Newly-released 9-1-1 audio appears to show staffers at a Southern Illinois developmental center verbally and perhaps physically abusing a client there.
The audio was obtained as part of an ongoing investigation of conditions at the Clyde Choate Developmental Center in Anna conducted by Capitol News Illinois and ProPublica. The call to 9-1-1 was apparently placed accidentally when someone’s smart watch was jostled during the struggle to restrain a facility resident with mental health and behavioral issues. The male resident is heard repeatedly saying “Let me go,” and at one point, a woman is heard saying “You want me to break your other finger?”
Based on the audio, prosecutors opened an investigation, but staffers would not identify the voice of the woman who made the threat, and no charges were filed. The state says it continues to investigate this and other allegations of abuse at Choate.
