DD

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Vermont Investigate the Abuse of “Developmentally Disabled Offenders”

Bill Bennet a Human with Rights

If you have been following VT4Evolution, you know we have been looking at Vermont’s “corrections” system, one sector being the individuals who have been ruled “incompetent to stand trial” by the state. They are VT’s “Developmentally Disabled Offender Population” Previous article on this issue: 

VT Department of Disabilities ignoring Abuse of “DD Offender Population” and Justice Sleeps – Abuse of the Developmentally Disabled and Letter from Former Employee of Northeast Kingdom Human Services and  Vermont Abusing the “Developmentally Disabled”?

VT4Evolution has helped create a petition in collaboration with Tracy Gilman. To sign the petition follow the link at the bottom of the petition text. Thank you for your support – VT4Evolution

Petition: Investigate the Abuse of DD offenders

Target: State of Vermont

Sponsored by:  Tracy Gilman and William Bode

We the undersigned hereby affirm the evidence showing abuse within Vermont’s Corrections programs for the Developmentally Disabled is sufficient reason for a full investigation of these programs.

The offender population of DD Individuals are highly marginalized, they are kept on a 24 hour watch, with little to no outside contact with society. Vermont’s System of Care states, “When people with disabilities are segregated from community life, all Vermonters are diminished. Effective services and supports foster full community participation and personal relationships with other members of the community.” This is an important aspect of rehabilitation, reducing recidivism for these sensitive individuals. This method of “corrections” for DD individuals increases the chances of abuse by denying these individuals contact with the outside world.

The petitioners are requesting the State of Vermont to conduct a full investigation of all the organizations that are responsible for DD individuals. The investigation should include but is not limited to:

– Review of all documents provided by the Petitioners.

– Review of Vermont’s DD Offenders Rehabilitation Training Programs: investigate current and past care-givers comparing the training they received and their performance of the criteria outlined in Vermont’s System of Care and their individualized Care Plans.

– Review Vermont’s Victim Services, whose interaction with DD offenders in these programs must be proactive to be effective.

– Review of legal representation in past court cases of DD individuals.

– Review current rate of DD Sex Offender rate of recidivism.

– Interview current and past participants from these programs.

– Economic audit of the programs.

– A published report of the state’s findings including a timeline of actions to be taken to remedy the causes of infractions

To sign the petition and help us spread the word follow this link – http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/vermont—investigate-the-abuse-of-quotdevelopmentally-disabled-offendersquot/

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VT Department of Disabilities ignoring Abuse of “DD Offender Population”

Sign our Petition – http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/vermont—investigate-the-abuse-of-quotdevelopmentally-disabled-offendersquot/

The following is an excerpt of the Investigation by Vermont Disability Rights (DRVT) on the Alleged Abuse of William Bennett

May 31, 2011

Pursuant to DRVT’’s federal mandate to investigate allegations of abuse or neglect against persons with disabilities, DRVT conducted such an investigation in response to a request received in February 2011 from Mr. Bennett’’s legal guardian. Bill and his legal guardian alleged that he had suffered an incident of abuse perpetrated against him by his home care provider, Home Care Provider #2, who was under the direction of Sterling Area Services, Inc.(SAS).

Bill’’s Behavior Support Plan similarly states the following under the heading Processing an Incident:

Give Bill time to reflect upon what happened. He may need space (eyes on) to process on his own before having a conversation with support people. When Bill is ready, approach him in a non- threatening manner to help process the incident. To achieve the best possible outcome respect Bill’’s opinion and treat him as an adult.

Under the heading Crisis Response the Plan states:

When confronted with escalating behavior and Bill is non-responsive to redirection and positive reinforcement it is important that staff adhere to the following protocol. Remove self from immediate area, ensuring that Bill stays within eye sight of you at all times

Comparison of this information from Bill’’s Behavior Plan with the information obtained during the course of this investigation indicates that it is likely Home Care Provider #2 did not act in accordance with the Plan or his professional training. Even assuming Bill did swing at Home Care Provider #2 the first time in the living room and retreated to his bedroom, the Behavior Plan suggested that Home Care Provider #2 could have given Bill distance and space at that time but instead chose to impose more confrontation on the situation.

Read the full report – Bennett B Report to Family Redacted 5-31-11

From the Chronicle

This series looks at a privately operated but state funded program created to deal with people who have two strikes against them:  a court has judged them to be mentally retarded, and they have been accused of a sexual offense for which, because of their disability, they cannot consitutionally be brought to trial.  Our series, which began in October 2008 and runs (so far) through May 2011, deals with “clients” who found the Safe Choices Program humiliating, confining, threatening and mentally abusive.  None of our subjects quite fits the definition Safe Choices was created to serve.  They had never been formally charged with a serious sexual offense, but instead were suspected of sexual misbehaviour and sent to Safe Choices by public or private guardians.

Related Articles 
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Justice Sleeps – Abuse of the Developmentally Disabled

The Northeast Kingdom Human Services and the Safe Choice Program are another one of the dismal tentacles of the Industrial Prison Complex. These are state funded programs that are tasked with “rehabilitating” mentally impaired/developmentally disabled (DD) individuals who for different reasons have ended-up in these “halfway house” facilities.

As I have shown before in my other assessments of the Industrial Prison Complex this is about money. The agency gets upwards to $100,000 per individual annually. For this price this should be a progressive program with experts on developmental disability, learning impairments, social anxieties, etc. implementing the top research based treatments, this is called Restorative Justice.

see – Vermont Abusing the “Developmentally Disabled”?

 According to the report “When Justice Sleeps: Violence and Abuse Against the Developmentally Disabled“: 90% of DD individuals who have been a victim of abuse know there assailants personally i.e. family, friends, facilitators, tutor etc. The Rohner Institute’s research found that 39-68% of girls and 16-30% of boys, with DD will be sexually abused before age 18. Two studies have found that 50% of women with DD who had been sexually assaulted, had been assaulted 10+ times. Most of the time abuse in these cases goes unreported, because of their DD condition, this is the reason these individuals are “easy targets”.

These FRAGILE individuals need special care, that is why the public are willing to pay more taxes to provide such services. Not only do we NOT have the special care (we pay for) in this arm of Human Services, but we have ABUSE! The already traumatized, confused and outcast individuals of Our Society are being traumatized and confused more by the very services that are supposed to help them function in society.

The problem with the structuring of such services is; rehabilitation is the very thing that destroys their funding. Without crime, Private Prisons are obsolete, as with this branch of Human Services, rehabilitation is bad for business. People think things like this would never happen, especially in Vermont. It is hard to believe how low our moral and ethical standards are in the year of 2011. $$$

Spread the word and give a voice to the “voiceless” let your Governor know you want an independent review of these programs. Sign our petition – http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/vermont—investigate-the-abuse-of-quotdevelopmentally-disabled-offendersquot/

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Letter from Former Employee of Northeast Kingdom Human Services

Dear Senator Kitchel,

I am writing to you about my outrage at the misuse of funding at Northeast Kingdom Human Services…in particular the program “Safe Choices”.  All that program is to NKHS is a cash cow and a legal way to abuse people who have had their rights stripped from them… and they are mentally impaired so they have no way to fight back.  They are so programmed by the staff at Lowell house and Roy Mountain House that many of them feel that this is all they deserve in life.  These people (clients) are bringing in a lot of tax dollars to line the pockets of the directors, assistant directors, therapists and supervisors (who already make MORE than a living wage) at NKHS and (OF COURSE) NKHS wants to keep them there.  The more the clients are abused, the more afraid to speak out against the program they become and the more secure NKHS staff is about their income in these troubled times.

Imagine being born with a disability.  It makes life a struggle from day one!  Friends, family and freedom is something that we all take for granted but when one’s life is shrouded in a disability most people never look past that diagnosis to the person living inside.  Many parents throw their hands in the air and let “the system” take over…or other parents have their children ripped away because someone in “the system” saw another big Medicaid waiver waiting to happen.  Medicaid waivers ARE, after all, what keeps people in  jobs.

My grandson is three years old and he has autism.  He has the face of a cherub and a head surrounded by blonde curls. He also has a lot of socially inappropriate behaviors and we are faced with the daily task of teaching him what is right and what needs to change.  Because he is cute a lot of actions are excused by the public and even by family.  “That’s Rowan!” has been even my explaination for taking apart my flashlight or spitting on the floor and stomping in it, or taking his diaper off or unplugging the TV while we are watching it when his brother and sister are expected not to do these things.  As he matures his behaviors will become less and less those of a cute little boy and harder and harder to control.  His mother will need a lot of help from Human Services agencies.   WHAT IF…when he arrives at puberty and he is faced with an entirely new (and natural) change in his body…we don’t get the time to teach him what is and is not OK?  What if something comes to the attention of an agency my daughter went to for help and HE becomes a cash cow?

What about your own family?  I know that I never anticipated having a disabled grandchild…it never crossed my mind.  I have hopes and dreams for my family and I am sure you do for yours.  Please consider that could be me” and take a good hard look at the agency serving your area.  I have guardianship of a woman who was a client of NKHS and she was beaten down, threatened and abused by that agency and she didn’t know how to fight back.  She asked me to be her guardian and fight for her.  NKHS accused me of “sneaking that one in under the door”.  They broke the law more than once in the way she was treated and then were shocked when I transferred her services to Sterling Area Services.  I knew her rights and mine as a guardian but had I not, she would still be one of their puppets.  I was lucky…she was lucky.  Most people with a family member or ward don’t even know their rights and NKHS does NOTHING to educate them on this matter.

I have read the blog by Tracy Gilman, safechoicesabuse.org and I am appalled by the stories of abuse there.  They are all true and documented by the very agency she is fighting.  I have worked for NKHS and I have seen firsthand the way they treat the clients who bring in the big waivers.  They deliberately keep them in a crisis state to generate more money for themselves.  This is not JUST the Safe Choices clients.  I encourage you…no I am asking you… to take a look at NKHS and the ways they use the monies given to them for providing “services”.  Look at their “CADRE” billing.  Is it possible that every weekend a client is in crisis and the same people are paid (over and over) an additional $18.00 to $22.00 per hour to watch them?  Why do these clients rarely have a crisis during the week when staff are doing other things and don’t have time built into their days to supplement their salaries?

Look at the life of the safe choices clients and imagine trying to live it?  Twenty four hours a day, seven days a week they are antagonized and made to feel like the dirt of the universe.  I would go crazy if I had a loved one in that program.  It is “arms length” supervision.  Some of these people have not been touched in years.  What must that be like?  Babies DIE if they aren’t held.  The staff is creating a death of the soul in these already vulnerable people who would be at enough of a disadvantage if this had never happened in their lives.  Prisons don’t even treat people like that.   Please help them…and save the state a LOT of tax dollars.  Shutting down Safe Choices and installing the VERY small handful of people who really DO need such a program in a place where they will be treated humanely would be a good start.

Sincerely,

Jeannie Ayer

Voter and taxpayer.

Link – http://safechoicesabusereports.org/2011/05/18/comment-from-former-employees-of-northeast-kingdom-human-services/

Vermont Abusing the “Developmentally Disabled”?