Rep. Paul Jacobs (R-Carbondale) | Photo Courtesy of Paul Jacobs website
Rep. Paul Jacobs (R-Carbondale) | Photo Courtesy of Paul Jacobs website
State Rep. Paul Jacobs (R-Carbondale) recently took to social media to provide insight regarding his work to support the residents of the state-run Choate Mental Health and Development Center.
“Continuing to work on Choate with some of the staff at Senator Fowler‘s opening event for his golf outing,” he wrote in Facebook post. “It’s great to be able to talk to the staff representatives to go over the direction for the facility. Choate United! Choate open to serve Illinoisans!”
Jacobs also joined News Radio WJPF and Tom Miller on June 19 to talk about the facility.
“With SIU [School of Medicine] coming in and doing an objective report, which is due June 30, it’s going to give us direction not only for this mental health facility, but for all the ones that are state-owned. They all have complaints. They all have problems. But the press is still banging on about the 1,500 in a 10-year period, which is too many. Out of that, 7 percent were considered valid complaints. The Inspector General was tasked with going back and looking at the 1,500 complaints, at the 7 percent that were valid – you’re talking about 2014, 2006 – that’s already been litigated. Why do the press focus on the old? Why not focus on the new? I sat and talked with some of the kids the other day – the employees and staff – they love the people who are there.”
In 2022, ProPublica and Lee Enterprises published a report focusing on a 22-year-old at Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center, and the investigation of the incident, which occurred in 2014.
Illinois State Police published a 700-page investigation with parts dedicated to the individual, who has a diagnosis of autism, telling investigators that it felt like he’d been punched 100 times.
The article also examined more recent complaints including a 2020 incident where an employee was charged with battery for allegedly using his belt to whip a resident. In 2022, an employee was charged with criminal sexual assault of an individual who lived at Choate.
Following the reporting, an announcement was made in February that Choate would be repurposed and residents could be moved to other state-run facilities. In March, WSIL reported that the so-called transformation initiative would include new safety enhancements at Choate and other facilities, and expanded support for families and individuals interested in community-based living.
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