesn't even live

in the country anymore.

[woman yelling indistinctly]

[phone ringing]

[both speaking Spanish]

[dial tone]

- Well, me and my friend,
we came from a party

on 3rd Avenue
in the Bronx.

I seen
the flashing sirens.

I was thinking it was
a search-and-frisk routine,

but they told us, no,
there was a guy

in the police car saying
that we robbed him.

I looked in the car, I couldn't
really see a good look at him,

but, you know,
he didn't look familiar at all.

I don't even know to this day,
I don't even know how he looks.

[both speaking Spanish]

[ominous music]

♪ ♪

- [speaking Spanish]

- When you left the party
at 2:00 a.m.,

where were you
intending to go?

- Back home.

- How far of a distance was
the party from where you lived?

- I would say
about three blocks.

- [speaking Spanish]

- Late at night, it was,
you know, real dark.

The lights--the lights--
there weren't really

any streetlights on that block
at the time.

- After they searched us
and they realized

we didn't have anything on us,

they went back
to the police car

and they came back
and they said that

the guy is saying
that we tried to rob him,

and then another police officer
came about five seconds later,

he said that
the guy is saying

that we robbed him
two weeks ago now.

And the next thing you know,
they putting the cuffs on me.

I don't even know
this dude.

- I could see if Kalief was
caught committing a crime.

But he was just walking home
from a party.

- I blame the DA
for not scrutinizing

and being more diligent
with this victim.

There was no evidence at all
except for the victim saying,

"It was that kid
and his friend."

I mean, did he just pick
the first two black kids he saw

on the street?

- When that police officer
arrested Kalief,

he acted as judge, jury,
and executioner.

- Sometimes, you know, I feel
like I'm never going home.

- The citizens place their trust
in elected officials.

They expect fair governance

and efficient deliverance
of services.

- But our investigation
has discovered

that many of these people
shouldn't even be here.

- There were problems
in DA Robert Johnson's office,

especially
with wrongful convictions.

Do you think he was
a good DA?

- I worked for him
for ten years,

I think that he--you know,
the community liked him,

he got reelected
over and over and over again.

- National registry
of exonerations,

they say that from January, '89,
through December, 2013,

the Bronx had 29 exonerations,
and that per capita,

that's the highest rate
in the state

and the fifth nationwide.

- How it happened was not
under my watch, Darryl.

- Okay, so--all right.
- So therefore, I couldn't do

anything about that.
- Well, let me ask you

about something that did happen
under your watch.

We've talked on this program
about Kalief Browder,

the young man who was held,
accused of stealing a backpack,

held on Rikers Island
for three years.

- Yes.
- They had no witness,

they had no evidence,
they had no case.

Um, we looked
at the records,

and it turned out he appeared
in your courtroom

six different times
from late 2011 to mid 2012.

Now, that would've been
the middle

of his incarceration.

He was in your courtroom
November 4, 2011.

- You could've made a motion
sua sponte, right?

You could've just on your own
said, "Release this person

from jail, he's been here
for two years."

- Oh, no, no.
I don't--I don't--

not necessarily you can do
a sua sponte.

- This has nothing to do
with you?

- I didn't say it had nothing
to do with me. I think that--

- Do you feel any sense
of responsibility

for what happened
in this case?

- Mm...

I think we all share
some type of responsibility.

- I just looked at her
and I couldn't believe her.

Every time you turn around,
the prose--

"Oh, your honor,
we need another week.

"We need another two weeks.
Oh, so-and-so is on vacation,

we need to, you know,
have more time."

- I know,
it was a joke.

- Where was the victim
for three years?

- It was a bull[bleep] case
to begin with.

The DAs did not subject
their witness

to any kind of scrutiny
that would've passed,

you know,
anybody's laugh test.

- What normally happens
in a situation such as this,

detectives would be notified
and they may come down

to enhance this arrest
right at that time,

but I cannot see
that any detectives responded

and enhanced that case
on that night.

The only paperwork
from a detective that I see

was an interview conducted
six days after the arrest.

- Detective Caraballo
met with the victim

after Kalief
got arrested.

She reopened the case
and there's a reason

why they reopened
the case briefly.

- Why?
- I don't know.

- Now, the job of going
back to speak with the super

or the owner of the building
would've fallen

on the detectives conducting
the follow-up investigation,

but a police officer
or a detective is not required

to go out and find
information

to exonerate the person
they just arrested.

That said,
a police officer's past

may come into play
at a trial

if the officer was accused
of any wrongdoing in the past.

- I was just about ready
to sit down

and watch the Yankee game.

I get a knock
on the front door here

and it was a police--

plainclothes police officers,
asking for me.

- They asked him,
"Hey, can you come with us

"down to the 48th precinct?

We have to talk to you
about something."

Mr. Johnson was then put
in a lineup,

and Detective Yvette Caraballo
was with the 9-year-old boy

who had his bike stolen.

She was just very forceful
in picking Michael Johnson

and telling the boy to select
him out of the lineup.

Mr. Johnson was the subject
of intense ridicule

from the "New York Post."

His entire family thought

that he had robbed a bicycle
from a nine-year-old boy.

Then there was a video that
fully exonerated Mr. Johnson,

that it wasn't him.
it just happened to be

some other
African-American bald man.

That video was not shown
to his defense counsel

till after he had been
remanded to Rikers Island.

- That Detective Caraballo,

I kind of think she knew
the video existed.

- Only thing on my mind was,
"I gotta go home,

I didn't do this."

And, you know, it was scary,
because, you know...

I'm being held accountable
for something I didn't do.

I don't even know this guy.

- This guy flees the country.

Meanwhile, the DA leaves
Kalief in Rikers to rot.

They just presumed him guilty,

that he was just another
[bleep] black kid from the Bronx

that did something wrong.

He's already in jail.

He's gonna end up
taking a plea,

so they didn't give a [bleep],
and they just let it go.

- During this period of time,
Kalief,

did you have any other
altercations

with other corrections officers?

- Yes.
His name was...Grinnage.

There was a lot of tension
between us.

- Can you tell me
what happened?

- Just arguments.

- What would you argue over?

- The phone, the shower, soap,
toilet paper, stuff like that.

Whenever I needed tissues
so I could use the bathroom

he would say,
"All right, I got you,"

and then he would never
give it to me.

Then an hour later I would be
screaming out my door,

"I need tissue!"

And it eventually led
to the incident.

[tense music]

♪ ♪

- Tell me what happened
on that date.

- He came to my cell
and he told me

he was gonna beat me up
once I got in the shower.

♪ ♪

- Do you know why?

- Because in the shower
there are no cameras.

♪ ♪

- So what did you do
in response to that?

- To be honest, I didn't really
think he was gonna do anything.

- So describe
what happened.

♪ ♪

- He opened up my cell.

He started to escort me
to the shower.

He said something,

and I said something back
to him, and...

he slammed me to the floor.

♪ ♪

[ominous music]

- Somebody help!

Please! Please!
Somebody help me!

- I couldn't do anything,
because my hands was

cuffed to the back,
and it's scary.

[dramatic music]

- Why did you slam my brother
to the floor?

What did my brother say

that would provoke
that type of action?

He didn't touch you.

He wasn't fighting
nobody else.

Another guard runs.

To do what?

To help the defenseless guard
that's on top of my brother?

Or because he thought
my brother was gonna get up

and beat him up?

How, if my brother's
in handcuffs?

What he gonna do?

♪ ♪

Why did they allow
this treatment to continue?

- According
to the Use of Force report,

Kalief tried to get
away from him,

he was aggressive
towards the officer,

and that he was
restraining Kalief.

You know,
"The officers,

"they were trying to do
the right thing

in restraining him,"
and this and that.

I'm like, "bull[bleep]."

- Did you have any injuries
from this?

- I had an injury to my face.

- What happened
to your face?

- It was a bruise.

- This is the statement

from the correctional health
services.

"Kalief admits to hitting
his face into a shower wall."

That doesn't even make sense.

You know, like,
it could not have happened

that Kalief slammed his own head
into a shower.

You know, these officer
probably know

some of these doctors
or nurses,

and they're falsifying
documents.

These guys are--they're
in cahoots with the officers,

'cause no one's gonna
challenge this.

- One of the big problems
at Rikers is a code of silence.

All the officers,
practically, will lie

or look the other way
for the bad people,

and that creates
a culture of brutality.

- This event happened
in full view of the cameras.

All the inmates know
exactly where the cameras are,

and he knew
it was just so brazen

that it had been captured
on film.

- Kalief's like, "I want to go
to the hearing this time.

"I want to go to the proceeding
and tell the judge

that there's a video of that and
that officer slammed me down."

But they never had
a hearing.

It rarely ever happens,
you know?

As long as Kalief is
still standing

and his skull isn't
fractured,

these officers aren't getting
charged with any crime.

You know,
the district attorney's office

only opens investigations if--

you know, if someone's
basically in a coma.

And then he was brought
back to court.

You know, it's just, like,
an ongoing pattern,

but at this point, it's just
completely out of control.

- The DA had an obligation
to honestly state

whether or not
he or she was ready for trial,

and in order to be
ready for trial

a witness has to be
reachable and available.

- If the prosecutors knew that
they did not have a witness,

then their failure to tell that
to the defense lawyer,

in my view, amounts
to a serious ethical violation.

- These prosecutors knew
or should've known

that there was no case here,

and they have obligations
to investigate,

especially when at the outset
it appears

that something stinks
to high heaven.

- In the district attorney's
notes

you see that they're
indicating to each other

that they don't have witness,
they can't find the witness.

[dramatic music]

- I just--I still--I can't--

I-I just don't--
I-I don't remember everything.

♪ ♪

- How could they
prosecute a case

if the witness isn't there
to testify?

- Do you know the case
of Kalief Browder?

- They knew
that victim was gone.

They continued
this whole song and dance

about not being ready
and asking for more time,

and the judges
just let it go.

- And then you try and make him
admit that he's guilty.

To what?

[ominous music]

♪ ♪

- At that time, I felt like
that was the right thing to do,

fight my case,
even though I knew

sometimes things happen and
some people are found guilty

of things they didn't do,

but that was a risk
I was willing to take.

- From the day he got arrested,
they try and get him

to plead guilty
to something he didn't do,

but Kalief stood his ground,
he wouldn't do it.

- And that's when
Judge DiMango got involved.

- Good morning,
thank you.

- She's feisty.
- Oh, jeez.

- She's quick.
- Turn that phone off.

- She's real.

- I mean, it is prison.

- Pleas are
DiMango's specialty.

On this day, nearly half
of the more than 30 defendants

who appeared before her
took them.

It's why she's
here in the Bronx,

to help with a huge backlog
of cases,

some of which date back years

and is seen as an embarrassment
across the state.

- How many cases
did you do a day?

- I did anywhere from 30
to 70 felony cases a day.

- You were a closer.

- I was a closer.
I was the Mariano Rivera

of the court system.
- [laughs]

- I have to make
a full disclosure

before I talk
about Patricia DiMango. Okay?

She's an archenemy of mine,
okay?

I think she's--
she's a bully.

- What do you do with your life?
Nothing, right?

- She had a certain style
where she pressed

these defendants
into taking a plea.

- Plea here
or take your chances,

because if you lose at trial
on these cases,

you may end up with much more
than a year and a half.

[dramatic music]

- It didn't matter to her
where the victim was.

It didn't matter what was
happening to Kalief in Rikers.

Even fact that
this guy's backpack

kept Kalief in jail
for three years,

she didn't give a [bleep].

She was going to get him
to plea. That's what she does.

- Yes or no?
Yes or no?

♪ ♪

[droning music]

- Whether Kalief Browder
took the backpack or not

is insignificant.

It holds no weight
to the story, you know?

This man deserved justice

under the current laws
of our system,

and the system failed him.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- Every time I went to court
there was always

that side of me that--telling
me, like, "You gonna go home."

But then I tried
not to hype myself up,

'cause it hurts when you think
you going home

and then you don't go home.

- In March of 2013,

they brought in
Patricia DiMango to clear up

the court congestion
in the Bronx.

- Do community service,
it'll help you.

- The DA's all over the place,
they can't find the witness.

Then that's when they came back
with the misdemeanors

to just try to get rid of it,
you know, for their stats.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- The first thing
that came to my head is,

"For them to offer me
something like that,

they have to know
they wrong,

so if they know they wrong,
there's no point in taking it."

- DiMango pressed him
to take a plea,

and he refused it.

He said no.
"I didn't do it.

I'll go to trial."

DiMango says to him,
"Okay, no sweat off my back."

And so the DA states

that they're still
not ready for trial.

They request two weeks,
and the case is adjourned.

DA had made the representation
to the court at that point

that they're in contact
with the victim,

but that he's in Mexico,
and that they were gonna

fly him "up to the Bronx"
for the trial.

I mean, give me a break.

Then they come back
in April.

Of course, they weren't ready,
they didn't have the witness,

but at this point it's just
completely out of control,

and it became,
like, more apparent

that they didn't have
a witness at all.

They were still
trying to do it

for as long as they could
get away with it.

- The judge told me
that if I plead guilty

of time served, and I had
about 33 months in at that time,

that I would be released--
I would be released from jail

that same day
without any probation,

and my felony would be dropped
down to a misdemeanor.

And, you know,
it sounded good,

because it was
right before summertime

and I really wanted to go home,
but I didn't do it,

you're not gonna--
you're not gonna make me say

I did something
just so I could go home.

And she told Kalief,
"The district attorney has been

"in contact
with the victim.

"Could go to jail
for up to 15 years.

You have a lot to lose here."

[dramatic music]

- Where do you go,
what do you do?

- She said, "Now, are you sure
you want to go to trial,

or you want to go home today?"

I told her, "I didn't do it.
I'm not--I'm not taking--

I'm not taking this--
I'm not taking the deal."

- That meant he had to go

back to that hellhole
that he came from.

But he did it
to take a stand.

- It was
the most difficult decision

I ever had in my life,

but I had to maintain
my innocence, so I had--

I had to just stay in there
and--and fight it.

- I know he thought
about it.

How could he not think about it?
That was his life, you know.

He didn't know when he was
getting out of there.

- It was a lot mentally,
because half of you wants

to get out of there,
and then the other half

don't want to leave just
over the strength of principle.

I said "Yo, what if I made
a mistake?"

- I'm a little on the both side
of admiring him for his bravery

and wanting to punch him
in the face

for staying in there.

Nobody wants to be
in a room by yourself.

If you could get out, you would
do anything to get out.

- And he's--
he's a better person than me,

'cause I probably would've said,
"Okay, I'm guilty,"

just to go home.

- It was--it was--it--
to be honest, it was--

it was the anger towards the way
the system was running.

I didn't--I didn't think
it was fair.

- The courage
that Mr. Browder showed

is one of the most remarkable
things about this case,

because I guarantee,
99 out of 100 people

will plead guilty
to something they didn't do

when they are forced
into the situation

Mr. Browder was
forced into.

- Dudes in there,
they used to tell me,

"Kalief, why?
Just take it, go home."

They would call me
all types of names,

"You're dumb,
you're stupid.

If that was me I would've said
I did it, went home."

And I'm not gonna lie.
I mean, it did get to me, I--

when they used to talk
like that I used to go

to my cell and lay down
and think, like,

"You know, maybe I am crazy,
or maybe I am going too far,"

but I just did
what I felt was right.

- To stand up for your rights
under the worst circumstances,

this is an unbelievable guy.

You don't find
that many people like him,

and he deserves to be
taken seriously.

- Of course he's not there,

and I think at that point,
DiMango realized,

"Hey, the DA's never been
ready on this case.

It's like all the lights
went on.

- Eventually,
the district attorneys

have to admit that
they don't really have a case,

the witness that they felt
that they had

was no longer
in the country.

- We don't have a witness.
We know we can't make the case.

We know for a fact
that if judge says

we're starting the trial,
we'd have to dismiss.

There's no question
about it.

- She pressed the DA.

She demanded that they
either bring their witness in

or dismiss this case.

- And I overheard
the prosecutor.

She told another lawyer,
"I'm not putting my job

"on the line.
I don't know where he is

and I don't know
when he coming back."

But you let my son rot in there
for three years.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- They had to release him.

♪ ♪

- I felt relieved.

I felt like that was
the best feeling

I ever had in my life.

[laughs]

- But by then,
the damage had been done.

- The paranoia, the memories,
it was just too much.

- 911 emergency.
- [screams]