16-year-old beaten by gang in Rikers Island in front of guards

16 year old (actually 15 when originally arrested) Kalief Browder was arrested in the Bronx on charges of stealing a backpack. Browder would spend the next three years at Rikers Island, New York City's massive jail complex, awaiting trial. He spent two of those years in solitary confinement. His case was eventually dismissed. Internal surveillance videos obtained by The New Yorker show that Browder's time awaiting trial in prison was treacherous. Video shows Browder at 17 years old being beaten by a group of fellow inmates at Riker's adolescent facility. According to The New Yorker, Browder was assigned to a housing unit ruled by a gang. Browder, who was not a gang member, says a gang leader spit in his face. Browder tells The New Yorker he felt he needed to retaliate or else be continually spat on. That night, Browder punched the inmate who spit on him. He was attacked by a large group of inmates. When guards separated the gang from Kalief, they put him in a room adjacent to the gang by himself while they attempted to settle the group down. Moments later, a gang member kicks the door open and they charge in to beat him some more. Footage shows about 10 other inmates beating Browder for an extended period of time.