Community Now! Calls for Swift Action with Regard to the Atrocities at Corpus Christi State School

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Community Now! is a statewide non-profit organization working to reform long term care services in Texas by downsizing state institutions and shifting resources to fully fund the 88,000 person waiting list. Community Now! offers the following statement in response to the horrific atrocities at Corpus Christi State Institution as reported today by the Dallas Morning News:

The organized, pre-meditated atrocities by state school employees against residents  at Corpus Christi State Institution are Hate Crimes. The perpetrators must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Community Now! Demands the immediate arrests of those alleged with committing these sadistic acts by actively organizing a “Fight Club”. The forced participation of residents with intellectual disabilities for the “entertainment” of these state employees is unconscionable, unacceptable, and reflects an environment of abuse, neglect and exploitation that cannot be “fixed”.

Those individuals forced to participate in these acts should be immediately removed from the institution and placed in a safe environment in a community setting and offered immediate counseling and other mental health treatment as necessary.

Governor Perry must immediately place the Corpus Christi State Institution under the management of an Independent Conservator with the authority to remove residents from harm to a safe community setting of their choice or other setting as appropriate. Immediate planning to close this institution must be initiated.

A full investigation must begin immediately to determine what other state school staff who may have been aware of this so-called “Fight Club”. These staff should be immediately terminated, arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Governor Perry must direct Albert Hawkins, Executive Commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission, to immediately terminate the Department of Aging and Disability Services Commissioner, Addie Horn, and other appropriate executive staff.

A Conservator should be appointed by the Governor to administer the Agency until an outside, qualified individual, experienced in long term care reform can be employed.

Jeff Garrison-Tate, the spokesman for Community Now! offers this 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. These acts were pre-mediated, carefully planned and facilitated in the dead of night for the debauched entertainment of people with no moral compass, no ethics, and no sense of human worth. This so-called “Fight Club” bears witness to a new low for Texas. This represents a fundamental break down at every level and happened over a long period of time. An atrocity like this does not happen overnight. A long history of permission has been given to these sadists through a system with no accountability, exceptionally poor oversight, and incompetent management. Throwing more money into these institutions will not fix these problems.  We must, as a state, develop real reform by downsizing the facilities we no longer need and getting rid of the failed,  disgraceful management at the Department of Aging and Disability Services.”

Contact Jeff Garrison-Tate at 830-556-2827 for more information.