Reports detail abuse at Texas facilities

Source: Houston Chronicle

July 23, 2007, 11:56PM
Reports detail abuse at Texas facilities
Records show mentally retarded were pushed, hit, kicked by staffers

By JANET ELLIOTT and LISA SANDBERG
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau

AUSTIN — Abuse, neglect and humiliation are a stark reality for hundreds of mentally retarded children and adults living in Texas' state schools, employee disciplinary records show.

With disturbing regularity, employees pushed, hit, kicked, knocked down and dragged residents. One of the worst cases occurred in December 2005, when a caretaker at Brenham State School hit or kicked a resident hard enough to cause three cracked ribs and a lacerated liver.

Workers also frequently neglected their frail charges, in some cases allowing them to eat cigarette butts, scald themselves or be sexually abused by other residents.

The Houston Chronicle reviewed hundreds of pages of documents showing how employees were disciplined for abuse and neglect at nine different facilities. The Texas Attorney General ordered the records released under the state public information laws.




Read more: http://chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4992738.html

special needs daughter without getting flamed. This is to be expected of an area of the country where Calvinism reigns supreme in the religious beliefs. When you have a religion that believes that people are always rewarded for being good and always punished for being bad then it is only a short step from this to identifying anyone who is poor, sick or in any kind of trouble as "evil" and deserving punishment. Thus to the rw fundie this is just another example of bad people getting what they deserve.

The difference between the failure of social programs in the south and the success of these same programs in the north (not to say that there is no abuse in the north) is the attitudes of the people administering these programs. In the north the predominant religious attitude sees all people as our neighbors and our reactions to them are based on that. We do what we can for the poor, the sick and other people who have problems because we believe it is the right thing to do. This was not happening in *ss's Texas and it is not happening now under the next pug administration.

I hope they arrest the administrators of these institutions and give them life! They were punishing people who could not even understand why they were being punished. Anger cannot even begin to describe my feelings on this issue.

This comes down to continued cuts in funding. Every time Perry cuts funding for programs for the mentally ill, developmentally disabled or substance abusers from gov't funded agencies-this tends to happen. Agencies cannot afford to pay very well, they can't afford to do any psychological screening and they can't run in depth background checks (and also the State does not require them to do so-the minimum is "sufficient").

based on his pug ideals including rw fundamentalism.

Is that what you think? That we're all a bunch of bass akwards morans who use religion as an excuse for our bad behavior? Perry got elected because he had more money. You're completely missing the point. I think your argument would be better served in the religion forum. Or better yet-try and post this in the Texas forum-better keep your suit on.

At the time his approval rating was around 38% overall. He won not due to his "pug ideals" but rather due to the race being so divided.

Hopefully he's lost sales of his drivel to the vast majority of us.

This is in every red state I'll bet, cause none of those types like to fund anything but rich people's bank accounts.

thrives on contracted services, this Office came about with the installation of this fascist criminal administration that used/uses religion and religious organizations politically.

That's all within the context of an extreme universal fascist ideology that influenced and shaped the "policies" of this criminal administration for decades.

If you want to avoid getting flamed, it would be best to not cast a wide net and painting people as the same. The problems with some of the institutions in Texas is primarily two-fold, and neither has anything to do with religion.

1. Texas is the second most populous state in the nation and is growing in population significantly. This growth is mainly from Hispanic immigrants and northerners, who for some reason like to live in our "backwards" state. This puts a large demand on available resources.

2. Since the Republican takeover from Texas, the legislature has demanded sharp cuts to almost all programs and agencies in the state government at exactly the same time as demand for services has been growing due to the increase in population. This process has been ongoing for over 10 years, with a demand to reduce agency budgets by 10% each legislative session. With this reduction in funds across the board, the ability to hire adequate numbers of personnel, toretain them and to provide adequate levels of service to the public has suffered.

It is ALL ABOUT THE MONEY.

I really find it bizarre to have to explain in a political forum, how our system of government works, but it seems it is required. In Texas, the Legislative Budget Board submits the proposed budgets for all state agencies to the Legislature. This proposal is based upon political directives from the Lt. Governor's Office and the Legislature and has to take into account the budget numbers from the Comptroller. In Texas, the Governor has little executive power. The Texas Governor is head of state, not the head of government.

To give an example, it is frequently a point that more people were executed under George Bush as Governor than any the governor. While this is true, it is misleading, because the Texas Governor can only pardon or commute a sentence in Texas under very narrow circumstances. All pardons or commutations require a majority recommendation from the Board of Pardons and Paroles and ONLY if the Governor agrees may he pardon or commute, period.

That's an excellent and accurate first post.

Thanks for posting. Your's was more in depth than mine, maybe she'll get it this time.

our residents be abused because of lack of money. And for the most part we here in Minnesota are doing it because of our attitudes towards our neighbors which is both religion based and union based.

I did not say that all of you are religious bigots toward the poor, sick, etc., nor did I say that all those who are taking care of people are like that. I did say that attitudes (including religious attitudes) regarding the poor and sick are often behind the lack of oversight and funding that do stop these abuses.

Here in Minnesota we have closed most of our institutions and brought the residents home to community based programs that are monitored not only by the state but also by their neighbors. If my daughter were abused in the foster home she lives in there would be many who would call the police to stop it, not to mention the bus drivers who transport her daily, the workers at her day program who see her every day and the volunteers from churches who work throughout her life. It is attitude that allows this abuse to continue.

One thing positive in the article is that the state is looking into it. Now if the people in Texas who care about this get out and demand justice maybe it will be fixed.

Let me put this on perspective JWIRR. The State of Minnesota has roughly the same population as Houston. The levels of services required and corresponding budgets are on a completely different scale between the two states. It has all to do with the money. If we as a society are going to care for our indigent, it is inherent that we fund those programs.

The problem is not based upon religion, regardless of your belief that it is. It has much more to do with the small government- individualism prevalent in parts of our society. If the state funds the programs, it can hire and retain an adequate workforce that can execute and oversee the programs. On a national scale, we see the same types of problems in the Veteran's Administration, but I have not heard anyone suggest that it is because of Calvinistic attitudes, because it is obvious the VA isn't "southern", but national.

I have a child that will one day probably end up in state care. I can't bear him being mistreated or abused as mentioned in the article.