Venida Browder has died at the age of 63. Her son Kalief Browder committed suicide in 2015 after spending three years at New York’s Rikers Island jail without trial after he was accused at the age of 16 of stealing a backpack. The family’s lawyer, Paul Prestia, praised Venida for tirelessly fighting for justice for her son Kalief. He said, “the stress from this crusade coupled with the strain of the pending lawsuits against the city and the pain from the death were too much to for her to bear. In my opinion, she literally died of a broken heart.”