Texas time warp? State criticized for mental care

Texas time warp? State criticized for mental care

DENTON, Texas (AP) - For more than a century, thousands of mentally disabled Americans were isolated from society, sometimes for life, by being confined to huge public hospitals.

In at least one place, they still are.

Texas has more mentally disabled patients in institutions than any other state, and the federal government has concluded that the state’s 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.

“In Texas, it’s like a time warp,” said Jeff Garrison-Tate, an advocate who wants to close the 13 hospitals called “state schools” and move patients into group homes.

For the third time in three years, the criticism has attracted the attention of the Justice Department, which on Tuesday accused Texas of violating residents’ constitutional rights to proper care.

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Texas time warp? State criticized for mental care

Yeah, but just look at the bright side. They don’t beat us too often, they feed us well, we can watch FOX News, we go to Wal-Mart almost every day, and the gun range too, we can shoot a lot, we make money from our *crafts fair* and they give us unfettered access to the ‘net!

I just wish they would stop putting saltpeter in the mashed taters!