Shop

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports on mental retardation deaths in Georgia. The series documents 163 deaths since late 1997 "when Georgia aggressively transferred people from state institutions to community settings." Many deaths in these privately managed group homes resulted from abuse and neglect. Mentally retarded victims suffocated, choked, drowned in bathtubs, or were dehydrated and malnourished. Deaths were usually reported late, and bodies were rarely autopsied. The stories find that the state has been "ill-equipped to protect the people it moved into these privately-run homes." The findings are based on database analysis of records of people with mental retardation in Georgia, and death certificates.