PA Bill Number: HB2235
Title: Providing for regulation of the meat packing and food processing industry by creating facility health and safety committees in the workplace; ...
Description: Providing for regulation of the meat packing and food processing industry by creating facility health and safety committees in the workplace; ... ...
Last Action: Referred to LABOR AND INDUSTRY
Last Action Date: Apr 25, 2024
Congressmen Sound Constitutional Alarm Saying Kalief Browder's 6th Amendment Rights Were Violated :: 06/13/2015
Kalief Browder faced regular beatings and solitary confinement when he spent three years at Rikers Island, a set of prison complexes floating between the Bronx and Queens in New York City, while waiting for trial for allegedly stealing a backpack at the age of 17.
Last Saturday, two years after his release from prison, he committed suicide just a few days before he had to make a court appearance.
Now members of Congress are speaking out and calling his treatment unconstitutional.
Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), a 2016 presidential candidate, is one of the right’s most vocal prison reform advocates. After the news of Browder’s suicide, according to Al Jazeera, Paul spoke out:
“I’ve been telling this story for about a year and a half, two years, and it makes me sad now. I thought about not talking about it or doing the story but I thought that this young man’s memory should help us to try and change things. He died this weekend, he committed suicide…Even if you’re convicted of a crime, in America for goodness sake, are we going to let people be raped and murdered and pillaged in a prison because they’re convicted? And he wasn’t even convicted.”
In New Hampshire, Paul added:
“If we become the party that cares about the Sixth Amendment as much as we do the Second Amendment, we’re going to dominate.”
Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) also took to Facebook to express his thoughts:
Of 195 members of the US Senate and House of Representatives subsequently contacted by IJReview, 11 offices have responded, and four have publicly stated that they thought Kalief Browder’s imprisonment was a violation of the Sixth Amendment.
Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah), after a religious liberty speech on Thursday, told IJReview:
Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) holds up his senate identification card at the Freedom Summit at The Executive Court Banquet Facility April 12, 2014 in Manchester, New Hampshire. (Darren McCollester/Getty Images)
“I join many others in condemning the unconstitutional treatment of Kalief Browder. While I do not know all the facts of this case, it appears from media reports that Browder was detained without charge for a period of three years, and during that time endured beatings by both guards and inmates, while also spending two years in solitary confinement. The Constitution clearly does not tolerate this type of treatment.”
Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Florida), who’s introduced the National Center for the Right to Counsel Act, told IJReview:
“The Framers of our Constitution, who included the Sixth Amendment in the Bill of Rights to ensure that no American’s freedom could be taken away by government without a fair trial, would be horrified by what happened to Kalief Browder.
Representatives Danny K. Davis (D-Illinois) responded with “yes”, and Donald Payne (D-New Jersey) told IJReview:
“Yes, the Congressman believes this was a violation of constitutional rights.”
Meanwhile, the Cato Institute’s Julian Sanchez urged that the state “re-examine” the solitary confinement that Browder was subject to, calling his treatment “appalling.”
If more members of Congress respond to our requests for comment, or otherwise address the issue, this story will be updated.
[Editor’s Note: This post was updated after publishing for flow and readability.]
