This year, the State of Illinois began downsizing the Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center in Anna, in Southern Illinois. Choate is a state-run State Operated Developmental Center (SODC) that houses people with intellectual/developmental disabilities (I/DD). Despite years of documented beatings, sexual assaults, humiliation and neglect experienced by disabled residents at Choate, Choate employees have resisted the downsizing. Over 500 people work at Choate, although only 54 people live there as of August 1. Around 250 people will be laid off. Area state legislators have joined Choate workers to oppose the layoffs.
Governor J.B. Pritzker has publicly said that the downsizing is moving forward as planned. “The advocates for the developmentally disabled are the ones who have told us this is what they want for the developmentally disabled in the state of Illinois,” Pritzker said. “Other states did this years ago because the better setting for people is in community homes.” Choate’s current budget is over $55 million, so the downsizing also represents a significant opportunity to reinvest in other disability services. Access Living, and many other disability organizations, have long opposed the use of state dollars to institutionalize people with disabilities.
HOW TO TAKE ACTION
Illinois legislators need to know that the downsizing of Choate is fundamentally about improving the lives of disabled people, who deserve the chance to live in the community and not be subjected to abuse and neglect. We need your help to remind our state legislators that the Choate downsizing is necessary and important.
A History of Complaints
For decades, Choate has been the subject of repeated, disturbing complaints and investigations. regarding not only staff treatment of its residents with disabilities, but a culture of silence designed to cover abuse and neglect. In the last few years, concerns had evolved to the point that the U.S. Department of Justice began an investigation into conditions at Choate. In 2023, the State announced a three-year transformation initiative to wind down Choate’s developmental disabilities-only unit, with phaseout taking place by March 2027.
Moving Away from Large Congregate Facilities
The State of Illinois has long relied on SODCs to house Illinoisans with I/DD. Illinois currently runs seven SODCs; it formerly ran eleven, and at their height in the 1950s, these facilities housed over 10,000 people with I/DD. As of August 1, the Illinois SODCs house just under 1,500 people total, making it just one of three states that house more than a thousand people in large congregate settings.
However, over time, Illinois has slowly untangled from institutions as the only setting for people with I/DD. Illinois is not yet one of the seventeen states that have managed to fully withdraw from a reliance on large congregate settings to house people with I/DD (those states being Alaska, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, West Virginia, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine).
Choate also operates a 40-bed forensic unit for people with both I/DD and serious mental health issues. The Choate forensic unit holds people who are involved in the criminal system, and who are either not fit to stand trial or declared not guilty by reason of insanity. This unit will remain at Choate, while the State works to develop more resources for inpatient mental health services.
Support for Downsizing Choate
Access Living commends the State of Illinois for moving forward with Choate’s downsizing. We recognize that this is a very difficult process. However, given the years of documented problems, the expense of a facility like Choate, and the need for expanding both community services and mental health services, we believe that this downsizing has to be fundamentally about Illinoisans with disabilities, in the end.
We urge that all parties involved support community transitions in a safe and meaningful manner, and seek investment for new employment for workers. Ultimately, Illinois needs to one day join the seventeen states that have moved away from using public dollars to keep people with I/DD in large state-run facilities.