Disability

"Cruel" Care Home Staff Jailed

This article is about three members of the staff of a care home for the mentally disabled being sent to jail for six months for abusing their patients. The abuse had apparently been going on for about a year until it was discovered recently. One incident involved a member of the staff encouraging a patient with Down's syndrome to beat up and kick another deaf and autistic patient. Not only did the worker verbally encourage the patient, but she made a kicking motion to show the patient how to kick and then she pointed to the patient that she wanted kicked. Two other black members of the staff also encouraged one white patient to make derogatory racial remarks to another patient. The members were caught when their actions were filmed by a fellow co-worker that was appalled by their behavior. There is video footage of the two black staff workers laughing uncontrollably as they tell a patient to call another patient a "white bitch." There was also video footage of the female worker egging on one patient to beat and kick the other. In almost all of the videos, the workers are shown smiling and laughing at the abuse while the victims are often "screaming and wailing." Right after this information hit the news, the home was closed down and the patients were dispersed to other local homes where they will receive proper treatment. Several co-workers expressed their anger and disgust after the abuse was revealed. Luckily, one worker became so abhorred that she took the extra step to record the abuse and report it.