When talking about the need to reform the criminal justice system, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) often cites the case of Kalief Browder, a Bronx teenager who was arrested for allegedly stealing a backpack and held on Rikers Island for more than 1,000 days. Browder insisted he did not commit the crime. He was held in solitary confinement for much of the time and tied his bedsheets into a noose in an attempt to kill himself.
‘So when you see people and you see some of this anger at people in the streets and you’re like, “Why are they so unhappy?” Think about Kalief Browder and think about how his friends must feel about American justice, how his parents must feel and about how his community feels,’ Paul said Saturday in Concord, N.H. 'If we become the party that cares about the Sixth Amendment as much as we do the Second Amendment, we’re going to dominate.’