In 1972, a young reporter exposed a sickening, state-run system of neglect and abuse carried out under the noses of millions of Americans and in one of the country's biggest cities.
When the horrors of Willowbrook
State School, in Staten Island, New York, were finally exposed, the
ill-equipped, disease-ridden facility housed more than 6,000
developmentally and physically disabled people, and it had been in
operation for decades.
"It changed the trajectory of my life completely," said Fox News' roaming correspondent-at-large. "It made me a celebrity in many ways, ironically. ... That's part of the guilt that I bear over the decades."
Willowbrook State School was opened in 1942 to house and educate the developmentally disabled, but two just decades later, it had already become a nightmare.
"I visited the state institutions for the mentally retarded," said Sen. Bobby Kennedy in 1965, using an outdated term to describe people with intellectual disabilities. "I think, particularly at Willowbrook, we have a situation that borders on a snake pit."
Kennedy's condemnation and subsequent newspaper reports about deteriorating conditions at Willowbrook would momentarily raise awareness, but they did little to force change.
Budget cuts exacerbated the situation and soon only 2,000 workers remained to care for a population over 6,000. Efforts to provide therapy and education at the facility were abandoned, as the staff struggled and failed to keep patients clean, clothed and fed.
"I began working at Willowbrook in 1970," Dr. William Bronston told Fox Nation. "The first time I went there, I stood there, I was crying. ... I'd never seen such wanton disregard for children."
"It was much worse than I thought," recalled Dr. Michael Wilkins, another Willowbrook physician.
Dr. Wilkins was eventually fired for organizing the parents of Willowbrook's patients to advocate for the proper care of their children. With nowhere left to turn, he reached out to a 28-year-old lawyer, who he had previously asked to help a group of nurses in a wage dispute.
That young attorney was Geraldo Rivera. Geraldo had recently joined the Eyewitness News team at WABC in New York, where he was looking for stories that resonated in his community. Little did he know -- this story would shock the nation and start a movement.
"I get a call from Dr. Wilkins," remembered Geraldo in the Fox Nation show. "He said, 'These are the worst conditions you've ever seen in your life. There are children that are being abused here."
Geraldo and a TV news camera crew were dispatched to Staten Island to see what they could find. They scrambled over a fence and snuck into Willowbrook's Building Six where they discovered, what Geraldo later described as, "a crime against humanity."
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Geraldo: The story 'branded on my soul' that caused a revolution
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