From the Southtown Star (Chicago Sun-Times News Group) with video:

A six-minute YouTube video released by the Illinois Council on Developmental Disabilities features former residents of the Howe Developmental Center alleging abuse at the institution.

A man is shown saying, “They were mean … They beat me up. They beat me up for no reason.” A woman describes being tied up.

“We want to make sure their faces weren’t lost in this and their voices weren’t lost,” Sheila Romano, executive director of the Illinois Council on Developmental Disabilities, said of current and former Howe residents.

The troubled state institution for 300 people with intellectual disabilities lost its Medicaid certification two years ago, stripping it of nearly $30 million in federal funding. The Illinois Department of Human Services last fall announced it wants to shutter the center and allow residents the choice to use the funding for community-based services. A U.S. Department of Justice investigation is ongoing.

Gov. Pat Quinn has the final say on whether or not Howe closes, and he has yet to reveal his plans.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 7:52 am and is filed under abuse, institutionalization, intellectual/developmental disabilities, Medicaid/Medicare, video. 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.