From the Arc of Connecticut, June 11, 2008
Hartford, CT, June 11, 2008 -- Senior U.S. District Judge Ellen Bree Burns has handed down a long-awaited decision in Messier v. Southbury Training School, a class action lawsuit that sought decent care and community placement for the institution's approximately 600 residents in 1998. The Court will schedule a hearing to determine what remedy is appropriate in view of the violations of the residents' federal rights.
Lynn Warner, Executive Director of The Arc of Connecticut, hailed the decision, calling it "a momentous occasion and a clear validation of the rights of people with intellectual disabilities." David Shaw, attorney for the class members, stated that the decision should prompt State officials to change their policies so that the residents of Southbury Training School will have the opportunity to live outside the institution for the first time in their lives.
The much-publicized case was tried to conclusion for 123 days between January and October 1999.
In a 113-page Memorandum of Decision and Order signed June 4, 2008, Judge Burns ruled that the plaintiffs (the Southbury Training School residents and The Arc of Connecticut, WeCAHR, and People First) established that the Department of Developmental Services had violated the statutory and constitutional rights of the residents. Further, the judge characterized Southbury as a segregated institution. She also held that the State of Connecticut failed to make independent professional judgments as to whether each resident could benefit from leaving the institution and failed to make community placements available for those who expressed the desire to leave the institution.
The Court noted that the State of Connecticut acknowledged that all of the residents of Southbury Training School could benefit from living in the community, and that many expressed the desire to leave the institution prior to and during the administration of Governor Lowell Weicker. The Court found, however, that, shortly after Governor John Rowland took office and appointed the current DDS Commissioner Peter O'Meara, the institution stopped gathering information about the residents who wished to leave and its administration stopped making professional judgments about whether each resident could leave.
Further, the Court cited the State for failure to make resources available so that the residents could experience life outside the institution contributed to the longstanding segregation of many residents.
Judge Burns described the change in State policy as 1) an abdication of the State's duty under the United States Constitution to decide whether each class member would be better off leaving the institution and living in the community and 2) a violation of the rights of the residents secured by the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
Southbury Training School was in 1999, and remains today, one of the largest institutions for people with intellectual disabilities in the United States.
About the Plaintiffs
These three organizations came together for this lawsuit in support of the residents of Southbury Training School:
The Arc of Connecticut is a non-profit advocacy organization, comprising 2700 individuals and family members in 23 local chapters around the state. The organization is committed to protecting and defending the rights of all people with intellectual disabilities and related developmental disabilities as well as developing opportunities for their full inclusion in community life. The Arc of Connecticut was instrumental in the closing of Mansfield Training School in 1990.
WeCAHR, the Western Connecticut Association for Human Rights, Inc., is a non-profit organization committed to helping children and adults with disabilities to live safe, independent and productive lives. WeCAHR serves 10 towns in the Housatonic Valley Region and the residents of Southbury Training School.
People First of Connecticut is a statewide organization of self advocates with various intellectual disabilities. They meet every other month to share self advocacy news and issues.
The Arc of Connecticut is located at 43 Woodland Street, Hartford, CT 06105. Phone: 860.246.6400