Inclusion Daily Express -- Judge Says State Is Violating Southbury Residents' Rights

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Judge Says State Is Violating Southbury Residents' Rights
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
June 11, 2008

HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT--A federal judge has ruled that the State of Connecticut is violating the rights of residents at Southbury Training School, a state-run institution housing nearly 500 people with intellectual disabilities.

In a decision filed on June 4 and announced on June 11, U.S. District Court Judge Ellen Bree Burns said the state has violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by failing to evaluate the residents' ability to leave the institution and then help them move to homes in the community.

The lawsuit was filed by The Arc of Connecticut, People First of Connecticut, and Western Connecticut Association for Human Rights, Inc.

According to an Arc press release, the judge has scheduled a separate hearing to determine what the state needs to do to comply with the law.

Lynn Warner, The Arc's Executive Director, called Burns' ruling "a momentous occasion and a clear validation of the rights of people with intellectual disabilities."

Two years ago, Burns released the World War II era facility from nearly 10 years of federal oversight stemming from an earlier lawsuit advocates filed over the treatment of Southbury residents.

Only a handful have been moved out since then, however, and the state has virtually stopped evaluating them for community placement, Burns said.

Peg Dignoti, then The Arc's Executive Director, told Inclusion Daily Express in 2006 that the community advocates' suit focused on improving conditions for Southbury residents, primarily by moving them into the community.

Dignoti said one could not deny the reality that Southbury's residents are aging: The average age is 60 years old.

"People there are dying," she said. "Eventually the state will have to face that fact."

Related:
"Southbury Training School" (Inclusion Daily Express Archives)

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