Dateline, Unjust Justice?

Transcript

AKEEM BROWDER, BROTHER: He was cool, he was my brother, he was my youngest brother too. We were boys, so we would play fight, but at the same time we like considered ourselves like superheroes. We were like dragon war characters.

New York - where dreams are made - for some. But, for the children locked up here, New York is a nightmare. This is Rikers Island, a notorious New York jail complex between Queens and the Bronx.

AKEEM BROWDER: The first thing that you notice is the smell. Everything smells out here. Everything.

On any day, 15,000 prisoners are held here, including children. More than three years behind bars is an horrific thought, but imagine if two years of that were spent all alone with little or no human contact? You are 16, you are imprisoned because someone said you stole a backpack. You say you didn't. Welcome to Kalief Browder's life. He turned 17 in jail. He was still there for his 18th birthday and his 19th as well as his 20th.

REPORTER: So this is Kalief?

AKEEM BROWDER: Yes.

REPORTER: It is a nice photo.

His brother Akeem foals that Kalief was robbed of his childhood.

AKEEM BROWDER: He missed out on RJ being born. Athina being born.

REPORTER: These are his nieces and nephews?

AKEEM BROWDER: Yep, yep. He missed out on like a lot.

REPORTER: Well, three years of his life, right?

AKEEM BROWDER: Yeah, yeah. A lot happens in three years. If you really don't think about it - if you think about it, there is a lot that happens.

Akeem's little brother, Kalief, had his cash bail set at US $3,000. Their single mother couldn't afford that or a lawyer, so Kalief stayed in jail for more than 1,000 days.

AKEEM BROWDER: Kalief or if any adolescent committed a crime, there is a clear destination between adult and adolescent. So why treat him like an adult?

New York is one of two states in the US still convicting and prosecuting 16-year-olds as adults.

AKEEM BROWDER: I thought, he is a kid, they got to let him go, actually. He is 16 years old.

They didn't. What they did was lock him in solitary confinement for 800 days.

AKEEM BROWDER: He is in a cage and then, not only are you isolated, but you have handcuffs and shackles. So you are an animal. It was meant as a torture tactic.

A tactic that has concerned President Obama, in his final year in the White House, he's taking a stand so others don't suffer as Kalief did.

NEWSREADER: In the latter part of his tenure, President Obama has put criminal justice reform high on his agenda.

Solitary confinement for children is a breach of the UN human rights convention, so Obama is using his executive power to try to end solitary for juveniles. But the problem is Obama's mandate only applies to federal prisons. Most American jails are run by local authorities, including Rikers Island.

REPORTER: Good to meet you.

NORMAN SEABROOK, CORRECTION OFFICERS’ UNION: Good to meet you as well.

REPORTER: Thank you for making the time. I really appreciate it.

Rikers Island has one of the highest rates of solitary in America. To find out why, I sat down with the boss of the New York Corrections Officer's Union who told me that solitary is necessary, even for juveniles.

REPORTER: They have tried to relax the rules on solitary confinement for people under the age of 21, haven't they, in line with human rights around the world. Do you disagree with that policy?

NORMAN SEABROOK: I don't disagree with laxing it when it comes to certain violations of the policies and procedures, but what do you do with an inmate that slashes the face of a correction officer or rapes an inmate or attempts to rape a correction officer or kills, maims another inmate? What do you do with that inmate? Where do you put that inmate? Do you allow this inmate to continue to roam the corridors of the jail system as Hannibal Lecter would do?

REPORTER: Would you describe Rikers Island as a torture chamber?

NORMAN SEABROOK: Those who have described it as a torture chamber are those with a gripe or a grievance. I would describe it more as a camp right now. It wasn't bad. It is not an environment where we are hanging people by their toenails.

This security footage clearly shows Kalief being beaten repeatedly. Rikers Island is known for its culture of violence, only one in 10 people can afford to pay bail in New York, so plenty of teens end up here. Kids accused of minor infractions like travelling without a Subway ticket held alongside serious offenders. When Kalief wasn't locked up in solitary, his days were spent here with the masses.

Whilst no-one is saying that Kalief was a model prisoner, he was kept in jail because prosecutors kept arguing they needed more time. They delayed his court case more than 30 times. They did offer to release him, if he plead guilty. But not wanting a permanent criminal record, he refused, protesting his innocence for the entire three years. His torturous period locked up eventually ended when the prosecution couldn't produce a witness.

AKEEM BROWDER: Kalief was damaged. He didn't go there damaged. He was then damaged. It was tragic that my brother went through this and he was innocent.

A huge majority of young people behind bars here in New York are from just a handful of neighbours. Low socioeconomic neighbours like this one, the Bronx and Harlem. And what is worst is that 70% of teens tried and convicted as adults will end up back behind bars later in life.

SASHA: It is no joke when you hear your friends telling you that you are going to end up in Juvey before you are 18.

Sasha grew up in a New York suburb where a third of people live below the poverty line. She was arrested by police for assault and she ended up here. Youth Court is an alternative. Here teens are judged by their peers, instead of facing a traditional court. The goal is to prevent future involvement with the criminal justice system.

SASHA: That day I had no idea what youth court was. I walked in and I saw a kid coming up to me saying, "Hey, I am going to represent you" and I just laughed.

Youth Court is run by children for children, Nikes, hoodies and all. Police refer low-level juvenile crimes here, like skipping school, punch-ups and offences like what Kalief was accused of doing - stealing a backpack.

SASHA: I was like, "What the hell is this?" Kids are representing me? OK. This should be funny.

SASHA: I solemnly swear and swear and affirm... I was with my dad and he was like, "Behave yourself." I am just saying, what type of court has kids representing kids.

YOUTH COURT: Issue before the court… truancy. Does the jury have any questions?

YOUTH JURY: Just to let you know that we are here to help you not to judge you. So please tell me what happened on the date of your offence. Is this your first offence?

SASHA: Yeah.

While the process kind of looks like a play dress rehearsal. This is actually a real course with real consequences.

YOUTH COURT: Is there anything you would like to say on your behalf?

SASHA: No.

YOUTH COURT: Thank you, you may sit down now.

ALEX CALABRESE, JUDGE: What I really love about them is the ordinary teenagers horsing around listening to music, they put on T-shirts of Youth Court and they are dead serious and you don't mess with them.

Judge Calabrese runs Youth Court in Red Hook, which is a poorer part of New York.

ALEX CALABRESE: When I first came to the people at Red Hook had gone through so many murders per year, so many robberies and so many assaults per year, we had a community that was under siege. Literally on a daily basis they were scared and they were terrified. It was a community where - when the gunfire was particularly difficult, at night you would put your children to bed in the bathtub because that was the safest place and if you lived on the first floor of the Red Hook houses you taught your children when they heard a bang to hit the floor. Bang, hit the floor. Don't forget to check in upstairs.

He believes Youth Court helps to prevent teens becoming trapped in the cycle of court, prison and poverty.

ALEX CALABRESE: In the traditional court, the same people who I see recycling in and out of jail, time and time and time again, are people that are I know we can help them get their lives back on track, have them be successful, have them graduate. Have them smiling, relinking them with their families. It is a different result.

JUDGE ALEX CALABRESE: You wish to enter a plea of plea of guilty...

For more than a deck called he has split his time between here and the kids that run the youth court.

JUDGE ALEX CALABRESE: You can go the jail for 15 days, do you understand?

YOUTH COURT: Is there anything else you would like to say on your own behalf?

BOY: I’m really sorry.

The youth judge, jury and prosecutors pride themselves on genuinely listening to fellow teen stories.

YOUTH COURT: If a younger youth was in the same situation as you, what advice would you give them?

BOY: I’d tell them not to do it because like, the past will haunt you.

YOUTH JURY: The jury has no further questions.

YOUTH COURT: Do you think he deserves any sanction?

YOUTH JURY: No. He wants to apologise to someone. But he did? He said that he tried to, but he wasn't there.

YOUTH COURT: Do you think we should give him a sanction or just a reminder?

YOUTH JURY: An apology. Yeah.

ALEX CALABRESE: We have a 16-year-old. You can incarcerate that child for a year or two. The kid will get to 18 and have lost all education and contact with the family. It’s not going to be a good result for the community in the end.

In the communities where it is available, the alternative justice that youth court provides has been hugely successful.

ALEX CALABRESE: We had a kid two years ago get a four-year scholarship to an Ivy League college. That just didn't happen out of Red Hook.

Kalief, sadly wasn't given the Youth Court option.

AKEEM BROWDER: I think anything different would have saved him. Anything - that sounds really positive to have peers of your own age judge you.

SASHA: I was known for being a good player. I would come on the court and everybody would forget about what happened earlier that day, who I was arguing with. Oh, look, Sasha is playing. Let's go to the game.

Basketball has always been an outlet for Sasha's anger.

SASHA: Punching. I don't cat fight. I don't pull the hair. No. We would fight.

REPORTER: Proper fight?

SASHA: Proper fight.

Fighting at school is nothing new but in New York, the law means that making a mistake as a teenager can change and even ruin futures. Sasha assaulted a classmate so badly, she was arrested.

SASHA: The next day I went to school the police were waiting for me. I never even made it to my second period class.

REPORTER: With the benefit of hindsight, do you see you were spiraling downhill?

SASHA: I do. I definitely do. It was at the point where my mother couldn't even look at me the same because she was - she didn't know who I was anymore. She had no idea. She was like, "This isn't the Sasha I raised." When I got sent here she was so disappointed in me that her comment towards me was, "If they ask about your mother, tell them you do not have one."

Sasha was sentenced by her peers at Youth Court, instead of a normal, harsher court that could have sent her behind bars.

SASHA: I saw the process. I was like, "Oh, this really isn't a joke." They take things seriously here.

The teen judge and jury listened to her and decided on balance she had been provoked into assaulting her classmate. She was still punished with community service and an anger management course.

SASHA: Afterwards, they came out and said, "Hey, look, would you like to become a member of youth court?" I knew that I was very interested in this when we took our exam towards the ending of training to become a member and I was the one with the highest test score. I was like, wow! I surprised myself. I was like, wow!

MARIO, DAD: You are doing pretty well.

SASHA: You sound surprised?

MARIO: No, that is the step you are making.

RENUKA, MUM: It tastes good.

Sasha's mum and dad believe youth court saved their daughter's life.

MARIO: I thought my daughter was going to die. The way she would get angry and crying. "I don't want to be here."

REPORTER: What was your biggest fear at that time?

MARIO: That the children that are high school kids are being treated like they are adults that they are not supposed to make mistakes anymore. That was one of my fears. Think about it, arrested, precinct, lock-up. Juvenile. For what? You understand what I mean? You just shortening their whole future. That is it. You take a petty thing that could be turned around and send them in a whole direction of criminality.

RENUKA: The path she chose to go wrong, I wasn't going to be part of it or part of her life.

REPORTER: It is emotional for you, too.

SASHA: Yes.

REPORTER: Why is that?

SASHA: Because I know how much I hurt them I never really told them how sorry I was.

MARIO: But she did make up for it. That is more than enough. You know, it is OK.

NEWS READER: It is an outrageous case.

ALYONA MINKOVSKI, NEWSREADER: Kalief Browder, a New York man who spent three years behind bars, has committed suicide.

NEWSREADER: Two years after his release from jail, Kalief Browder hanged himself with an air-conditioner cord in his home in the Bronx.

AKEEM BROWDER: I got there and Raheen pulled me to the backyard and I couldn't - I was like, "But where is he? Where is he?" I got to see him. But I never got to see him because they had pulled the body out before I got there.

REPORTER: Tell us about your future dreams now?

SASHA: My future dreams, I am going to be a prosecutor in criminal law. From there, I will do my 10 years, become a judge and from judge I would like to run as state general attorney.

REPORTER: So this is a 30-year plan?

SASHA: Yes.

Judge Calabrese’s youth court and community justice idea has been so successful it has been adopted in Australia and elsewhere around the world.

SASHA: He is awesome. He really is. He actually wants me to intern with him when I get back into school. Hi, judge.

ALEX CALABRESE: Hey, how you doin’? Good to see you. Take a seat, I want to catch up with you

SASHA: He will give you a fair chance and I admire that. I have met judges that aren't like that. They feel that as a youth you have to be perfect. As you know, I want to be a lawyer.

ALEX CALABRESE: And you would be a great judge because you bring that balance and that experience, too. We need people like you who understand and who bring a whole world of experience to the bench. We definitely need that. It makes judges more effective. When judges are more effective, the community understands and believes that the court cares about them.

And while Sasha's path now seems a lot clearer, change still needs to filter across all of New York. Akeem is determined it will - eventually.

AKEEM BROWDER: So... I'm just- I'm just gonna pull up the email for a campaign to shut down Rikers, it says Rikers is a waste of public spending, it costs one hundred sixty-seven thousand dollars to detain a person for one year. Wow.

He's campaigning to change the system that stole his baby brother.

WOMAN: Akeem is one of the co-founders for the campaign to shut down Rikers. With that, Akeem will begin.

AKEEM BROWDER: Thank you, everyone, for coming. Kalief, before any of this happened was not a mentally disturbed or distressed child - Not at all. So, the transformation of what happened in time actually made him not recognisable to us as a family member, but at the same time was - he was a child.

CROWD: What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!

Fed up with the system film-maker Quentin Tarintino joined others, protesting with families who want to prevent more tragedy. There is growing discontent right across New York about Rikers, brutality and the laws imprisoning kids as adults.

CROWD: We want freedom. We want freedom!

AKEEM BROWDER: I want to see change. I want to see change in how we judge. The law is innocent until proven guilty. What is so hard about doing that?

Reporter
MEGGIE PALMER

Producers
PIETRA BRETTKELLY
CATHERINE SCOTT

Cameras
AARON LEWIS
AARON THOMAS

Researchers
ABBIE O’BRIEN
RACHAEL HOCKING

Editor
MICAH MCGOWN

Original Music
HANNAH CAMERON

Thanks To

AKEEM BROWDER
THE BROWDER FAMILY
SASHA + HER FAMILY
RED HOOK YOUTH COURT
JUDGE ALEX CALABRESE
THE NEW YORKER
HANNAH CAMERON
AMANDA BERMAN
NETFLIX

1st March 2016