My poetry explores the human rights crisis that is solitary confinement. In the United States, over 80,000 men, women, and children are currently held in solitary confinement, most spending 23 hours per day in a 7-by-9 cell for weeks, months, or even years on end. My compilation is two-fold. First, I choose to focus this poetry collection on a single man, Kalief Browder, in an attempt to humanize his story and immortalize his strength. In 2010, sixteen-year-old Kalief Browder was falsely accused of stealing a backpack. Unable to post bail, Browder was sent to Riker’s Island to await trial. He spent a total of three years there, nearly two of them in solitary confinement after gang members targeted and picked a fight with him. My poems all take the form of interview excerpts: although I couldn’t interview Kalief directly, I researched his story thoroughly, consulting court documents, interviews, and news stories, and endeavored to provide a voice for Kalief that captures the depth of his harrowing experience. The second part of this collection, is a joint-poem written by myself and Marcus, a man who is currently serving time in solitary confinement and who I have been corresponding with through a letter-exchange program called Lifelines to Solitary.

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Interview with Kalief Browder, in Four Parts

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1. Please describe the scene of the crime.​

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2. Did the police ever recover the stolen backpack?

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3. How would you describe your time on the inside?

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4. Did you receive schooling during your time in solitary confinement?​

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A Poem by Marcus and Alex

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