Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center

On Wednesday, the state announced plans to dramatically reduce the number of patients with developmental disabilities who live at the embattled state-run Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center.

Officials acknowledged that news reporting had put a spotlight on conditions at the center for people with developmental disabilities and mental illnesses. “Significant changes” are needed, the governor says.

Ongoing investigations of the state-run facility have revealed culture of abuse and cover-ups.

Newly obtained documents echo ProPublica's reporting on abuse, cover-ups and a “sense of impunity” at an Illinois institution for people with mental illnesses and developmental disorders. The governor has said Choate must be reformed.

No one was charged when staff were caught on a 911 tape threatening violence against a Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center resident who has developmental disabilities. New reporting shows a culture of cover-ups at the facility.

Federal and state officials have urged reforms at the rural facility for people with mental and developmental disabilities. But the state-run center still has more allegations of abuse and neglect than any other in Illinois.

The 24-year-old with developmental disabilities was brutally beaten by his caretakers inside an Illinois-run facility with a long history of patient abuse.