What is it going to take and why is NOBODY listening?

What is it going to take to shut institutions down? More Fight clubs?


Charges are filed in abuse of disabled students Corpus Christi State School affidavits

Houston Chronicle, March 12, 2009

Arrest warrants for four Corpus Christi State School employees and two former workers were issued Thursday for organizing fights among the mentally disabled just as Texas lawmakers in Austin blasted the state’s top disabilities commissioner for failing to take steps years ago to curb abuse.

Five of the suspects — Timothy Dixon, 30; Jesse Salazar, 25; Guadalupe Delarosa, 21; Vince Johnson, 21; and Dangelo Riley, 22 — are charged with injury to a disabled person, a third-degree felony. A sixth suspect, 21-year-old Stephanie N. Garza, is charged with a state jail felony for failing to report the abuse.

Johnson has been arrested and at least three others have notified police they will surrender. All but Delarosa and Riley are current employees.

The Houston Chronicle was unable to reach any of the six for comment. State officials said the four still employed will be fired.

The abuse scandal broke a week ago when Dixon’s lost cell phone was turned over to Corpus Christi police, according to Capt. Tim Wilson. The images showed staff members “encouraging different individuals to engage in physical contact,” the arrest affidavits stated.

Dixon’s voice can be heard narrating the videos . Riley is seen kicking a resident.
Agency defended

At least 20 video images recovered from the phone date as far back as 2007. Four videos show residents sustaining injuries.

“There was a black eye or two that came out of it,” said Jay Kimbrough, Gov. Rick Perry’s top aide, who drove to Corpus Christi this week to look at the evidence.

As Corpus Christi police began making arrests, the top official over the state school system got a grilling from lawmakers Thursday.

Addie Horn, commissioner of the Department of Aging and Disability Services, testified before a state House panel weighing reforms intended to protect the mentally disabled at state facilities.

Horn, a former caregiver defended her stewardship of the agency, which is mired in a federal investigation and the subject of intense criticism from advocacy groups.
Extra security measures

In response to the Corpus Christi incident and suggestions from the governor’s staff, Horn said she planned to hire security guards and have cameras installed at her facilities. She also said she ordered extra supervisors to work the night shifts, and required them to make random, unannounced inspections at night.

Lawmakers on the state House Human Services Committee who saw a portion of the fight-club videos said they were appalled.

“This is the most disturbing thing that I’ve seen and one of the most alarming abuses of trust that I’ve witnessed occur by somebody in the employment of the state,” said Rep. Patrick Rose, D-Dripping Springs, the committee’s chairman who has sponsored at least two state school reform bills this year.

They also confronted Horn about reports from Advocacy Inc, a group representing the rights of the disabled, that there were at least two other documented instances in the last six months where mentally disabled residents were pitted against one another.

She said she knew nothing of those incidents.