From the Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle:

Coerced fights between residents with intellectual disabilities, dubbed “human cockfights” by one state senator, have been confirmed in at least two more Texas institutions, according to an official of a federally mandated oversight group.

Beth Mitchell, senior managing attorney with Advocacy Inc., said the fights are “creating a climate where abuse is acceptable, and in these cases encouraged.”

State law enforcement officials are investigating a “fight club” ring at the Corpus Christi state institution, and say arrests are expected soon. The investigation is happening as legislators debate how to reform the “state schools,” which have been cited by the U.S. Justice Department for 53 preventable deaths, as well as systemic abuse, neglect, and civil rights violations.

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“Why would we be shocked something like this could be happening in these facilities when there’s been this long history of abuse?“

– Curtis L. Decker

By Patricia E. Bauer

The news reports started coming out of Texas yesterday afternoon: Vulnerable men with intellectual disabilities were allegedly used and abused for their caretakers’ entertainment. Law enforcement authorities say a group of employees at the Corpus Christi State School in Texas repeatedly staged a “fight club,” compelling their charges to physically battle with one another.

The investigation began when someone gave authorities a cellphone that contained videos of the alleged abuse. As of now, seven state employees have been suspended from their jobs and the state has halted admissions to the campus.

Searching for background on the emerging scandal, we caught up with Curtis L. Decker. He is executive director of the National Disability Rights Network, the nation’s largest non-governmental enforcer of disability rights.  Decker is familiar with conditions in Texas’ institutions for people with intellectual disabilities because the NDRN has been investigating conditions and working with residents and their families for several years.

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Q:. Based on your experience and observations, what can you tell us about what may be happening inside the institutions for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Texas?

Curtis L. Decker: There has been an absolutely demonstrated and documented series of abuse and neglect in these facilities, eight hundred staff fired over the last several years, numerous deaths, lots of complaints and lots of documentation of abuse and neglect. There has been nothing like this particular story, but why would we be shocked something like this could be happening in these facilities when there’s been this long history of abuse?

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From the Houston Chronicle, Associated Press, CNN, Austin American-Statesman:

Texas governor Rick Perry today suspended admissions to a Texas institution for people with disabilities after learning of cellphone videos that police say show residents being forced to engage in “fight club” battles.

The governor also authorized the emergency installation of video cameras in the facility, which houses 376 residents and employs 877 workers.

The investigation of Corpus Christi State School comes as the legislature is considering increasing oversight of the state’s 13 institutions. The federal Department of Justice last year reported that negligent and abusive care in the institutions violated residents’ civil rights; it cited 53 deaths linked to preventable conditions at the institutions.

Police learned of the fights when someone gave a cell phone containing videos of the brawls at the Corpus Christi State School to an off-duty officer on Friday, police Captain Tim Wilson said by phone from Corpus Christi.

… “It appears that the workers were using clients as some sort of fight club,” Wilson said. “I’ve been in police work for 30 years and I’ve never seen something like this. These workers are exploiting them for their own entertainment.”

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 Dallas Morning News, the Austin American-Statesman, and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram:

The Texas Senate unanimously approved an emergency measure on Monday to boost protections for residents at the troubled state schools for people with intellectual disabilities.

Gov. Rick Perry gave the issue emergency status after a U.S. Justice Department report last year concluded that residents of the institutions are often victims of abuse, neglect and inadequate medical treatment. At least 53 residents died within the past year because of lapses in health care, the report found.

The measure would establish an independent ombudsman’s office for regular audits of the state institutions, strengthen staff background checks, and add video surveillance and an abuse and neglect hot line.

“The abuse and neglect that has occurred in our state schools is inexcusable,” said the author of the bill, Sen. Jane Nelson (R-Flower Mound). “These are people with serious disabilities. They need our oversight, and they need our compassion.”

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Dominic Lawson on Ivan Cameron and the meaning of life

Writing in the [UK] Sunday Times, columnist Dominic Lawson says the recent death of young Ivan Cameron, son of British opposition leader David Cameron, is a reminder that there remains a “visceral public fear and even horror” of people with disabilities. Ivan had cerebral palsy and epilepsy. Lawson’s daughter Domenica has Down syndrome.

Lawson totes up recent examples of negative attitudes:

• Parents who lodged formal complaints to the BBC because they feared their children might be upset at the appearance of TV host Cerrie Burnell, who was born without a lower half of her right arm.
• A girl with disabilities who died in a hospital because health care workers concluded her life was not worth living and therefore not worth fighting to preserve.
• (more…)

An excerpt from the San Antonio Express-News:

Facing federal pressure to correct widespread abuse and neglect, the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services [DADS] has imposed a near blackout on information about how it runs the state’s troubled facilities for the mentally retarded.

The agency clamped down on information in response to a U.S. Justice Department investigation that in December found deadly lapses in health care and systemic civil rights abuses of the nearly 5,000 residents who live in the state-school system.

… A review of opinions from the Texas attorney general’s office, which rules on open records disputes, shows DADS has withheld information on a broad scope of topics – ranging from statistics on abuse and neglect to numbers on staffing vacancies, overtime and disciplinary actions against employees.