''The Men of Atalissa'' is a 2014 documentary film by
POV.org and ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' about 32 intellectually-disabled people who were employed by
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
-based
Henry’s Turkey Service Henry's Turkey Service also known as Hill County Farms was a supplier of workers for poultry processors that hired workers with intellectual disabilities and had them work unreported employment for room and board below minimum wage. This was in viol ...
without proper compensation. They were abused physically and mentally, living in harsh conditions in
Atalissa, Iowa for more than 30 years, beginning in the 1970s. The men processed meat for a wage of $65 a month and shelter in an old uphill schoolhouse. Their conditions were made public in 2009, leading to a $240 million jury verdict, subsequently reduced to $50,000 per person. The documentary is based on court records and internal documents of the company and features first-time interviews with seven of the victims.
References
POV (TV series) films
The New York Times
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Films about intellectual disability
Human trafficking in the United States
Human rights abuses in the United States
Documentary films about people with disabilities
All articles to be expanded
Documentary films about crime in the United States
Legal history of Iowa
Violence against men in the United States
{{bio-documentary-film-stub