(Des Moines, Iowa) – The state-run Glenwood Resource Center for people with disabilities has allegedly failed to comply with all the requirements of a 2022 settlement agreement with the federal government. According to the Iowa Capital Dispatch, the agreement was intended to address claims by the U.S. Department of Justice that the state had violated the constitutional rights of Glenwood residents and exposed them to unreasonable harm. The DOJ alleged that harm stemmed from “uncontrolled and unsupervised experimentation” on residents, as well as inadequate physical and behavioral health care.

Glenwood is run by the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, the same state agency that’s charged with protecting the health and welfare of children and dependent adults in Iowa. The agency plans to close Glenwood by the end of 2024.

As part of DHHS’ 2022 settlement with the Justice Department, the agency agreed to implement a wide range of changes intended to improve the overall care and treatment received by the residents of Glenwood. The agreement includes a provision that has resulted in a court-approved monitoring team checking on conditions in the home to ensure the state’s compliance with the agreed-upon standards of care. In October, the monitoring team completed one such review and recently submitted to the court a written report of its findings.

The report indicates Glenwood has failed to meet numerous standards in two critical areas: the protection of residents who are being transitioned into community settings as Glenwood moves toward the planned shut-down in 2024, and the clinical and medical care that’s now being provided to residents, In the area of clinical and medical care, Glenwood was found to be in substantial compliance in only 15 of the 65 standards that were evaluated. In the area of discharge and transition planning, the home was judged to be in substantial compliance in only four of 34 standards.

To be considered in substantial compliance with one of the agreed-upon standards, the home had to meet those standards in only 80% of the cases that were reviewed.