--- description: The singer writes that New York failed the young man who spent three years on Rikers Island without trial title: John Legend: Kalief Browder Died Because Our System Is Broken image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt156feef77f4a2d15/69885441cd68483a230a0523/john-legend.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [celebrities](/tag/celebrities/) ## celebrities Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # John Legend: Kalief Browder Died Because Our System Is Broken ## Video: Know Right Now: Two Murderers Escape from New York Prison [Watch (HLS stream): Know Right Now: Two Murderers Escape from New York Prison](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/7FdV8eIJ.m3u8) (1:05)  _Published 2015-06-08. Two murderers escaped from the Clinton Correctional Facility in New York. Watch Know Right Now to find out more._ by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 12, 2015 4:49 PM CUT  John Legend onstage during the 2015 Billboard Music Awards at MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 17, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. John Legend onstage during the 2015 Billboard Music Awards at MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 17, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada.Jeff Kravitz—BMA2015/Getty Images by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 12, 2015 4:49 PM CUT Singer-songwriter John Legend has weighed in on the death of Kalief Browder in an [essay](http://www.vulture.com/2015/06/john-legend-new-york-failed-kalief-browder.html "undefined") saying that the system failed the young man at every turn. Browder, who spent three years in Rikers Island jail, nearly two of them in solitary confinement, was accused of stealing a backpack at age 16—a crime he was never tried for. He committed suicide two years after his release, apparently [deeply scarred by the experience](http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/kalief-browder-1993-2015 "undefined"). Legend says this sequence of events was unacceptable. “The idea that being accused of stealing a backpack would lead to his arrest and detention would be absurd if it weren’t actually tragic,” Legend wrote on Vulture, adding, “Kalief died because our system is broken.” [Read the full essay on Vulture.](http://www.vulture.com/2015/06/john-legend-new-york-failed-kalief-browder.html "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3919147/john-legend-kalief-browder/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3919147/john-legend-kalief-browder/"},"headline":"John Legend: Kalief Browder Died Because Our System Is Broken","datePublished":"2015-06-12T16:49:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T08:09:55.611Z","description":"The singer writes that New York failed the young man who spent three years on Rikers Island without trial","url":"https://time.com/3919147/john-legend-kalief-browder/","keywords":["celebrities","john legend"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt156feef77f4a2d15/69885441cd68483a230a0523/john-legend.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt156feef77f4a2d15/69885441cd68483a230a0523/john-legend.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"john-legend","caption":"onstage during the 2015 Billboard Music Awards at MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 17, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada.","creditText":"Jeff Kravitz—BMA2015/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/celebrities/","name":"celebrities"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3919147/john-legend-kalief-browder/","name":"John Legend: Kalief Browder Died Because Our System Is Broken"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Know Right Now: Two Murderers Escape from New York Prison","description":"Two murderers escaped from the Clinton Correctional Facility in New York. 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