Facility accused of human experiments
Justice Department probes Iowa care center
The federal government is investigating allegations of “sexual arousal studies” and other human subject experiments being conducted at a state institution where people with severe intellectual disabilities receive care, according to the Iowa Department of Human Services.
Matt Highland, spokesman at the state agency, told the Des Moines Register that part of a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the Glenwood Resource Center is related to such studies. He declined to specify more about what that means.
“The DOJ investigation of Glenwood Resource Center related to ‘human subject experiments’ is focused on ‘optimal hydration’ under the ‘Perfect Care Index,’ and ‘sexual arousal studies.’ While we are still gathering the facts, we will investigate and address every allegation,” Highland said.
The Justice Department alerted Iowa officials in November that it is investigating the Glenwood Resource Center for potential rights violations, including an allegation involving “harmful and uncontrolled human subject experiments.”
Highland said the sexual arousal study allegation is part of the investigation, as is a study of pneumonia prevention, which he referred to as the ‘optimal hydration’-focused study.
“I want to make sure we’re doing everything that we can to protect the health and safety of the residents at the Glenwood Resource Center,” Gov. Kim Reynolds said last week.
The Glenwood center provides care to about 250 individuals with intellectual disabilities, according to a state website.
Jerry Rea, the superintendent at Glenwood, was placed on paid administrative leave, state officials and others told the Register.
Superintendent had history of research on ‘sexual behavior’
Before Rea was hired to lead Glenwood in 2017, he worked at a similar treatment facility in Parsons, Kansas. In a bio page that showed Rea’s areas of interest, it listed “assessment and treatment of deviant sexual behavior in persons with developmental and intellectual disabilities.”
Jane Hudson, executive director of Disability Rights Iowa, a federally supported advocacy group, told the Register that she spoke with Iowa DHS Director Kelly Garcia.
During that conversation, Garcia told her that the federal inquiry involved experiments regarding “sexual arousal,” Hudson said. “This is care and treatment of vulnerable people with intellectual disabilities,” she said. “And it’s the oversight issue.”
Reynolds, a Republican, said the Glenwood facility has been under “continuous review.”
“Based on the information that we just received ... it is not acceptable. It is not adequate. And we are making changes,” the governor said.
The Justice Department is investigating whether the state of Iowa engages “in a pattern or practice of violating the federal rights of” Iowans with disabilities at Glenwood “by placing them at serious risk of harm.”
That harm investigation also involves: “inadequate medical and nursing care, physical and nutritional management, and behavioral health care,” “needless and harmful restraint practices” and “incidents causing needless physical injury,” according to a Nov. 21 letter from an assistant U.S. attorney general to Reynolds.