- Date:
- 2018-03-22
- Main contributors:
- WISH-TV
- Summary:
- In 1997, WISH-TV secretly filmed resident abuse by employees inside New Castle State Developmental Center in New Castle, Indiana. The impact of making the disturbing, hidden camera footage public was the closure of the Center in 1998. Channel 8, the Indianapolis station affiliated with CBS, broadcast their footage as part of a series of seven investigative reports aired between May 5 and May 13, 1997. Indiana Governor Frank O'Bannon visited the Center the day after the first TV report. An AP news article published May 7 said that the Governor was "outraged." "If you had loved ones in one of these state facilities you'd be worried about them." "No citizen's tax dollars should be paying for abuse and not care." Two employees had been fired before the report aired, and three workers suspended. Portions of the WISH-TV reports were broadcast nationally by CBS news with anchor Dan Rather. Originally known as the Indiana Village for Epileptics, the institution opened in 1907 on 1300 acres in rural Henry County. Although its purpose was to serve patients with convulsive disorders, the mission later broadened to include intellectual and other disabilities. This is a video of the fourth WISH-TV news report about abuse at the New Castle State Developmental Center, broadcast on May 8, 1997. It is included in the Indiana Disability History Project collection with permission of the station.