Henry’s Turkey Service once was praised, is now condemned

From the Des Moines Register:

Four decades ago, Henry’s Turkey Service of Goldthwaite, Texas, was hailed as a national leader because it hired people with intellectual disabilities. But society’s attitudes and practices toward hiring people with disabilities have changed since then, even as the company’s policies remained constant.

The company has been reviled by politicians and disability advocates for paying disabled workers the equivalent of less than 50 cents an hour, in a situation that some have called comparable to slavery. Henry’s Turkey Service ran the bunkhouse in Atalissa, Iowa, that was shut down earlier this year amid complaints about substandard living conditions and neglect.

Earlier posts here.

Editorial writers at the Des Moines Register say the state should ‘create a commission to explore whether there are better, more cost-effective ways to care for vulnerable populations” beyond large state-run institutions. They suggest consolidating existing facilities.

Together, two large institutions employ more than 1600 workers to serve about 500 residents with intellectual disabilities, at a cost of nearly $260,000 per year per resident.

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From the Des Moines Register:

Federal, state and county investigators are advancing their probe into Henry’s Turkey Service, the company that is suspected of exploiting and neglecting workers with intellectual disabilities in Atalissa, Iowa.

No criminal charges have been filed and company officials are denying doing anything wrong.  Among the agencies participating in the investigation are the FBI, Social Security Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, and county prosecutors.

Twenty-one men were evacuated from a company-run bunkhouse in Atalissa in February when a state fire marshall declared it unsafe. The men had been employed for decades for as little as 44 cents per hour.

State records obtained by the Register show that some of the workers had serious medical issues in the months before the bunkhouse was closed, including one who required urgent medical care after not having his toenails cut for two years. Another man had a broken kneecap that had been left untreated.

From AP/Houston Chronicle, Cedar Rapids [IA] Gazette:

The head of an Iowa task force says there could be more cases in the state in which people with intellectual disabilities are being exploited. John McCalley urged the legislature to authorize additional regulations to help authorities intervene if abuse is detected.

The task force was created to investigate after 21 men with intellectual disabilities were evacuated from a battered bunkhouse in Atalissa. They had been employed for decades by a meat processing company for as little as 44 cents per hour.

McCalley said the task force is not considering penalizing local elected officials who ignore or fail to detect situations like the one in Atalissa. The bunkhouse was owned by the city of Atalissa, but officials there said they were unaware of the conditions.

A criminal investigation is continuing.

From the Des Moines Register:

Parents and advocates urged a state task force on Friday to use the Atalissa scandal as a catalyst to overhaul Iowa’s system for protecting vulnerable people with intellectual disabilities.

“Please, do not squander this gift. Do not turn away from this opportunity to boldly and publicly declare our system of service as one that has been, and is, stuck in an outdated and broken model of thinking and serving,” said Geoffrey Lauer, executive director of the Brain Injury Association of Iowa.

The task force was formed last month by Gov. Chet Culver in response to the public outcry over disclosures that men with intellectual disabilities had been working for decades in Atalissa for as little as 44 cents per hour and living in substandard housing.

The group is charged with making recommendations for fixing loopholes in Iowa’s regulatory system and strengthening state laws for unlicensed care centers serving people with disabilities.

See also:

• Henry’s failed to get OK for low pay – Des Moines Register
• Iowa advocates complain about treatment of Texans — Houston Chronicle

Earlier posts here.

From the Des Moines Register and Associated Press/Houston Chronicle:

Experts from the Department of Labor told a U.S. Senate committee Monday that understaffing and legal loopholes make it hard for them to protect vulnerable people in the workplace. They say companies like Henry’s Turkey Service are seldom checked, and face few penalties even if they are caught abusing workers.

Henry’s Turkey Service is under federal and state investigation for allegedly exploiting dozens of men with intellectual disabilities who were working in a meat-processing plant in the little town of Atalissa, Iowa. The company has denied wrongdoing.

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From the Associated Press/Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Des Moines Register:

Iowa’s social service agency acknowledged Tuesday that it twice looked into a company’s treatment of its disabled workers, once in the 1970s and again in 1997, but did not act. Officials said they lacked jurisdiction or sufficient evidence to proceed.

Twenty-one men with intellectual disabilities were evacuated from a battered and padlocked bunkhouse near the town of Atalissa, Iowa, earlier this month after a fire marshal concluded it was unsafe. State officials say the men had been living there for decades and were paid little for their work. An investigation is continuing.

The state file includes a Dec. 4, 1974, memo from social worker Ed George, who told district manager James Strickland that the mentally disabled men lacked adequate housing and were deprived of their families, among other problems.

George wrote that once a man becomes an employee of Henry’s Turkey Service “he for all practical purposes loses most basic human rights.”