Many South Carolina residences for people with disabilities are unsanitary and unsafe, a watchdog group report finds.

The report from Protection and Advocacy for People with Disabilities, Inc. details homes where cockroach infestations and urine-covered furniture are commonplace. What’s more, many staff members at the residences have criminal records and they are often not adequately trained leading to abuse and neglect.

The group spent two years making more than 150 unannounced visits to South Carolina’s community residential care facilities (CRCF), which house 16,700 residents.

They found that food is not properly handled in many of the homes and medication was often dispensed improperly. Further, residents’ hygiene needs were often unmet, with one resident showering just once in five months, the report says.

“The conditions in which residents of many South Carolina CRCFs live are absolutely disgraceful and our hope is to prevent even more people from living in squalor, suffering abuse and neglect or even dying due to lack of oversight,” said Gloria Prevost, executive director of Protection and Advocacy for People with Disabilities, Inc.

The full report titled “No Place to Call Home” can be found by clicking here.

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