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Man Jailed Three Years Without Trial Kills Himself; Brothers of Kalief Talk About His Life; Libyan Government Claims Terrorist Mokhtar Belmokhtar Is Dead; "Jurassic World" Is Summer Movie Magic. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired June 15, 2015 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[14:30:00] BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Browder was sent to Rikers for stealing a backpack in the Bronx. He always maintained his innocence but was kept in prison for three years without a trial, two of those years in solitary confinement. He was ultimately released, the charges dropped.
KALIEF KALIEF, SENT TO PRISON WITHOUT TRIAL: No apology, no nothing. They just said, oh, case dismissed. Don't worry about nothing. What do you mean don't worry about nothing? I just spent three years of my life. I didn't get to go to prom, graduation, nothing. The thing is I'm never going to get those years back. Never.
TODD: And he never did. He committed suicide, hanging himself out a window of his mother's home.
His family is now suing the city, the police department, the Bronx D.A. and the New York Department of Corrections for $20 million.
Arnett Gaston, a former commanding officer at Rikers, is baffled by what happened to this young man.
ARNETT GASTON, FORMER COMMANDING OFFICER AT RIKERS ISLAND: I cannot fathom why a person would be in that type of isolation for so long a period of time.
TODD: Contacted by CNN, an official with New York's Department of Corrections said Kalief Browder's death is a tragedy, that their thoughts and prayers are with his family.
(on camera): The official said the officer who slammed Browder to the floor is being retrained, that the inmates who beat him were disciplined, and that the gang incident is still being investigated.
Since Browder's release, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has introduced reforms, moving to limit the number of cases where inmates are held at Rikers for a year while their cases are still pending and ending solitary confinement for teenager detainees.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE) BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Joining me to talk about Kalief's life, and the tremendous loss his family is experiencing, I have Kalief's brother, Kamal and Raheem with me, and Paul Prestia, the Browder family attorney who has filed suit against the NYPD, the Bronx D.A. and Department of Corrections.
Welcome you all for being here.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: So sorry for the loss of your brother.
Kamal and Raheem, to you first.
I can't imagine being in your shoes. I can't imagine the loss, being furious over this whole loss of your brother. This past weekend would have marked one week since he took his life. How did you hear what happened?
KAMAL BROWDER, BROTHER OF KALIEF: I was working and I found out through my next door neighbor.
BALDWIN: And when you heard, knowing your brother as well as you do, were you surprised?
BROWDER: Yes.
BALDWIN: Were you surprised? How did you hear?
RAHEEM BROWDER, BROTHER OF KALIEF: My other brother called me and he told me what was going on and I just came back in from my house. I rushed over there and by the time I got there, the officer came to me and he said, sorry for your loss. I said what do you mean sorry for my loss? And he said, nobody told you? I said, tell me what? And then I look and I see my brother laying face down.
BALDWIN: You saw him?
RAHEEM BROWDER: Yes. He was laying face down and they put the sheet over him.
BALDWIN: Did you have a moment with him?
RAHEEM BROWDER: I had to hug bye. I had to hug my brother's deathless body. It was warm. And I kept on thinking that he was going to turn around and look at me but he didn't.
BALDWIN: Tell me about your brother. This goes back to -- here you go. This goes back a couple of years to when he was a junior in high school. Tell me about your brother before he went to Rikers. What kind of young man was he?
JAMAL BROWDER: He was a fun-loving guy. We used to play care and used to have a game night every weekend where my friends came over, my older brother's friends came over, and we had like a competition to see who could outshine each other. (CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: You were boys.
JAMAL BROWDER: We used to have video games and have competitions. On the weekends we used to play basketball. Sometimes I beat Kalief and sometimes he beat me. That's how it went.
BALDWIN: So competition, video games, playing hoops.
Raheem, what was your relationship like with him?
RAHEEM BROWDER: It was the same thing. We did things together. He was younger.
BALDWIN: He was the baby?
RAHEEM BROWDER: Yes, he was the youngest. Like Kamal said, with basketball, but he tried.
(LAUGHTER)
BALDWIN: I'll take your word for it. So this is Kalief before Rikers?
RAHEEM BROWDER: Yeah.
BALDWIN: He goes into Rikers having no idea he would wind up spending so many years in there, especially in solitary, which I want to get to.
Kamal, you visited him.
KAMAL BROWDER: Yes.
BALDWIN: I was reading this phenomenal article where it talked about his 634th day on Rikers he said, "I can't take it anymore. I give up." He tried to take his life at Rikers. Did you notice a decline in his personality, depression, despair? At what point did you notice that?
[14:35:04] KAMAL BROWDER: I noticed that when he would be there for like going on two years, he used to tell me how the guards used to stalk him and how he used to beg for food but they wouldn't give it to him. And when they gave it to him, they gave him like half-eaten portions, like somebody had already dug into it. It was horrible.
BALDWIN: He was losing weight. Did you notice his physical appearance changing?
KAMAL BROWDER: No. Sometimes I did. Sometimes I didn't.
BALDWIN: And how was your mother through all this?
RAHEEM BROWDER: My mother, she was very upset. She was crying a lot and she couldn't take it. She visited him every day faithfully. And --
BALDWIN: Every day?
RAHEEM BROWDER: Every day my mother went to visit him. She would be in pain. She still went to go visit him. And she had -- Kalief didn't tell her everything but he told her enough. Like my brother said, with the starving, he was beaten just about every day. We would give him money to put in his account so he could buy stuff and use the phone and then, all of a sudden, you know, we get no phone calls from him because they took his money. They took his money and gave it to somebody else.
BALDWIN: The question that everyone who is familiar with this story wants to know, how does somebody go away to Rikers for three years, spent the bulk of it in solitary confinement, the case up and gets dismissed, he walks out of there.
PAUL PRESTIA, ATTORNEY FOR BROWDER FAMILY: Without an apology.
BALDWIN: With nothing.
PRESTIA: Right.
BALDWIN: How does that happen? That's my question.
PRESTIA: Brooke, it's inexplicable. You would never see this again in your entire lifetime. It was just a massive failing by the criminal justice system at each and every level. It was like a perfect storm. And it was horrific. It was horrific. You had the district attorney's office essentially abusing whatever speedy trial laws we have in this state, in the city, almost as if they didn't care that Kalief was in jail. I really don't think they did. And that's not really too far-fetched, to be honest with you, because all they do is have his rap sheet and some paperwork about the arrest. They know nothing about him. They probably didn't know he was in solitary, but they knew he was in jail, and I'm sure they hoped that he would just take a plea or they thought he would.
BALDWIN: But he refused to because --
(CROSSTALK)
PRESTIA: They didn't want to try this case, but he did, unfortunately, for them.
BALDWIN: Raheem, both of you bring up this guard abuse. I would be remiss in saying that three Rikers' guards were fired for their behavior. We'll follow this story with all of you.
Really my final question to you, Kamal, and then Raheem, is no amount of money will bring your brother back. What does justice look like for you?
KAMAL BROWDER: To me, justice is finding out why it happened, why he committed suicide. He never should have been in there for three years for a case that wasn't even accurate. I just want justice for my little brother and I hope that all the people that go through this needs to speak up, stand up for themselves and come forward.
BALDWIN: Raheem?
RAHEEM BROWDER: My brother was arrested and sent to jail for something he did not do. The supposed person that he committed the crime with wasn't even in the country. Every officer gave a different story. This entire system needs to be redone. There's no reason in the world why you're going to hold somebody in prison, you keep on prolonging the case when no evidence whatsoever. And then the guards be -- the guards need to be retrained. Something needs to happen. There's no reason in the world you should be abusing these inmates. We send people there for them to try to -- they did something wrong, nine times out of 10. There are innocent people but it's supposed to be a way to change their lives, so when they come out they will be rehabilitated. But that's not what they are doing there. They bring you in there, they try to break you, and then they try to keep you down, they treat you like animals. That needs to change.
BALDWIN: Kamal and Raheem Browder, thank you both very much. I'm sorry for the loss of your brother.
RAHEEM BROWDER: Thank you.
BALDWIN: Please stay in touch with us.
And, Paul Prestia, thank you. Let us know where the case goes.
PRESTIA: Thank you, Brooke.
[14:39:47] BALDWIN: Next here on CNN, air strikes overnight in Libya aimed at this man, a terrorist leader of an al Qaeda affiliate in Africa responsible for a deadly attack in Algeria two years ago. The question, was he killed? That's next. Also, the blockbuster reboot of "Jurassic Park," "Jurassic World,"
broke records. Could this actually happen in the future?
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[14:44:46] BALDWIN: He was the $5 million man. That's how much the reward was for information leading to al Qaeda terrorist wanted for more than a decade. And now Mokhtar Belmokhtar is dead, at least according to the Libyan government. Killed by a U.S. airstrike in Libya with the whole purpose of taking him out. But while Libya is claiming success, the U.S. isn't going there, at least not just yet.
Our chief national security correspondent, Jim Sciutto, joins me again.
So we hear what the Libyan government is saying. What is the U.S. saying on this?
[14:45:16] JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: The U.S. is saying they are reserving judgment at this point. They believe their intelligence was good. They have been watching this compound for two months knowing that he used this compound. They believe when they dropped these bombs -- and there were a lot of them, dropping several bombs at the center of the compound, they believe he was there at the time but the U.S. has a higher standard. They want proof and that could come from DNA results if you were able to get remains or an announcement on jihadi websites. But they tend to be slower in announcing for sure that a target has been taken out.
And this is an important target. Why five million bucks on his head? Two years ago, he spearheaded an attack on a major oil refinery in Algeria. Several foreigners and three Americans were killed. It shows the reach of the organization today. He was a big target. They believe they got him but they are not going to say definitively yet.
BALDWIN: Got it.
Jim Sciutto, thank you so much.
SCIUTTO: Thank you.
BALDWIN: Coming up, the blockbuster reboot here. More on "Jurassic World" smashing box office records. We'll talk to a dinosaur geek on this one, coming up.
Also ahead, we heard about the announcement to the announcement in mere minutes, the official announcement, Jeb Bush jumping in the race. We have an entire panel ready to talk about this, talk through the significance of where he's announcing, why finally now, and what's next?
You're watching CNN. I'll be right back.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Every time we've unveiled a new attraction, attendance has spiked.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: She was designed to be bigger than the T-Rex.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: What happened to the sibling?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: She ate it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[14:52:52] BALDWIN: Dun, dun, dun. The film broke both U.S. and global box office records pulling in more than $524 million in its opening weekend. Wow.
Brooks Mitchell, let me bring you in.
You're the earth science educator at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History in Atlanta, where I took many a field trip in my youth.
So, Brooks, welcome.
BROOKS MITCHELL, EARTH SCIENCE EDUCATOR, FERNBANK MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, ATLANTA: Hey, Brooke, thanks for me.
BALDWIN: I mean, I remember when "Jurassic Park" came out, I remember reading the book and the film and that now 2015. It seems she's the biggest yet. What do you think it is, Brooks, about our obsession with dinosaurs?
MITCHELL: You know, they lived for some a long time in our geological history. There's a lot we don't know about them and there's interpretation for us to make about them because we're not finding fossilized whole specimens. We're finding fossilized bones. It's based on the bones that we're finding and fossils, things like footprints and where they may be dragging their tail and things like that.
BALDWIN: So it's a mystery.
MITCHELL: It's the mystery, exactly.
BALDWIN: So you saw it. You saw the movie a couple of nights ago and let's not give it away if you haven't seen it. But at the lab, at this "Jurassic World," I know these scientists created this genetically modified hybrid dinosaur. What is it?
MITCHELL: I think there's some spinosaurs in there, the T-Rex and the --
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: I'm sorry, what?
MITCHELL: The giganotasauris, from Argentina. Lived about 97 million years ago. A little bigger than the T-Rex. Call him G-Rex or Giggi.
(CROSSTALK)
MITCHELL: The big mixture and mash up of different dinosaurs and they threw in other dinosaur DNAs. I'm not sure how plausible this is. But, yeah --
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: This is movies.
MITCHELL: -- the scariest monster --
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: This is the fantasy.
MITCHELL: Exactly.
BALDWIN: Remember the whole T-Rex scene with guy in the outhouse and chomp, chomp, away he went.
MITCHELL: Oh, yeah.
(LAUGHTER)
BALDWIN: Are there other dinosaur villains in this one?
MITCHELL: Let's see. You know, actually, it seems like there are some that wreak havoc but in this one, some of the dinosaurs turn out to be the good guys, if that makes sense.
BALDWIN: Are you seeing more people at Fernbank? The fascination is already there for dinosaurs but this summer is it going to be gang busters?
MITCHELL: I expect so. We're going to have a speech and saw two people walking around with "Jurassic World" shirts and they were eager to talk to me about it. I think you'll see a huge influx of interested guests coming here just to see our dinosaurs and ask questions.
[14:55:22] BALDWIN: Too cool. I appreciate the fascination in science. If in the Atlanta area, go to the Earth Science Fernbank Museum of Natural History.
Brooks Mitchell, thank you so much.
MITCHELL: Thanks for having me.
BALDWIN: You've got it.
Next, in mere moments, Jeb Bush will officially be announcing his run for the White House. It's a big moment. We'll take it live and discuss.
Also, did President Obama host a secret party at the White House with celebrities like Prince and Stevie Wonder? Hear why the White House press secretary just got hit with some pretty interesting questions.
We'll be right back.
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