In an interview with Democracy Now's Amy Goodman at Utah's Sundance Film Festival, Jay Z spoke on the death of Kalief Browder and gave his thoughts on Rikers Island. 

Hov is the producer of Time: The Kalief Browder Story, which is set to premiere on Spike TV in March. 

The story of Browder's death is one that has moved the country. He was incarcerated at age 16 after being accused of stealing a backpack. He was sent to Rikers Island without a trial and always maintained his innocence. He spent nearly 800 days in solitary confinement, and committed suicide in June 2015. 

On Kalief and his story, the rapper says, "I believe this young man, his story will save a lot of lives. You know, what was done to him was a huge injustice, and I think people see his story and realize like, man, this is going on. This is not like one case that happened. This is happening a lot for people, you know, especially places where I come from—inner boroughs and Marcy Projects and the Bronx and Brooklyn and all these places. So, it’s very important, his story."

He also spoke about his relationship with Browder. "I wouldn’t say I knew him. You know, I heard about his story, and I reached out to him, and I met him. Came to my office. The way this all happened was really—we’ll explain that another time, but it was meant to happen. And he came to my office, and I just, you know, wanted to see him and tell him that—give him encouragement for what he had just—for those three years of his life that he was—that he had missed, and, you know, just offer encouragement and anything I could do for him," he said .

When Goodman asked if Rikers should be closed, Jay Z says, "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."

You can read the complete interview over at Democracy Now.