Associated Press in the Houston Chronicle:

The federal Department of Justice has notified the state of Texas that it is investigating the state’s institutions to determine whether residents’ civil rights are being violated.

Texas houses some 5,000 people with intellectual and other disabilities in 13 large institutions, called state schools or centers. Public records of the institutions have shown more than 450 incidents of verified abuse or neglect in fiscal year 2007.

An analysis of state records by the Associated Press this year found that more than 800 employees of the institutions had been suspended or fired for abusing patients since 2004.

A spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services said today that the state will cooperate with the investigation.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 22nd, 2008 at 5:32 pm and is filed under NOT2BEMISSED, abuse, civil rights, law. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.