U.S. Rep. Cohen: Keeping teen 'safekeeper' in adult prison 'particularly egregious'

U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, lambasted the practice of keeping Tennessee teens in adult prisons without being convicted of a crime, a policy known as "safekeeping."

“It’s wrong to jail juveniles in adult prisons," Cohen said in a statement late Wednesday.

"It’s particularly egregious that 16-year-old Rosalyn Holmes, who has simply been charged with a crime, was housed in ... an adult prison in Henning, 50 miles and two counties away from her home and family, and was held there for 40 days because she couldn’t make bail."

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The congressman's comments come in reaction to Holmes' release on bond Wednesday. She spent much of her time in custody at West Tennessee State Penitentiary, located about 50 miles northeast of Memphis.

Charged with robbery and kidnapping, Holmes was sent by Shelby County to the adult prison because officials deemed her a safekeeper.

Under this state program, a county can send a pretrial detainee to prison if county officials determine they are unable to sufficiently house that detainee.

Earlier this year, a joint investigation from the Marshall Project and USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee found more than 320 people in Tennessee were declared safekeepers from January 2011 through 2017. Many of those people spent months or years in prison, essentially forgotten in the judicial system.

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Memphis has classified at least two teen girls as safekeepers, sending them to state prisons.

Before Holmes, Shelby County sent then-15-year-old Teriyona Winton to the Tennessee Prison for Women in Nashville. She spent months in solitary confinement before attorneys successfully argued she should be returned to Shelby County.

With Holmes' release, Winton becomes the only person in a unit at the West Tennessee prison intended to house more than 100 adult inmates.

In response to the investigation, Tennessee lawmakers proposed sweeping changes to the safekeeping program. Legislation to prevent putting juvenile safekeepers in adult prisons and to establish regular status reviews of other safekeepers is sitting on Gov. Bill Haslam's desk, awaiting action.

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Like many safekeepers, Holmes remained in prison because she could not post bond. On Wednesday, national advocacy organization Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights agreed to put up the $60,000 required to have Holmes released.

"What happened to Rosalyn Holmes is far from 'safekeeping,' " Kerry Kennedy, president of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, said in a statement Wednesday.

Cohen said Holmes' case is another example of why the cash bail system is broken. Many justice reform advocates argue the system of requiring a certain amount of money to get out of jail before a trial disproportionately disadvantages low-income defendants.

In March 2017, Cohen joined 25 other congressional Democrats in sponsoring legislation to stop providing some grant funding to states that allow cash bail.

Reach Dave Boucher at dboucher@tennessean.com or 615-259-8892 and on Twitter @Dave_Boucher1.