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911 call audio exposes more abuse at Choate

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Illinois

* Background is here if you need it. Beth Hunsdorfer of Capitol News Illinois and Molly Parker of Lee Enterprises Midwest unearthed a 911 call from 2020 revealing abuse at Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center…

The disturbing 911 call began with sounds of a struggle, then a voice that sounded like a child’s cried out, “Let me go.” When the police dispatcher in the rural southern Illinois community announced herself, no one responded.

She heard other voices, laughing and taunting, then a female voice said, “You want me to break your other finger?” […]

With the audio recording in hand, the Illinois State Police launched an investigation. They learned that the call was made as Choate employees attempted to restrain a patient: A smart watch jostled in the struggle had accidentally dialed emergency services. They discovered that the voice heard pleading for help belonged to Alijah Luellen, who has Prader-Willi syndrome, a genetic condition that can cause severe childhood obesity, intellectual disability and behavioral problems. They also discovered that the other voices belonged to the employees paid to care for him.

Nonetheless, such incriminating evidence was not enough to hold anyone accountable.

Some more background on Choate’s timeline of abuse is here.

* Choate’s workplace culture is a main point in today’s article…

Reporting by Lee Enterprises Midwest, Capitol News Illinois and ProPublica reveals a culture of cover-ups that makes it harder to reform the 270-bed developmental center for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and mental illnesses. In dozens of cases, records show that Choate employees have lied to state police and to investigators with IDHS’ Office of the Inspector General; walked out of interviews, plotted to cover up or obfuscate alleged abuse and neglect; and failed to follow policies intended to protect the integrity of investigations. […]

Yet they all claimed they couldn’t recognize the voice of the worker who threatened the patient on the 911 call.

In addition, two employees cut their interviews with investigators short and walked out. (Law enforcement cannot compel employees to answer questions, according to state police; IDHS said that employees’ participation in criminal investigations is not mandated as a condition of employment.) Another employee, in internal paperwork, initially stated he assisted in the restraint. He later told police he had falsified the paperwork and wasn’t actually in the room, according to the police report.

* Here are some numbers for context…

Between 2015 and 2021, the Office of the Inspector General for the Illinois Department of Human Services received 1,180 allegations of abuse and neglect at Choate. But late reporting, uncooperative employees, lack of video evidence, conflicting witness accounts and other investigatory missteps can result in the OIG being unable to obtain enough evidence to substantiate an allegation — even when there are unexplained patient injuries.

We requested these records, but OIG refused to send them all, citing state law that prohibits the release of details from unsubstantiated cases. They did send a stack of information from that same time period regarding substantiated cases, along with records from 184 cases in which the OIG identified problems and asked Choate administrators to respond with their plans for remedying the situation. These are cases in which OIG flagged serious issues, although they may not have had enough evidence to support the allegation.

The files they sent are a record of Choate’s required responses. Most of them were heavily redacted, but they offered a window into some of the problems OIG investigators face at Choate:

• In 29 cases, Choate administrators acknowledged that employees failed to follow department policy concerning the reporting and investigation of abuse and neglect.

• In 11 instances, Choate employees failed to report an allegation of abuse or neglect within four hours of discovery, as the law requires.

• In nine cases, the OIG found that employees lied or provided false statements to investigators.

• In more than one-third of the 184 cases where the OIG asked for a response, the only recommendation from Choate officials was to “retrain” employees.

• In 14 cases, employees were discharged, terminated or suspended.

posted by Isabel Miller
Tuesday, Oct 11, 22 @ 10:11 am

Comments

Couldn’t the state’s attorney convene a grand jury with the ability to subpoena witnesses and compel testimony?

Comment by very old soil Tuesday, Oct 11, 22 @ 10:47 am
==“There’s no such thing as a code of silence at Choate.== said Steve Hartline, current mayor of Anna and former long-time head of security at Choate… oh and his parents both worked at Choate when he was a child.

How could he not be telling the truth? /s

Comment by Vote Quimby Tuesday, Oct 11, 22 @ 10:57 am
===Couldn’t the state’s attorney===

Theoretically, yes. Small county, though.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Oct 11, 22 @ 10:59 am
He’s going to win (big), so JB needs to use his political capital in his second term to fix this.

Comment by Scott Fawell's Cellmate Tuesday, Oct 11, 22 @ 11:10 am
>Theoretically, yes. Small county, though.

I agree. Tricky–elected position, small county where everyone probably has a relative who works at the major employer, creating potential for that major employer to close to devastating economic impact. It’s not a new story. I don’t see any way to change that culture. It’s got to close or we need to go back to pretending it’s not happening.

Comment by Earnest Tuesday, Oct 11, 22 @ 11:47 am
===IDHS said that employees’ participation in criminal investigations is not mandated as a condition of employment===

So you can:
Be employed caring for children.
Refuse to cooperate in an abuse investigation.
Remain employed.

The public sector bargaining process is working great.

Comment by Ebenezer Tuesday, Oct 11, 22 @ 12:09 pm
Now imagine that Choate was located in Cook County.

Comment by very old soil Tuesday, Oct 11, 22 @ 1:08 pm
This sickens me to the core STILL.

Comment by Mister Ed Tuesday, Oct 11, 22 @ 2:25 pm
Jobs for a small county? Lord almighty, these are people and our state’s most vulnerable people at that. IDHS needs to amend their conditions of employment. To me everyone should be a mandated reporter, especially those caring for our elderly and disabled.

Comment by Mister Ed Tuesday, Oct 11, 22 @ 2:35 pm
==small county==
The way around this may be a federal investigation of a potential civil rights issue. I realize the DOJ is extra busy right now, but maybe they can spare someone for this.

Comment by Make It Real Tuesday, Oct 11, 22 @ 3:28 pm
With close to 1700 individuals in state institutions, Illinois is only 2nd to Texas in the number of folks still housed in these outdated public facilities.

Families have been choosing smaller, community based group homes for the better part of 30 years. Unfortunately, while Illinois’ institutional funding kept pace with inflation, state community group home funding has fallen 50% behind the cost of living.

Illinois must accelerate the downsizing of its institutions and move this funding to its community based system.

Comment by BobO Tuesday, Oct 11, 22 @ 5:35 pm
I have come to know Alijah. This breaks my heart she was treated this way. So wrong!

Comment by Grateful Gail Tuesday, Oct 11, 22 @ 5:50 pm
Changes in policy of dealing with abuse needed? Absolutely! But please don’t judge all employees based on a reporter’s slant! Keep an open mind and listen to both sides!

“I’m an employee in the mental health field. If you watch the news, read the newspaper or read the articles and posts on Facebook, you’ll hear that Mental Health employees are awful. You’ll hear that I am an abuser. You’ll hear that I neglect. You’ll hear about a few instances that resulted in employees being arrested for abuse. You’ll hear about how my place of employment should be shut down. You’ll hear that these employees are nothing but violent, hateful and awful people. You’ll hear that we get paid too much. You’ll hear that our job is too easy. You’ll hear that we are a danger to residents at the mental health facility.
What you won’t hear however, is what I am. You won’t hear that I make a positive impact on the people I work with every day. You won’t hear that I often do more than the job requires for my residents. You won’t hear about me working 16 straight hours without a chance to eat or sometimes even use the bathroom. You won’t hear that I get assaulted more times in one week than most people do in their entire life. You haven’t heard about the multiple times I’ve had homemade weapons/shanks pulled on me. You haven’t heard about me getting bit so badly, it resulted in an infection and left a bruise that lasted for roughly a year and three months. You don’t know that I was attacked which resulted in cracked ribs. Which I received ONE day off of work for. You won’t hear about the high functioning and very intelligent grown man who told me “I can’t wait to kill your wife and rape her dead body.” This man followed with “I wish you had kids so I could kill and rape them too.” You don’t know about me getting targeted so badly, that I literally can’t turn my back because I will be attacked. Again, this is a fully grown, intelligent, extremely capable population I am talking about. Men who know how to hurt and kill. You won’t hear about a man beating a woman unconscious to the point of near death. You also won’t hear that the man brags daily about how he enjoyed doing it. You don’t know that I’ve been targeted to the point that a man has screenshots of my family and that nothing has been done about it. You don’t know that I watched a good friend get kicked in the head and knocked unconscious. I watched the blood pour from his face as the man who kicked him laughed about it.
I know women that drive to work daily sobbing uncontrollably because they are afraid today is the day they die. They are afraid that they will never see their kids again. I know countless times I’ve went 8 to 16 hours without eating because I’m afraid to leave my coworkers alone. I’m afraid I’ll come back and someone will be hurt or even worse. Did you know that I’ve spent entire days getting yelled at, hit, kicked, spit on and threatened? Did you know that I personally bought pizza for 35-40 residents and 8-10 staff and the same night I was hit in the back with a chair? Have you heard about my coworker getting stabbed with a fork multiple times? What about my coworker that was hit multiple times and then had her shirt torn off during an attempt to rape? Did you know that I had a coworker who’s finger was bit down to the bone? You didn’t know that.
What you think you know is how awful I am. You think I’m an overpaid abuser. You think I should be out of a job. But the truth is, I’m a caring and kind hearted man who is great at my job and who is scared for myself and my coworkers. And just to give you a little more perspective, for every one resident that you hear is hurt from a staff member, there are 10 times as many staff that are hurt that you will never hear or read about.
At 20 years old I found a job that I loved. Now at 24 years old I have a job that scares the hell out of me at times. We hope that we’re safe. All we have is hope. There are no plans or rules put in place to keep us safe. There is only hope and maybe some luck.
LASTLY, I want to leave you with something to think about. Why am I the only one you’ve heard this from? Who is out there publicly speaking on the behalf of my coworkers and I? Why am I the one that has to do it?”

Comment by Retired state employee Tuesday, Oct 11, 22 @ 5:55 pm
So sad and angry. This is awful.

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Oct 11, 22 @ 5:58 pm
@Ebenezer - It’s nothing to do with collective bargaining, it’s the Fifth Amendment still applying even if the government is your employer. You can look up the Garrity case for a further description.

Comment by GC Wednesday, Oct 12, 22 @ 7:12 am