Stefanik, Zeldin, King, Reed Call for Federal Investigation of New York State Justice Center for the Protection of People with Special Needs
From the Office of Congresswoman Elise Stefanik
Washington, D.C. — Today, Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-NY-21), Lee Zeldin (R-NY-1), Peter King (R-NY-2), and Tom Reed (R-NY-23) sent a letter requesting that the Department of Justice investigate the New York State Justice Center for the Protection of People with Special Needs’ failure to protect individuals with disabilities and Medicaid recipients who have died under state care, including nine who died while in state care in Suffolk County since 2013.
Dozens of allegations related to staff abuses, patient neglect, sexual assaults and even patient deaths have been reported over the last few years, yet the New York State Justice Center, which is authorized to investigate all reports of abuse and neglect, pursue administrative sanctions against staff found responsible for misconduct, and prosecute criminal offenses through its Special Prosecutor/Inspector General sharing jurisdiction with local district attorneys, has consistently failed to perform these responsibilities and continues to operate without any added oversight or scrutiny. Since its inception in 2013, the Center has failed to take meaningful steps to address systematic failures, and as such, it is critical the Department of Justice investigate.
“These are serious allegations, and I share the strong concerns of other local leaders and members of our community,” said Congresswoman Stefanik. “These special needs homes provide a refuge for the most vulnerable in our community, and New York State must be diligent in ensuring their safety.”
President of the Jonathan Carey Foundation Michael Carey said, “The NYS Justice Center is ensuring that staggering numbers of sexual assault crimes and deaths of children and adults with disabilities are covered-up internally and never prosecuted. This corrupt agency is not protecting people with special needs, but instead obstructing justice by purposefully keeping most reported crimes from the local police and county district attorneys. Federal authorities must intervene swiftly to stop the criminal cover-ups and to end the wide-scale discrimination in which the disabled are denied their 14th Amendment right to ‘equal protection of laws.’ The Justice Center must be stopped, it is directly involved in a massive Medicaid fraud scheme by protecting dangerous facilities that are misappropriating massive amounts of federal tax dollars.”
A signed PDF of the letter is available here.
Posted: December 10th, 2018 under Congressional News, Heathcare News.