Charges dropped against Rosalyn Holmes, TN teen who spent weeks in a prison for adults without trial

It's been two years since Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights paid for the bond of then 16-year-old Rosalyn "Bird" Holmes. On Sunday, the national advocacy organization announced charges against the teen had been dropped.

Holmes' story grabbed the attention of elected officials, lawmakers and advocacy organizations following a joint investigation by USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee and The Marshall Project. Ultimately, it prompted reform measures because of the nature of her confinement in the criminal justice system. 

"Having to face these accusations was not easy," Holmes said in a statement to The Commercial Appeal. "It was the hardest fight of my life, but I had to stay positive and hope for the best." 

Holmes was accused of participating in the kidnapping and robbery of a 28-year-old man. Collierville police said Holmes was in a vehicle along with two teenage boys that held up the man at gunpoint, and then demanded he drive to an ATM and his residence.

She was designated as a "safekeeper," meaning Holmes, at the age of 16, would spend weeks alone in a wing of a state prison, about 50 miles from her home in Memphis, before ever being tried. 

This was also the case with Teriyona Winton, a 16-year-old Memphis girl accused of murder, who lived for months in solitary confinement at a Nashville prison before attorneys successfully argued for her relocation to a juvenile facility.

Special report:Alone and afraid, Tennesseans not convicted of a crime spend months in solitary

The antiquated "safekeepers" law meant that vulnerable individuals — such as teens, pregnant detainees, or those with a medical condition — are kept in a state prison before trial if authorities decide the local jail facility is inadequate.

The joint investigation by the USA Today Network - Tennessee and the Marshall Project found that Holmes was one of more than 320 kept in prison between 2011 and 2017 as a designated "safekeeper" detainee. State correctional policy said "safekeepers" had to be kept in solitary confinement while awaiting trial, regardless of the charges.

After the investigation secured the attention of Tennessee lawmakers in 2018, former Gov. Bill Haslam signed a bill that introduced changes to the "safekeeper" law in the state. 

The most immediate reform measure after the governor's signature said that juvenile offenders must be housed at a juvenile facility.

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

Josh Spickler, executive director of the Memphis-based Just City, said many components came together for reform of the "safekeeper" law — pursuing Holmes' transfer in court, raising community awareness and engaging with news media.

It was a win, he said, but "in Shelby County, we have and continue to have this idea that you cannot house people under 18 together once you transfer them to adult court."

As long as the cash bail system is still in place, Spickler said, there will always be an "othering" of young, alleged offenders whose lives and education are interrupted while the justice system plays out. 

And in Holmes' case, Spickler said, the longer she stayed in prison, the more likely it was that she would have accepted jail time as part of a plea deal. 

"If the previous Shelby County Attorney and the sheriff's office had their way, she would have sat in an adult women's prison alone for more than two years," Spickler said. "And that's the power of having someone in a cage, and it keeps the system moving and it keeps oppressing Black bodies like it always had. Rosalyn's life could have been effectively over had she not been able to get out of custody."

On Tuesday, Wade McMullen, senior vice president of programs and legal strategy at Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, issued a statement to The Commercial Appeal. He said while he was "thrilled" at the news of the dropped charges, there's still ample work ahead in criminal justice reform.

"We are thrilled that Bird is finally free, but we have a long way to go to ensure our criminal punishment system stops violently disrupting people's lives in the name of seeking 'justice', McMullen wrote. "This case is not extraordinary because the charges were eventually dropped after the system forced an exceptional young Black woman to endure the hardships of jail and invasive supervision for years."

Today, Holmes' life is far from over. Spickler reports she has a new job and is working past the two-year interruption of her life before the charges were dropped.

"When RFK paid my bail and I was released, it was a lot easier to figure out the next step in my life," Holmes said. "Being out of custody gave me the time to build a better version of myself."

Micaela A. Watts is a breaking news reporter for The Commercial Appeal, and can be reached at micaela.watts@commercialappeal.com