Fwd:Right to Privacy (Texas)

[Guest guest]

Fwding. as is -RE:Advocates:

 

No one in the disability advocacy community wants to see abuse go on in an institution

or in a community setting.  However the violation of people's right to privacy in the name of

" safety " should be a concern to us all.  Whether one agrees or disagrees on whether institutions should

exist, it is where over 4,000 people with disabilities live.  The right to their privacy should be respected

as long as they reside in the facility.

The fact that it is necessary to have 247 cameras installed in a place where a person with a disability lives to

keep them safe is a statement about the inappropriateness of the institution and a blantant violation of the

person's right to privacy.  One would hope that the Department of Justice doesn't endorse this approach

to guaranteeing safety.  Having a disability and participating in a state/federal program should not require

you to give up your basic civil rights.  Do unto others as you would want others to do unto you.

I don't know many people who want 247 cameras in the place they reside.

Free Our People.

 

Bob Kafka

ADAPT of Texas

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Sent: Tuesday, September 14, 2010 11:02 AM

Safer conditions at Corpus Christi institution where residents with mental disabilities were once forced into fight clubs

05:04 PM CDT on Monday, September 13, 2010

By ROBERT T. GARRETT / The Dallas Morning Newsrtgarrett@...

AUSTIN — Conditions are much safer at a Corpus Christi institution where late-night “fight clubs” were forced on residents with mental disabilities, officials said Monday.

Supervisors work night shifts, employees are trained to report abuse and there is continuous monitoring of 247 newly installed video surveillance cameras, said director Iva Benson.

“We report even if there’s a bruise that we find and no one knows what happened,” said Benson, who heads the former Corpus Christi state school, now called a state supported living center.

“We want every incident investigated by outside entities because we do not tolerate that abuse and neglect,” she said.

Benson spoke after Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services officials conducted a media event to mark release of an independent monitor’s report about how well the facility is complying with a five year, $112 million state settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice. It was the first follow-up check to be completed at one of the 13 facilities for the developmentally disabled.

“This facility has many challenges to resolve,” said Traylor, commissioner of the state department. “But we are off to a great start.”

In March 2009, a federal investigation of dangerous conditions inside the facilities was in its fourth year when the fight clubs in Corpus Christi were disclosed. Night-shift employees at one dorm instigated the bouts with direct commands and pranks aimed at spurring the residents to turn on each other, police said.

The police inquiry was launched after a local retailer turned over a lost cellphone, which contained almost 20 videos of fights. The images eventually landed in the national news, and at least 11 employees quit or were fired. Of six who faced criminal charges, at least two are serving prison sentences.

“That was a very, very regrettable and serious incident,” said Benson, who has headed the facility for three years clubs. “And it certainly does not reflect what’s happening at the facility today, as the report shows.”

Today, two or three staff members monitor the video cameras around the clock, she noted.

, assistant state commissioner over the 13 residential institutions, said that as a result of watching the monitors, facility employees have reported nine possible incidents of abuse and neglect to the Department of Family and Protective Services since Nov. 1. Of them, one was confirmed, he said, without providing details.

The outside monitoring team said it conducted an interview with 10 staff members. Of them, five said they’d reported abuse. The monitors said that when they asked employees where they must report suspicions, workers often flipped over their ID badges and pointed to instructions and the protective-services hotline phone number.

The monitors said employee comments and other things, including the posting of zero-tolerance posters around the campus, “suggested vigilance” in reporting abuse.

However, they urged Benson and her staff to work harder to discourage retaliation against employees who report co-workers’ misdeeds. Monitors reviewed 70 protective-services investigations involving the Corpus Christi facility, and said they found in two of them troubling comments by employees that hint at a lingering fear of reprisals.

“The culture amongst staff of protecting one another as opposed to individuals served can be very strong, and apparently was at Corpus Christi in recent years,” the monitors said. “Facility management will need to continue to be creative about shifting this culture to one in which the individuals’ safety and well-being is paramount.”

They urged administrators to “strongly train and remind staff” that retaliation is forbidden. In some instances, managers may need to reassign staff members or increase supervision, the monitors said.

No staff members have been reassigned to protect against retaliation, said department spokeswoman Lowery.

“We just got this report on Friday so [administrators] haven’t had an opportunity to take specific steps,” she said.

However, Lowery noted the report says Benson told monitors she won’t condone retaliation and twice has asked the inspector general of health and human services to investigate alleged retaliation.

“The facility will continue driving home the message that it’s not acceptable,” Lowery said.

The monitors’ report said the Corpus Christi campus is complying with many, though not all, of scores of requirements imposed by last summer’s settlement agreement between the state and federal governments.

The center has hired more dental care professionals and, while it still doesn’t have a staff psychiatrist, has improved nursing care, the report said.

When the fights were disclosed, state lawmakers were well on their way to passing passing an emergency safety bill that required more background checks of employees and ratified Gov. Rick ’s decision to install the cameras.

Lawmakers found money to hire 1,160 more employees and, in a nod to advocates who wanted to close facilities, an additional $250 million to provide community-based care for nearly 8,000 people stuck on long waiting lists.