FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CRT

MONDAY, JANUARY 23, 2001

(202) 514-2008

WWW.USDOJ.GOV

TDD (202) 514-1888

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA TO IMPROVE CONDITIONS FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH MENTAL RETARDATION UNDER AGREEMENT WITH JUSTICE DEPARTMENT

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The District of Columbia will significantly improve the services and protection it provides to all persons with mental retardation under an agreement reached today with the Justice Department and a group of people with mental retardation.

The agreement, filed today in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., was reached in connection with a 25-year-old lawsuit. In 1976, a group of individuals with developmental disabilities filed a class action suit against the District, claiming their constitutional rights were violated while living at the Forest Haven institution, operated by the District of Columbia. The Justice Department intervened in the suit in 1978 to ensure that the rights of the class would be protected. By 1991, all of the residents of the now-closed Forest Haven had been moved into community settings in and around Washington, D.C.

In 1999, after finding the District in contempt of its orders, the court directed a special master to develop a plan that the District must follow in order to protect persons with mental retardation in its care.

Under this plan filed today, the District of Columbia has agreed to take the following steps:

- develop and implement a proper quality assurance system so that persons with mental retardation always receive the protections they need;

- protect the individuals from harm by improving the reporting and follow-up requirements after incidents including injuries, abuse and neglect; by investigating serious incidents; and by creating a centralized computer database of incidents and investigations to improve tracking and analysis;

- develop a fatality review committee to help prevent unnecessary deaths;

- cut the workload of case managers in half, so each case manager has responsibility for 30 persons rather than 60 persons, and ensure that case managers receive appropriate training;

- provide ongoing, mandatory training for all District and community provider staff, requiring demonstrated competence and certification in skills required for the positions they hold;

- develop and implement new behavior management plans for each person that prevent the misuse or overuse of control procedures such as psychotropic medications, "time-out," and restraints;

- implement fully team recommendations regarding the individual needs of persons with mental retardation and develop computerized systems to aggregate essential information about these individuals who receive services in the District; and

- safeguard the funds of persons with mental retardation, conduct annual audits of accounts, and compensate persons with mental retardation for funds owed to them because of past failures to pay interest on certain personal accounts.

The plan announced today also incorporates an agreement, filed last week in this case, that requires the District to fund an independent, nonprofit, monitoring body to augment the monitoring services already provided by the independent court monitor.

Through the year 2011, the District will provide up to $31.5 million to fund this external monitoring body, called the Quality Trust for Individuals with Disabilities, Inc. The funds will enable the Quality Trust to oversee and advance the individual and collective interests of the persons with mental retardation in the District's service delivery system. The Quality Trust also will provide advocacy and legal representation services to assist persons with mental retardation.

The Justice Department's oversight of the District's system of care for persons with mental retardation will continue until the District demonstrates and maintains compliance with all the court orders in this case.

###

01-040