Troubled state schools under blackout

AUSTIN (AP) - The agency that runs the state institutions for mentally disabled Texans is imposing a near blackout on information about the troubled facilities. Gov. Rick Perry this week declared institutions for the mentally disabled an emergency issue for the Legislature. The Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services is facing federal pressure to correct widespread abuse and neglect in the facilities known as state schools. But the San Antonio Express-News reports the agency's refused more than a dozen requests for information in the past two years.

The agency clamped down in response to a Justice Department investigation that found at least 53 state schools residents died in 2007 from preventable conditions that were often the result of lapses in care. Open records requests ranged from statistics on abuse and neglect to staffing vacancies. A review of Texas attorney general's opinions showed the agency invoked the threat of possible litigation from the Justice Department to withhold information, the newspaper reported.