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An investigation finds "widespread mistreatment of mentally retarded and mentally ill people in Missouri, including sexual assaults, beatings and neglect in thousands of incidents that led to hundreds of injuries and 21 deaths." Further, the state has not followed its own law and policies in the investigation and reporting of the mistreatment, drawing the ire of the federal government. In addition, the police and prosecutors did not always do their own investigations "of suspicious incidents." The newspaper also discovered that "the public and private system of care relies on underpaid, overworked caregivers in dangerous jobs with little training."