Disability Abuse in Turkey Plant

$240 million was awarded to dozens of men with intellectual disabilities after a court found them to be victims of physical and mental exploitation at the hands of Henry's Turkey Service. The New York Times reports that for over three decades, the men eviscerated turkeys at the processing plant in Atalissa, Iowa for just $65 a month while living in squalor conditions overrun with mice and being physically and emotionally abused by overseers. Though the actual amount paid to each man will be capped, it marks the largest award in the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's history. Henry's Turkey Service argues they offered the men a full life outside of the institutionalization that dominated care for people with intellectual disabilities decades ago when these men fell into the company's care. Dr. Sue A Gant, an expert in developmental disabilities, instead believes the men “could have enjoyed a good life. Instead, they lost decades of healthy life experiences.”