Richard Benkin
American journalist
Richard Benkin is an American human rights activist, journalist, writer and lecturer. He has been a member of Folks Magazine's editorial board since August 2011.
Career
Lexington Nursing & Rehabilitation Center
Dr. Richard Benkin ran the Lexington Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Lexington, Illinois. In January 2000, Michael Berens of The Chicago Tribune said that, " Benkin, the 48-year-old administrator of the facility as well as a part owner, was accused of luring a 27-year-old woman to the rural facility, improperly admitting her into the home, then arranging for a sexual encounter, according to records released Wednesday by the state Department of Professional Regulation."
The Lexington Nursing & Rehabilitation Center was shut in an emergency operation by authorities in March 2000 after a series of articles by The Chicago Tribune. The Associated Press cited, "John Lumpkin, Illinois public health director, said the suspension of the Lexington Nursing and Rehabilitation Center’s license was necessary because of an ``immediate and serious threat″ to residents’ safety."[1]
The nursing home was closed, "amid allegations that homeless drug addicts terrorized staff and elderly residents after arriving from Chicago to fill beds at the financially troubled center."
Health Department spokesman Thomas Schafer said one staff member was attacked by a drug patient and another worker was injured when a patient jumped on the worker’s back.
In another instance, one of the drug patients tried to slash the throat of another after they returned from drinking at a bar, Lexington Police Chief Spencer Johansen said.
Human rights activities
Benkin participated in efforts to release Bangladeshi journalist Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, who was imprisoned after writing articles warning about the rise of Islamic radicals, and urging Bangladesh to recognize Israel. Benkin, like Choudhury, is an advisory board member of Islam-Israel Fellowship. The two together formed Interfaith Strength to disseminate information about Choudhury's case.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Richard Benkin” is american journalist. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Richard, Benkin and American, not as a finished interpretation.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 5, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q7324102. VIAF identifies the subject as 77619656. The Library of Congress control number is n80121451. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2011 and 2000.
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This entry incorporates text from “Richard Benkin” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.