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.