An investigation by the Associated Press reveals that the number of ‘mentally disabled’ people who are confined to institutions in Texas is six times the national average.
The federal government has concluded that the Texas care system is “stubbornly out of step with modern mental health practices. Critics allege that Texas remains stuck in an era when the mentally disabled were hidden away in large, impersonal facilities far from relatives and communities.”
Federal law requires mentally disabled people to be treated in “the most integrated setting” possible, a factor that led to the Justice Department rebuke of Texas.
Original Source: nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Texas-Mental-Hospitals.html