Feds to investigate Texas schools for disabled

AUSTIN (AP) -- The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating conditions at the Texas state schools for the disabled to determine if residents' civil rights are being violated.

One of the centers is in Harlingen. The Rio Grande State Center-South Texas Health Care System, at 1401 Rangerville Road, referred questions to the Texas Department of State Health Services.

Federal officials informed state officials of the inquiry in a letter to Gov. Rick Perry, noting the agency is "obliged to determine whether there are systemic violations in the conditions" at the centers.

Laura Albrecht, spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services, said Friday that Texas will "cooperate in full. We welcome the scrutiny."

Texas has 13 large institutions, called state schools or centers, in which nearly 5,000 mentally retarded or mentally ill residents live.

Federal investigators will only look into services rendered to mentally retarded patients, not to mentally ill patients, said Emily Palmer, a spokeswoman with the Texas Department of State Health Services. She referred further questions to Albrecht.

The Rio Grande State Center-South Texas Health Care System in Harlingen offers long-term care to a maximum of 77 mentally retarded patients, facility superintendent Sonia Hernandez-Keeble said in an earlier interview. The center also offers short-term services to more than 50 patients with mental illness.

Texas officials learned of the probe Wednesday.

Federal officials previously have investigated allegations of abuse and neglect at the Denton State School and the Lubbock State School.

The federal inquiry will focus on protection of residents from harm, medical and nursing care, living and treatment services and the placement of residents in the most integrated setting as required under the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Perry spokeswoman Allison Castle said the governor had been expecting the broader federal investigation.

"This has been the pattern when they've gone into other states," Castle said. "We're always interested in how we can improve."

An AP analysis of state agency records earlier this year found that more than 800 employees at the 13 schools have been suspended or fired for abusing patients since fiscal year 2004.

Records showed more than 450 incidents of verified abuse or neglect in fiscal year 2007, a year in which the state investigated nearly 3,500 allegations at state schools. State officials also acknowledged abuse or neglect by caretakers was a factor in the deaths of at least three state school residents since 2002.

"We'll continue to make improvements in our care of those individuals entrusted to us," Albrecht said.

A state audit in July found the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services also had 10 workers who should have been unemployable because of a history of abuse or neglect.

Those workers were fired when the auditors notified the agency. A new background check policy was put in place to continuously review records, not just at the point of hire.

Besides the schools in Lubbock, Denton and Harlingen, the other centers are located in Abilene, Austin, Brenham, Carlsbad, Corpus Christi, El Paso, Lufkin, Mexia, Richmond and San Antonio.

The Harlingen center was built on land donated by Cameron County and opened Jan. 5, 1956. It was originally named the Harlingen State Tuberculosis Hospital.

The probe of the state schools comes one year after the Justice Department announced that an investigation of the Evins Regional Juvenile Center -- a youth prison in Edinburg -- revealed children confined at Evins were not adequately protected from harm, in violation of their constitutional rights.

Since then, state legislators have overhauled the prison and its parent agency, the Texas Youth Commission, to address safety concerns.

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Valley Morning Star reporter Daisy Martinez contributed to this report.