Federal Judge Names Tony Antosh Interim Consent Decree Monitor between DOJ and Rhode Island

Photo: Tony Antosh

By Gina Macris, editor, Developmental Disability News

A federal court judge has appointed A. Anthony Antosh interim court monitor for a 2014 civil rights consent decree protecting Rhode Islanders with developmental disabilities, breaking through a logjam created when the state and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) failed to agree on a successor to Charles Moseley.

Antosh is a household name among Rhode Island’s developmental disability advocates, having served for 26 years as director of the Sherlock Center on Disabilities at Rhode Island College, from its inception in 1993 until his retirement just last month.

U.S. District Court Judge John J. McConnell, Jr. issued an order Nov. 25 naming Antosh and saying that “a further delay in appointing a Monitor is not in the best interest of the Parties (the state and the DOJ), or more importantly, those with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families.”

The appointment, effective Dec. 1, will continue until one of three conditions has been met:

• The state and the DOJ agree on a replacement.
• The two sides submit a list of up to three names each for a replacement.
• The two sides “agree on another mutually agreeable solution.”  

The consent decree required the state and the DOJ to begin searching for a new monitor when Moseley, the original monitor, gave notice July 9 that he would step down Sept. 30, citing medical issues. 

The two sides could not meet a 30-day deadline set in the consent decree for agreeing on a new monitor, ceding the decision to McConnell, who was to name a replacement from list of up to six names –three submitted by each side.

McConnell initially set Sept. 30 as the deadline for the state and the DOJ to submit their respective candidate lists and then extended it until Nov. 25. No candidate lists were forthcoming.

“To help bridge the impasse, the Court requested the Parties submit an agreement on the role and responsibility of the Monitor. Unfortunately, the Parties could not come to agreement,” McConnell wrote. (See related article)

McConnell said he named Antosh on the general authority the consent decree granted him to enforce its provisions and the court’s “inherent jurisdiction to enforce [its] decrees.”

Antosh’s work is very well known to adults with developmental disabilities who advocate for themselves, their families, and professionals in the public and private sectors involved with implementing the consent decree.

Antosh and the Sherlock Center have served as a resource for Moseley, the previous monitor, as well as the state, private service providers, individuals and their families in providing targeted education and training on the inclusive principles of the consent decrees and how to translate them into daily practice.  In addition, the Sherlock Center has provided research to help the state in data collection and technical assistance to private providers trying to shift to community-based, integrated services.

The 36-page consent decree requires the state to correct violations of the Integration Mandate of the Americans With Disabilities Act in accordance with the Olmstead decision of the U.S. Supreme Court.

By 2024, Rhode Island must transform its system of daytime services for adults with developmental disabilities from a segregated model funded for the staffing of sheltered workshops to a community-based network with an emphasis on competitive employment.

Gina Macris is a career journalist with 43 years’ experience as a reporter for the Providence Journal in Providence, RI. She retired in 2012. During her time at the newspaper, she wrote two series about her first-born son, Michael M. Smith. Both series won prizes from the New England Associated Press News Executives Association.  Michael is now in his 30s, appears here, in front of the Rhode Island State House.