The family of a man who spent three years behind bars and more than 800 hours in solitary confinement at Rikers Island before hanging himself served notice this week indicating they plan to sue New York City for $20 million in a wrongful death claim.

During all the time he was incarcerated, Kalief Browder was never so much as offered a plea deal and reportedly tried killing himself on at least four different occasions. His trials and tribulations have since become a rallying cry for needed reforms at Rikers.

According to the New York Daily News, Browder was first taken into custody in May of 2010 when he was just 16-years-old on charges of stealing a backpack. While there, the suit alleges he was subjected to "systemic and agonizing physical and mental abuse...tantamount to torture."

In June, just before taking his own life by hanging himself with the cord from an air conditioner, Browder reportedly told his mother, "Ma, I can't take it anymore."

Venida and Everett Browder's suit names the city Department of Correction, the Bronx District Attorney's office, and various city health agencies as defendants.

Browder landed at Rikers after his family was unable to raise the $3,000 needed for his bail, and once, when he tried to kill himself while still in custody, prison guards allegedly cut him down and "beat and assaulted him."

In separate incidents that were both captured on camera, Browder was once slammed to the floor by a corrections officer in 2012 and severely beaten by about 10 inmates during a wild melee in 2010. In May of 2013, Browder was finally released from Rikers and a month later all charges against him were dropped.

He later enrolled at Bronx Community College, but always seemed troubled by all he was forced to endure at Rikers. Browder hanged himself at home in June, after cops picked him up again and held him overnight in the precinct on a resisting arrest charge.

Rap star Jay Z and talk-show host Rosie O'Donnell both took up his cause after his Rikers' ordeal was made public. Ultimately, his case prompted Mayor de Blasio to reform the scandal-plagued city jail to stop solitary confinement for 16 and 17-year-old inmates.