State slow to overhaul downstate mental health facility plagued by abuse, watchdog finds
Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration isn’t moving quickly enough to transfer developmentally disabled residents out of a southern Illinois facility with a disturbing history of abuse, according to a federally mandated monitor’s report released Thursday.
And residents who have been relocated from the troubled Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center in downstate Anna have too often ended up in large state-run facilities instead of community-based settings that were promised as part of the overhaul being carried out by Pritzker’s Department of Human Services.
That’s according to a midpoint assessment conducted by Equip for Equality, the monitor group Pritzker appointed under federal mandate to evaluate the state’s progress on the transition plan launched by the governor in March 2023.
The state faces “concerning barriers” to fix the system in that time frame, independent monitors found.
“Our midpoint assessment makes it clear that without significant additional resources and systemic reform, Illinois will not fulfill its commitment to provide community-based living options for people with disabilities,” Equip for Equality CEO Zena Naiditch said in a statement. “The challenges at Choate reflect broader issues within Illinois’ developmental disability service system, and this is a critical, once-in-a-generation opportunity to create real, lasting change.”
State officials agreed with most of the monitor’s findings, insisting that many of their recommendations “are currently being developed and implemented.”
“This report affirms that we are aligned with our efforts to provide education for individuals to have informed choices on options for their future living arrangements,” the state’s Developmental Disabilities Division director, Tonya Piephoff, said in a response letter. “IDHS remains committed to helping individuals, families, and their guardians identify living arrangements of their choice, in the least restrictive environment.”
A 2022 investigation published by Capitol News Illinois, Lee Enterprises and ProPublica revealed a culture of abuse and coverups at Choate, where state police opened at least 40 criminal investigations into alleged employee misconduct within a decade.
That prompted Pritzker to order cameras installed at all state-run developmental centers, and to start moving 123 people out of Choate.
As of September, 48 people had been relocated, including 33 sent to other large state facilities — and just 10 moved into small, community-based settings that experts say provide better conditions for residents.
Another 33 residents awaiting community placement have been waiting more than nine months for a spot, some waiting more than a year.
And with 31 waiting for spots in other state institutions, that means more than half the affected Choate residents will likely end up in large institutions, “often without real consideration of their preference for or ability to benefit from community living,” the monitor found.
Piephoff noted the state has met “nearly half of the original transition and transfer goal at Choate” in 21 months.
Equip for Equality called on the state to expand community housing options that are especially lacking in southern and central Illinois
They also recommended the state allocate more resources and improve interagency coordination to speed up the Choate transition. The state also needs to enhance overall mental health services and do a better job of providing independent advocates for residents who disagree with their guardians’ decisions, the monitor said.