Community Funds, Federal Legislation Challenging Bail System from Different Angles
Kalief Browder was a 16-year-old arrested in New York City in 2012 on charges of stealing a backpack. The charges were later dismissed, but not before he sat in jail on Rikers Island for three years—part of which was spent in solitary confinement—because he couldn’t afford to post $3,000 bail. He committed suicide after his