From AP/Houston Chronicle, the Dallas Morning News, and the Austin-American Statesman:

A Texas House panel has proposed increasing staff compensation and training at state institutions that the Department of Justice criticized this month for violating the civil rights of people with intellectual disabilities. Federal investigators said staff turnover and unfilled position contributed to the poor conditions that led to 53 preventable deaths and a “disturbingly high” number of injuries.

The lawmakers did not recommend closing any of the 12 state schools.

Some other panel recommendations included: keeping the state schools open only for the most medically fragile residents, offering more community-based options, changing the name of the “state schools” to a more accurate term, installing security cameras, and providing more community living options.

Texas’ 13 large facilities for people with intellectual disabilities house nearly 5,000 residents, the most in the nation and more than six times the national average.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 17th, 2008 at 11:25 am and is filed under civil rights, institutionalization, Texas institutions. 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.