Army vet struggles with PTSD behind bars

Yesterday I had several conversations with people working with incarcerated veterans. Some of them do not belong behind bars because clearly they were reacting to what PTSD was doing to them. There are some that we just automatically pass off because of what they "did" and not being "good guys" that got into trouble.

There are so many things we just don't talk about normally and reporters all too often don't understand enough to know what questions to ask.

One of the things is PTSD can leave some feeling as if they have become evil but instead of attempting suicide, they believe it so deeply that they act as if they have in fact become evil. There are many veterans with no history of doing anything to hurt someone then suddenly commit serious crimes. They just don't know how to see themselves behind what they have become. If they don't understand how combat changes them, then how can they ever find peace even within the walls of a cell?

For those who do God's work for these forgotten souls, I admire you. It takes a special person to do what you do!

Army vet struggles with PTSD behind bars
Apr. 13, 2013
By Rebecca S. Green
The Journal Gazette via AP

DECATUR, Ind. — The tattoo on the inside of Justin York's left arm is hard to discern. Glancing at it one way, you can see the word "Life." If you look at it another way, it reads "Death."

If you look at it without knowing how to read it, it looks like an ornate, inky blue blur.

Life and death blurred together for the 25-year-old U.S. Army veteran to such a degree that he left his beloved Army with an extreme rating for post-traumatic stress disorder, making him unable to continue wearing the uniform.

Now he finds himself trapped inside an Adams County Jail cell, in an unwanted uniform of a different color.

Arrested in late December on a felony charge of resisting law enforcement with a weapon, York is desperate to get out, to get the charge reduced to the misdemeanor he feels is more appropriate and to get back to treatment for his PTSD.
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Saving Sergeant Nickel

Saving Sergeant Nickel
They survived Iraq and Afghanistan. Now the challenge is keeping traumatized vets out of jail.
Pacific Standard
March 18, 2013
By Kristina Shevory

George Nickel was on the last can of a case of beer when it dawned on him that his dachshund was missing. He’d been drinking a lot since coming back from the military hospital to his home in Boise, Idaho. That was understandable. His tour in Iraq as a U.S. Army combat engineer had ended with a roadside bomb attack that killed the rest of the crew on his armored vehicle and landed him in the hospital for 11 months.

To top it off, his wife, an army sergeant, was away in Texas awaiting her own deployment to Iraq. Nickel insisted to his friends that he was fine, but he knew he wasn’t. By that July night in 2009, he hadn’t slept in three days.

He had to go find his dog, he decided. Through the slurry of his thoughts, his army experience kicked in. Nickel suited up like he had for all those patrols in Falluja and Ramadi. He slipped on his tactical vest, holstered his pistol, and slung on his AR-15 rifle.

Nickel climbed the stairs to the apartment above his, shot two bullets into the lock, and kicked in the door. No one was inside. Across the hall, he heard a woman screaming.

Vietnam taught us how often soldiers traumatized by conflict overseas can wind up in trouble with the law back home. As of 1988, almost half of all male Vietnam War combat veterans with PTSD had been arrested or jailed at least once, according to a study by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
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Sheriff starting jail veterans program

Sheriff Boyer to Establish Veterans Program at Jefferson County Jail
The goal, according to Boyer is to reduce recidivism among veterans and to reduce the jail and housing costs for repeat offenders.
By Dan Barger

Jefferson County Sheriff Oliver “Glenn” Boyer announced in a press release Tuesday that the sheriff’s department will implement a “Veterans Program” at the Jefferson County Jail.

The program will use a team approach to provide military veterans the necessary rehabilitation resources that will reduce recidivism among county Veterans. Sheriff Boyer, a Vietnam Veteran himself, indicated he is excited about the possibility of reducing recidivism among veterans, and of achieving the secondary benefits to the county such as decreased jail and housing costs for repeat offenders.

At the time of admittance, approved veterans will be housed with other veterans in the jail. They will receive support through Veterans Administration (VA) Outreach Programs, which may include identification of benefits for psychiatric care, mental health, substance abuse, housing, sexual abuse, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Community Treatment Inc. (COMTREA) of Jefferson County will provide support and in-house counseling.
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Vietnam veterans serve as lesson to mental health officials

Vietnam veterans serve as lesson to mental health officials
When veterans of the Vietnam War returned home, not many were prepared for the psychological issues that some of these returning veterans faced. Some ended up self medicating with alcohol and drugs, which led them down a path to prison.
By Jaclyn Cosgrove
Published: July 8, 2012

Roy Bowman will never forget what happened in the jungles of Vietnam.

Conversely, he likely won't ever remember what happened the night he got in a bar fight in Lawton, and a man he was fighting ended up dead.

Bowman has been in prison for 36 years for a second-degree murder conviction.

Before he was arrested, Bowman was drinking excessively, trying to fight off the mental health issues he faced after the Vietnam War.

“This may sound crazy, but I do thank God that I was incarcerated because it gave me a chance to seek help and get help,” Bowman said.

Veterans represent about 10 percent of the population in the Oklahoma Department of Corrections prison facilities. An estimated 1,500 veterans are incarcerated in correctional centers in Oklahoma, according to DOC data.

About 3,000 Oklahoma National Guard soldiers returned from Afghanistan earlier this year.

State military leaders and mental health professionals have implemented programs in Oklahoma in an effort to keep service members out of the state's correctional facilities.
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Homeless, disabled veteran becomes poet

HOMELESS DISABLED VETERAN AND POET - TRAPPED IN AUBURN
By RLitchfield1
CORNELIUS COLLIER - WARRIOR, POET, DISABLED, HOMELESS, PAROLEE

This is the fifteenth article in a series of articles written to promote the Saturday, April 14th, 2012, charity showing of local film maker and Placer High School Graduate Ryan Frew’s documentary film about the homeless in Auburn, called, “Life is Mandatory.” The film will be shown at the State Theater in Auburn. The funds raised will be used to assist Auburn Area Homeless People. Written by local attorney, author, and Instructor at Sierra College, Bob Litchfield.

Cornelius Collier is a gentle, highly intelligent, African American Veteran of the United States Army. He is also a poet. His poetry is really good.

Cornelius is disabled, homeless, and on parole.

"In 2007, he had triple by-pass heart surgery at a hospital in Portland, Oregon.

Since he had little money, the hospital in Portland claimed that they had no room for him after his surgery, and he was transferred to the VA Hospital in Reno, Nevada where they thought that he would be admitted for his recuperation.

The VA Hospital in Reno told him to go to Auburn, California, and from there, he would be admitted to the VA Hospital in Yountsville, California for his recuperation.

But when he got to Auburn, he was refused admittance to the VA Hospital in Yountsville. He ended up penniless, homeless, and recovering from heart surgery in Auburn while sleeping in a tent."

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In Florida, Using Military Discipline to Help Veterans in Prison

In Florida, Using Military Discipline to Help Veterans in Prison

By LIZETTE ALVAREZ
Published: December 11, 2011

Jason Henry for The New York Times
Inmates in the special dorm for military veterans at Sumter Correctional Institution in Bushnell, one of the five prisons with such facilities in Florida

BUSHNELL, Fla. — James R. White, a Marine Corps veteran in a blue uniform, saluted crisply as the honor guard marched around the courtyard, stopped and marched again.

But there were no weapons in sight here. No polished shoes. No gleaming caps. The 85 men standing at attention wore prison garb. When the ceremony was over, they ambled back to their wing of Complex 1, a housing area set aside for military veterans serving time at Sumter Correctional Institution, a maximum-security prison in rural central Florida.

Florida is one of a handful of states that are rethinking their treatment of incarcerated veterans in the hopes of easing their transition back to society and then keeping them out of prison for good. In August, the state created a program that provides separate dorms in five prisons for honorably discharged military veterans who have no more than three years left on their sentences and who volunteer for it. California and Illinois have similar programs, all designed to address the needs of imprisoned veterans better.

For now, 300 of Florida’s 6,700 incarcerated veterans live in the dorms, a number that state officials intend to increase. The state prison system houses 101,000 inmates in all.

“We’ve come a long way in a few months,” said Jeffrey P. Trovillion, the warden at Sumter Correctional, which does not house death row inmates. “It’s bringing back a sense of pride and discipline.”
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Florida Prisons offer special dorms for veterans

Prisons offer special dorms for veterans

An American flag decorates the annex of the veterans dormitory at Santa Rosa Correctional Institute in Milton. (Florida Department of Corrections / November 9, 2011)

By David Breen, Orlando Sentinel
1:44 p.m. EST, November 9, 2011

Veterans Day is a holiday that honors all who have served in the U.S. armed forces — including those who have run into trouble after the end of their service.

In that spirit, the state's Department of Corrections this week has opened special dormitories for incarcerated vets at several prisons around the state.

Veterans whose service has been verified and who are within three years of being released are eligible. Only inmates who volunteer are selected to live in the dorms.

One of the main ideas behind the program is to "congregate as many inmates as possible in one area where the V.A. could meet with them and discuss the programs available to them," said DOC spokeswoman Jo Ellyn Rackleff.

Approximately 6,700 inmates in Florida prisons — out of a total population of 101,000 — are veterans, according to Rackelff.
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New Hampshire works with VA to aid vets in jail

New Hampshire works with VA to aid vets in jail

The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Sep 19, 2010 12:35:01 EDT

CONCORD, N.H. — Veterans who are serving time in New Hampshire’s prisons will get more help when they’re released under an agreement reached between the state Department of Corrections and the federal Department of Veterans Affairs.

The agencies recently signed an agreement that calls for the corrections department to notify the VA six months before a veteran is scheduled to be released. VA officials will then meet with the offender and make appropriate referrals for housing, substance abuse, employment, medical and mental health services.

Corrections Commissioner William Wrenn says he is optimistic the arrangement will lead to a more successful re-entry for the offenders.

There are 270 inmates incarcerated in the state prison system who report that they are veterans.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/09/ap-veterans-new-hampshire-works-to-help-vets-in-prison-091910/

Veterans Incarcerated Program.

In keeping with the reports on what happens to some of our veterans, this article is brings it all to life. Some of them turned to drugs and alcohol. While some of them are in fact addicted to the components of these substances, most of them used them to cope. When you think about a veteran in jail the next time, maybe after reading this you will think of them differently.

Program Helps Incarcerated War Veterans

Vets in the Veterans Incarcerated Program at Sierra Conservation Center hope the camaraderie they've found behind bars will help keep them out once they are released
by Alisha Wyman, The Union Democrat


Jerome Lesesne, 41, fought for the Marine Corps during Operation Desert Storm.

Alex Flores, 48, was in the Army National Guard for 21 years.

Howard Wright, 52, is an Army veteran who served in the states during the Vietnam War.

James Poole, 61, was in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War.



When Poole opens his high school yearbook, it's a reminder that many of the faces smiling back at him went to Vietnam but never came back with him.



In years following his return, there was a stigma attached to Vietnam veterans, he said. They were called "baby killers" and scorned for their service rather than revered.

The loss of his first wife to an auto accident and the subsequent failure of his second marriage only fueled feelings of loss and rejection.

It's that feeling that headed him down the path to the crime.

Tears still come to his eyes when he talks about the war, but he's working with others to start over.

"It's emotional ties to the past, but it's helping us look toward the future," Poole said.


"A lot of us got our apprenticeship in drugs and alcohol there in the service," said Mendiola, an outside volunteer.

Wright began using cocaine starting in the military. The habit only grew after he left the service, until he was arrested for selling the drug.

go here for the rest

http://www.veteranstoday.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2776