Inclusion Daily Express -- Advocate: Staff-Led Fights Are Signs Of Culture At Texas Facilities

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Advocate: Staff-Led Fights Are Signs Of Culture At Texas Facilities
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
March 12, 2009

AUSTIN, TEXAS--The video-recorded images of Corpus Christi State School residents fighting each other, allegedly at the prompting of night shift workers, are just the latest examples of a growing culture of abuse by Texas institution staff that are supposed to protect people with intellectual disabilities from harm.

That's according to one advocacy group that for years has been calling for the state to improve conditions at the 13 state-run institutions, here called 'state schools', or shut them down and move the residents to homes in the community.

"This is not an isolated problem," said Beth Mitchell, an attorney with Advocacy Inc., the state's federally mandated protection and advocacy system. "This type of scenario -- with staff egging on client-to-client abuse -- is occurring at other state schools."

Mitchell said that in the last year Texas Adult Protective Services had confirmed incidents in which employees at Mexia State School and San Angelo State School forced residents to fight each other.

"There's a culture of allowing this type of abuse to occur," Mitchell said.

A review by the Dallas Morning News showed that since 2006 at least five Texas institution employees have been fired, suspended or demoted for instigating or allowing fights between residents.

Mitchell's comments came after Corpus Christi police announced Monday that a cell-phone, which had been turned into an off-duty officer, contained at least 20 video clips showing institution workers prodding young male residents to punch, shove and wrestle each other. One of the clips reportedly shows one worker kicking a resident, and another worker shoving a resident.

The night shift workers are also heard laughing as the residents fight, and seen holding up the hands of 'winners', as if to show victory.

Forensics work done on the cell phone reportedly showed that someone had tried to erase 46 still images of the abuse from the phone's memory.

Corpus Christi police issued arrest warrants Thursday for six of the 11 former and current employees seen on the videos. Five of the suspects were charged with injury to a disabled person, a third-degree felony, while a sixth suspect -- the only female -- was charged with a state jail felony for failing to report the abuse.

By Thursday night, one of the suspects had been arrested. One of the others is believed to be out of state, police said.

Governor Rick Perry's chief of staff, Jay Kimbrough, visited CCSS on Wednesday. Kimbrough said all of the employees involved in the incidents had passed background checks.

The Associated Press reported that Adult Protection Services investigated 5,443 allegations of abuse and neglect at CCSS over the last five years, confirming 229 of those allegations.

The AP also reported that 53 CCSS employees were fired, and another 24 were suspended, for mistreating residents between 2004 and 2007.

And during the most recent fiscal year that ended August 31, 2008, the facility experienced a 66 percent employee turnover rate.

Perry's office has ordered a halt to new admissions at CCSS, for surveillance cameras to be installed at all 13 facilities, for extra security staff to be hired, and for supervisors to make surprise visits to their facilities, especially at night.

Even so, not everyone is convinced that the state is taking the incidents seriously.

State Representative Abel Herrero, whose district includes the Corpus Christi facility, said he was upset when officials from the Department of Aging and Disability Services downplayed the video recorded incidents, saying they amounted to 'horseplay'.

"I was disappointed that the agency solely responsible for the care of persons in state school settings would not be willing to recognize the severity of the situation," Herrero told the Statesman.

Lawmakers on the state House Human Service Committee saw video clips of the incidents during a Thursday hearing.

Herrero confronted DADS commissioner Addie Horn.

"Do you think that, in your capacity as commissioner, that you did everything that you within your capability and resources to protect these individuals?" Herrero asked.

"I did everything I knew how to do," Horn replied, adding that she cannot totally eliminate abuse.

Later, Horn reportedly broke down into tears.

"I want everybody to understand that you can’t do this to people who are disadvantaged. I don’t have that magic wand, but I will try with every fiber in my body to keep trying to work towards that."

Jeff Garrison-Tate, spokesperson for Community Now!, a coalition of groups that has been calling on state lawmakers to close Texas institutions, said in a statement: "These acts of unspeakable abuse are disgusting beyond any comprehension. Any environment that breeds such atrocities is not fixable and must be closed as quickly and safely as possible."

Related:
6 charged as state faulted over 'fight club' for disabled (Houston Chronicle)
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6308531.html
Schools for disabled see statewide spike in complaints (Houston Chronicle)
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6306442.html
Cameras installed after school 'fight club' scandal (CNN)
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/03/11/texas.school.fight.club/
Arrests under way in 'fight club' scandal at Corpus Christi State School (Dallas Morning News)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/2009/red/0312e.htm
Advocacy, Inc.
http://www.advocacyinc.org/index.cfm