In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio has said the jail on the notorious Rikers Island will be closed within 10 years. The announcement comes after many years of organizing to close the jail, which has been the site of brutality by corrections officers. A commission has recommended replacing the Rikers Island jail with five new smaller jails, a plan that would cost $10 billion. Among the cases of injustice that have called attention to Rikers is the story of Kalief Browder, who committed suicide in 2015 at the age of 22, after he was sent to Rikers for nearly three years on suspicion of stealing a backpack. He always maintained his innocence and demanded a trial. Instead, he spent nearly 800 days in solitary confinement. This is rapper Jay Z, who produced the docuseries “Time: The Kalief Browder Story,” calling for Rikers Island to be closed, in an exclusive interview with Democracy Now!

Amy Goodman: “Do you think Rikers should be closed?”

Jay Z: “Oh, man. Well, if anything like that is happening, if one kid—if that happens to one kid, any place that that can happen to any kid should be closed.”