Federal DOJ launches probe into Illinois’ treatment of people with
disabilities
[March 20, 2025]
By Beth Hundsdorfer and Molly Parker
(This article was produced for ProPublica’s Local
Reporting Network in partnership with Capitol News Illinois.)
The U.S. Department of Justice has opened a wide-ranging investigation
into Illinois’ treatment of people with developmental disabilities,
examining whether the state provides adequate resources for community
living and protects residents from harm in public institutions.
Tonya Piephoff, director of the Illinois Department of Human Services’
Division of Developmental Disabilities, informed employees of the
investigation in a letter last week that was obtained by Capitol News
Illinois.
“The investigation will examine whether the state unnecessarily
institutionalizes, or puts at serious risk of institutionalization,
adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities,” the letter
stated.
The letter said the investigation also will probe abuse and neglect
allegations of patients at the Choate, Jack Mabley and Samuel Shapiro
developmental centers, three of the seven state-operated residential
institutions operated by IDHS.
Illinois long has had one of the highest populations of people with
developmental and intellectual disabilities living in state-run
institutions in the nation. Choate is located in Anna in rural southern
Illinois, Mabley in the small upstate town of Dixon, and Shaprio in
Kankakee, 60 miles south of Chicago.
A spokesperson for Gov. JB Pritzker declined to comment on the
investigation.
“IDHS has made unprecedented investments in home and community-based
options to empower Illinoisans with disabilities to live in the least
restrictive setting of their choosing.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Justice did not respond to a
request for comment.
The latest investigation also promises to be far broader than a previous
Justice Department investigation, reviewing how the state provides
services to all people with intellectual or developmental disabilities,
including those who live in the community or at home.
The DOJ had previously investigated Choate in 2007. In a report released
two years later it found the facility had not provided proper transition
planning for those wanting to move into the community; and for those
living inside state-run facilities, had failed to protect residents from
abuse and neglect, and did not meet their health, education and
treatment needs, in violation of constitutional and federal statutory
rights. DOJ ended its monitoring in 2013.
In an investigative series beginning in late 2022, Capitol News Illinois
and ProPublica launched an investigation after the high-profile arrests
of Choate staff members for abuse and neglect of residents. The news
stories documented horrific instances of abuse and neglect by staff
against Choate residents. The reporting detailed cases documented in
internal reports and police and court records where staff had beaten,
choked, whipped, sexually assaulted and humiliated residents.
Those cases included the beating by staff of a man with intellectual
disabilities for failing to pull up his pants, and verbal abuse of
another resident, including a threat by staff to break the finger of a
man with developmental disabilities, inadvertently captured on a
recorded 911 line, according to court records, police reports and IDHS
watchdog findings. The reporting also documented a culture of covering
up abuse and neglect at the facility, findings later echoed by IDHS’
Office of Inspector General — the watchdog arm that investigates abuse
and neglect allegations at state-run facilities and provides agency
oversight.
Though the problems at Choate detailed in the reporting mirrored the
DOJ’s report released a decade and a half earlier, there was no federal
intervention until this recent action.
In the wake of the reporting, Pritzker called the abuse detailed in the
stories “awful” and “deeply concerning”. The agency promised to make
systemic changes to keep Choate home to the nearly 230 people with
developmental disabilities who lived there at the time.
But as the news organizations continued to report on abuse and neglect
at Choate documented in internal and state police reports, Pritzker and
his leadership team at IDHS changed course, announcing plans to move at
least half of Choate’s residents elsewhere.
As part of the planned transformation of Choate, residents with
developmental and intellectual disabilities would be moved to community
placements or to one of the six other state-operated facilities.
[to top of second column]
|
Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center in rural Anna,
Illinois, was built more than 150 years ago. (Whitney Curtis for
ProPublica)
But in December, Equip for Equality, a legal advocacy organization
monitoring the transition of Choate residents, found the state falling
short of its promises, with many individuals ending up in other
institutions instead of community settings, according to a report
released earlier this year.
Long wait times, lack of available community-based providers and
decisions made by guardians rather than the individuals themselves have
slowed progress and led to frustration, the report found. And while
Illinois has taken steps to improve options, the report said far more
effort and resources are needed to make community living a real choice.
“Illinois’ service system for people with developmental disabilities
continues to serve thousands of people in institutions — an antiquated
and oppressive model of serving people with developmental disabilities,”
said Andrea Rizor, an Equip for Equality attorney. “It is our hope the
Department of Justice’s investigation will not only shed light on this
antiquated system, but bring the expertise and resources to the table
that Illinois so desperately needs to ensure people with developmental
disabilities truly have the opportunity to successfully live as part of
their communities.”
Reports of abuse and neglect continue
Accusations of abuse and neglect also continued to grow, at Choate and
across the system. A December 2024 Office of Inspector General report
said it had received over 15,000 complaints from individuals in
institutions and community-based settings, a 24% increase from the
previous year and an 80% jump since fiscal year 2020.
The office has struggled to keep up, even after growing from 73 to 91
employees in a year. The report said the Office of Inspector General
“still lacks enough staff to handle rising caseloads efficiently,
estimating it needs at least 120 workers.”
The U.S. Supreme Court found in 1999 that holding people with
disabilities in state institutions constituted discrimination. In
Olmstead v. L.C., the court decided that patients with mental
disabilities should be placed in community settings if they are
medically cleared to do so and expressed a desire to live outside a
facility.
In 2011, a federal judge put Illinois under a federal consent decree for
failing to provide services that would allow people with intellectual
and developmental disabilities to live in the community. As part of an
agreement to settle a lawsuit filed 20 years ago, the state agreed to
beef up services.
Today, two years after Pritzker’s announcement that patients with
intellectual or developmental disabilities would be moved out of Choate,
160 residents continue to live there. Sixty-three of those said they
wanted to explore placement in the community, according to a March 2025
IDHS report.
Last year, the state asked a judge to end federal oversight, stating
they had done what they had promised and acknowledged the system would
“never be perfect.” A federal judge rejected the state’s effort to end
the consent decree and found the state still had more to do.
The current administration pointed to a budget stalemate in the previous
administration as one of the reasons for the failure to build out group
home placements, especially for individuals in crisis or with higher
behavioral or medical needs.
Sen. Terri Bryant, a Murphysboro Republican, whose district neighbors
Choate in southern Illinois, and who has advocated to ensure the
facility stays open, said IDHS informed her of the investigation a few
days ago. “We always welcome an extra review monitoring our most
vulnerable citizens and look forward to seeing what the DOJ reports,”
she said.
Rep. Charlie Meier, R-Okawville, has long been a proponent of the
state-operated developmental facility. He told a reporter Tuesday that
he welcomed the federal investigation.
“We need these facilities, but we need them to be at their best,” he
said.
Piephoff’s letter stated DOJ’s investigation would continue until early
fall with a report to follow.
Capitol News Illinois is
a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government
coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily
by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation. |
