From the Abilene [TX] Reporter-News:

Defendant D’Angelo Riley pleaded guilty to three counts of injury to a disabled person Monday in connection with an alleged fight club operating inside Texas’ Corpus Christi institution for people with disabilities.

For each count, Riley pleaded guilty to causing one state school resident to strike another. The incidents all occurred in 2008.

See also:

Judge may keep key videos out of Texas fight case — Associated Press

State District Judge Sandra Watts was hearing arguments Monday on a motion filed for defendant Timothy Dixon, who allegedly recorded the fights on a phone that was turned over to police. His attorney, Ira Miller, contends the phone was stolen and police should have obtained a search warrant before examining the videos.

Trials begin for 4 charged in fight club — AP/Houston Chronicle

Earlier posts here.

From the Associated Press/Austin American-Statesman:

Nearly 270 employees were fired or suspended in fiscal 2008 for abusing or neglecting residents with intellectual disabilities at Texas institutions, according to records obtained by the Associated Press.

Documents obtained by the AP showed that 11 of the firings or suspensions were considered serious because they involved physical or sexual abuse that caused or may have caused serious physical injury. It was not clear whether any of those fired were also prosecuted.

The 13 institutions hold 4,600 residents, and employ more than 12,000 full-time workers.

From the Corpus Christi Caller-Times and AP/Houston Chronicle:

An attorney who is suing Texas over an alleged “fight club” in a state institution says he is investigating reports that organized fights between residents may have been going on for years, and may also have been staged at other institutions.

Bob Hilliard is representing four families who say their relatives were forced to fight for the entertainment of state employees.

Hilliard said he believes the local fights were not isolated incidents and that similarly staged bouts may have been going at other state schools much longer. … He said a woman who worked for the state school in Austin in 1979 said she knew of similar fights, wagers on fights by supervisors and busing in of the Corpus Christi winner for a fight against the Austin winner. Hilliard on Thursday wouldn’t identify the woman who he said now is an attorney. He said she contacted his firm after seeing a national news report the Corpus Christi State School.

By Emily Ramshaw in the Dallas Morning News:

Faced with dangerous conditions inside Texas’ institutions for the mentally disabled and a massive waiting list for community-based care, lawmakers didn’t pick sides – they improved both.

Pressure on the state had intensified recently after a U.S. Department of Justice investigation found widespread civil rights violations inside the walls of its 13 institutions, and national media aired videos of late-night “fight clubs” forced on residents at the Corpus Christi State School by state employees. The legislature responded by “gingerly balancing the competing interests of state school parents and advocates for independent living.”

Among the legislature’s actions:

• Passage of an emergency safety bill that creates an independent ombudsman to investigate injuries and deaths at state schools; requires fingerprinting, background checks and random drug testing of all state school employees; and requires the installation of security cameras in all facilities. (more…)

From the AP/Houston Chronicle and the Austin American-Statesman Postcards blog:

The Texas State Senate has approved a settlement with the federal Department of Justice to improve living conditions and medical care at the state’s troubled institutions for people with intellectual disabilities. The settlement still needs House approval.

The plan calls for spending $112 million over five years, hiring more than 1,000 additional care workers, and improving investigations into abuse and neglect claims. The facilities have been cited by federal authorities for widespread civil rights violations and more than 50 unexplained deaths. Six former staff members currently face criminal charges for staging “fight clubs” between residents of the Corpus Christi State School.

Previous posts here.

From the Dallas Morning News:

The $112 million settlement between Texas and the U.S. Department of Justice over the state’s troubled institutions includes plans to hire more than 1,000 new workers.

… But critics of the state schools question whether pouring money and more employees into them will fix a system they say is fundamentally broken. They argue lawmakers have hiked funding and approved new hires in previous years, only to see the problems continue.

“What did we get for our money? Fight clubs, suicides, deaths that could’ve been prevented,” said Jeff Garrison-Tate, who runs the nonprofit Community Now.

Earlier posts here.

From ABC News (with video):

A resident with intellectual disabilities who is seen in the “fight club” video filmed by staffers at the state institution in Corpus Christi, Texas, tells ABC News he was “very scared.” His family said authorities twice denied he was being victimized.

In the cellphone video released last week, George Brazil, 44, is shown being chased through the halls trying to get away from staff forcing him to fight and crying, “I’ll behave.”

His sister, Michelle Crayton, said she did not find out what had been happening to her brother until the video aired on television, and said she believes officials were “trying to cover up.”

“They were bad,” Brazil told ABC News. “It was bad because I was scared, you know. I mean I was very scared.” Brazil has resided at the Corpus Christi state school for over 20 years.

“George is still afraid to talk about it,” said his sister. “They told him if he ever told anyone about the story that he could get stitches, ‘ if you snitch, you get stitches’.”

Earlier post here.

(ABC News photo: George Brazil in fight club video, left, and in interview)