Gov. Bill Haslam signs 'safekeeping' bill, state can no longer house teen safekeepers in adult prisons
Dave BoucherRegenia Bowman never thought anything would happen when she talked about spending 189 days in solitary confinement.
Awaiting trial on an alleged probation violation in 2014, Bowman spent 23 hours a day in a cell. She lived in the same portion of a Tennessee prison that houses the state's lone female death row offender.
She was sent to the state prison because she had MRSA, a skin infection.
For months in late 2017 and earlier this year, then-15-year-old Teriyona Winton spent almost every hour of every day alone in a small cell intended for adults.
She could shower three times a week, but her hands and feet were shackled when she left her cell. A teacher sat outside of her cell two hours a day, providing lessons through the pie flap in her door.
Special Report:Alone and afraid, Tennesseans not convicted of a crime spend months in solitary
More:Lawmakers push sweeping changes to 'safekeeping' law, ban sending teen safekeepers to prison
Their stories, included in a February joint investigation from The Marshall Project and USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee, prompted lawmakers to push for changes to ensure these situations never happen again.
Now, Gov. Bill Haslam signed a bill into law Monday that installs new regulations on the state's so-called "safekeeping" law.
The new law bans housing juvenile safekeepers in adult prisons and establishes new oversight to ensure adult safekeepers don't languish in solitary confinement,.
"I think I would have been there 60 days, and I would have been back to court," Bowman said during a recent interview, reflecting on how her situation would have been different if the law changes were in place when she was a safekeeper.
"It would have been a lot different," Bowman said. "They would have been forced to come back and get me."
Safekeepers spend months in solitary
The investigation found more than 320 people were declared safekeepers between 2011 and 2017, at times spending months in solitary confinement at a state prison before ever being convicted of a crime.
Under current practices, county judges send a person accused of a crime to a Tennessee state prison if the judge determines the local jail cannot sufficiently house that person. Sent to the state prison for "safekeeping," the Tennessee Department of Correction always houses the pre-trial detainees in solitary confinement.
Some safekeepers spent more than four years in solitary confinement awaiting trial. A snapshot from Dec. 31 shows the average stay of safekeepers was 328 days.
Many of the safekeepers have medical issues or a mental illness. Some are pregnant or juveniles, according to the investigation.
"Teenage girls do not belong in prison, and we are pleased to see that Tennessee lawmakers and Governor Haslam agree," said Josh Spickler, one of the attorneys representing Winton and another teen safekeeper in Memphis.
Previously the governor said it "doesn't make sense" to house juvenile safekeepers in solitary confinement.
More:Memphis teen to be housed in empty prison wing after months in solitary confinement
Changes to safekeeping law
The law changes are intended to keep juveniles safekeepers out of adult prisons and to mandate a monthly judicial review of the necessity of continuing to keep a safekeeper in state prison.
The law prevents requires juvenile safekeepers live at juvenile detention facilities. State law already bans housing juveniles detainees or inmates with adults.
Tennessee prison officials tried to abide by the law when they transferred Winton in early April to an empty wing at a West Tennessee prison. Intended to house more than 100 adult inmates, prison officials argued the empty wing met the criterion of state law and allowed Winton additional time out of her cell.
The portion of the law regarding juvenile safekeepers takes affect immediately. Spickler said he and other attorneys anticipate Winton, who is charged with homicide, will be transferred to appropriate facilities.
More:Bond posted for Memphis teen who spent weeks in adult prison as 'safekeeper'
Last week, national advocacy organization Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights posted the $60,000 bond for a different Memphis teen housed as a safekeeper. Rosalyn Holmes, 16, is accused of playing a role in the kidnap and robbery of a man.
Holmes was kept for more than 40 days as a safekeeper at the West Tennessee prison.
U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, called the housing of Holmes in an adult prison "particularly egregious."
"Last week, we learned a Memphis 16-year-old had been held for 40 days in an adult prison 50 miles from her home and family because she couldn’t make bail, and I said the barbaric practice needed to come to an end," Cohen said Monday evening in a statement.
"Today, Governor Haslam has signed into law a first step in reforming the so-called ‘Safekeeping’ program, which will now require Tennessee to house juveniles in juvenile facilities. The governor is to be commended for swift action in remedying this injustice."
Starting next year, judges must also routinely review their orders for all safekeepers.
Before this bill there was no mandatory review of safekeeping orders, leading many safekeepers to spend additional time in solitary confinement and few ways to protest the order.
Under the new law, judges must review their safekeeping orders every 30 days. If a judge determines there is no longer a need for safekeeping — someone received medical treatment, typically — then that person will be returned to their local county jail.
The courts must also take into account whether the safekeeper is housed in solitary confinement and whether such housing is warranted.
What happens next?
Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Tony Parker said in late March he requested a review of how his department houses safekeepers. As of this week, that review was not complete.
Originally, lawmakers weighed doing away with safekeeping altogether. State Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris, R-Collierville, said these legal changes are a start, but more may be needed in the future.
Bowman said she saw a need for safekeeping in her own case: had she not gone to a state facility, her MRSA likely would have gone untreated.
But she said someone needs to make sure county judges who issue safekeeping orders actually do review those orders, to prevent someone else spending months or years in solitary confinement for no good reason.
"In the end, we’re still prisoners. And we’re sort of pushed under the rug," Bowman said.
Reach Dave Boucher at 615-259-8892, dboucher@tennessean.com and on Twitter @Dave_Boucher1.