New York Veterans Groups Team Up For Justice

New York State Council of Veterans Organizations
NEWS ADVISORY

Veteran Leaders Urge Passage of Justice for Our Veterans Act:
Treatment for Justice-Involved Veterans Suffering from Mental Health Ailments Such as PTSD

CONTACT:John Pemrick Lewis, VFW, 619-602-9000, vfwpost8692@yahoo.com

WHEN and WHERE: 12:30 PM, Monday, June 22, 2015, LCA Press Room 130, Concourse, LOB, Albany, NY

WHAT: Veterans in the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Marine Corps League, and NYS Council of Veterans Organizations are holding a news conference to call on legislators to assist justice-involved veterans suffering from untreated mental health ailments.

The Justice for Our Veterans Act, A.2421B (Brindisi) and S.3914B (Griffo) ensures veterans receive treatment and consideration if they suffer from a service-related mental health illness. This bill provides a process for criminal justice-involved veterans to be examined and, as needed, diverted into treatment for mental health conditions, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI).

In attendance will be many veterans suffering from PTSD and/or TBI who served in Operation Iraq Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom, and Vietnam. Speakers will discuss the mental health calamity for many New York State veterans and the risks of untreated PTSD vets involved in the criminal justice system.

Speakers will explain how the bill's criminal court treatment-oriented process for justice-involved veterans will lead veterans to rehabilitation, family restoration, and again being productive members of society. Veterans will highlight how untreated men and women with invisible but real injuries-the most vulnerable of our returning warriors who put their lives on the line for America's freedom-need a diversion treatment process in the criminal justice system. Photo Opportunity.

WHO: Speakers include:

John Pemrick Lewis, NYS Legislative Committee Member, Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW); Senior Vice Commander, VFW Albany County Council; NY Area Chair, Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve; U.S. Navy.

Marlene Roll, State Commander, VFW Department of NYS, U.S. Army.*

Art Cody, Legal Director, NYSDA Veterans Defense Program; Retired, Navy Captain, Afghanistan veteran (2011-2012); Member of American Legion, VFW, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

Charles Burkes, Former Director, Albany County Veteran's Bureau; Member, NYS Council of Veterans Organizations; Marine Corps League.*

Iraq Veteran With PTSD and TBI Granted Bond to Get Treatment

Nearly a year after shooting Athens cop, Iraq War combat vet granted bond to receive PTSD treatment
OnlineAthens
By JOE JOHNSON
Tuesday, June 16, 2015

A decorated Iraq War combat vet who shot and wounded an Athens-Clarke County police officer nearly a year ago was recently granted bond so he could obtain treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.

James Michael Marcantonio, 29, shot the officer last August when grabbing the officer’s gun during a struggle. The gun went off while still in the holster, wounding the officer in the area of the hip and thigh.

Marcantonio’s attorney claimed his client’s actions may have been influenced by PTSD. Marcantonio, an ex-Marine lance corporal, was involved in numerous firefights during his deployment in Iraq. He suffered a severe brain injury when an armored vehicle he was in was struck by an artillery shell, defense attorney Edward Tolley stated in court documents.
read more here

Vietnam Veteran With PTSD Needed Hospitalization, Got Incarceration Instead

Vietnam veteran Ron Buis remains jailed, demands trial
WHNT 19 News
BY AL WHITAKER
JUNE 11, 2015

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) – A follow-up tonight to a story we’ve been watching for several months now. Ron Buis is a decorated combat veteran, but he cannot enjoy the freedoms he nearly died for. He’s been in jail for almost two years as a direct result of the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder he brought back from Vietnam.

Buis was arrested in September, 2013 after he started shooting at the voices in his head. His closest friends confirmed Buis had been acting differently in the weeks leading up to the event, claiming to see and hear people who simply were not there. The bullet holes in his mobile home bear out the conflict. Some of the bullets hit the trailers next to his resulting in charges of shooting into an occupied dwelling.

And so Buis has sat in the Madison County Jail since his arrest awaiting trial and awaiting treatment for the condition that put him there.

At a preliminary hearing Thursday morning, some 21 months after his arrest, his attorney got the court to order a mental evaluation. John Taylor says Buis needs hospitalization instead of incarceration.
read more here

Veteran Sent To Jail After Asking For Help

UPDATE
June 4, 2015
Update from News Observer
Army vet who made threatening call will learn his fate Thursday

(Corrected title of original post: I apologize for the error. Usually readers point out mistakes because I do not have an editor checking what I do.)

Army combat veteran’s call for help lands him in jail
News and Observer
BY MANDY LOCKE
May 30, 2015

A search of federal court records across the country found charges against at least six other veterans whose rants on the crisis line or to a trusted VA medical provider brought arrest and imprisonment.

For years, Ryan Broderick has been trapped inside his mind, watching a constant reel of explosions that rocked the Army vehicles he had scrubbed of blood during three combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Since January, Broderick has been stuck inside a real jail, fortified by cinder blocks, surrounded by barbed wire. The government that Broderick upended his life to serve locked him up in Edgecombe County, about 75 miles east of Raleigh.

In the eyes of federal officials, Broderick posed a threat to America and should be treated as a criminal.

Broderick, 31, of Fayetteville, is being prosecuted for comments he let fly during a call to speak with a counselor at the Veterans Affairs suicide crisis hotline. He was frustrated and sleep-deprived.

His words were clear: If he didn’t get the help he needed for his post-traumatic stress disorder, he would bring a gun to the VA hospital and Fort Bragg and start shooting.
read more here

Community Takes Action For Vietnam Veteran Jailed With PTSD

A Veteran’s Fight: TAKING ACTION, GETTING RESULTS for a Forgotten Hero
WHNT 19 News
BY AL WHITAKER
FEBRUARY 26, 2015

Ron Buis came home from Vietnam with a Purple Heart, a Vietnamese Citation for Gallantry with Bronze and Silver stars, and a Gold Star from the Marines in lieu of a second Purple Heart.

He also brought with him the haunting memories of a horrible experience that would later manifest themselves as psychotic depression and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. From the records we could obtain, Buis was being treated for these issues a decade ago.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) – WHNT News 19 is Taking Action on the behalf of a prisoner in the Madison County Jail. Ron Buis served his country with honor but now he’s serving time. We agreed to do his story because of the reason he’s behind bars.

Buis is charged with shooting into an occupied dwelling. It’s a felony, and he’s being held without bond. It’s not that Buis was outside shooting into someone else’s house. He was in his mobile home and the bullets traveled into the mobile homes near his. It happened on more than one occasion, too.

His friends tell us Ron wasn’t trying to hurt anyone. They say he was shooting at the voices in his head.

In 1967, Ron Buis was only 17 years old when he enlisted in the Marines. As a member of Alpha Company, First Battalion, First Marines, he saw plenty of combat in Vietnam, plenty of things he would seldom discuss.

“It’s frustrating. You feel really helpless, you know, somebody you love, and they’re suffering,” said longtime friend Kay Sewell.

“What we have is the VA that’s releasing these people out here in society that need help. And the overall society is at risk in addition to these men are at risk. And there’s no reason for that,” says Buis’ attorney, John C. Taylor of Huntsville. read more here

Justice not blind to service in Veterans Court

Veterans court ready to launch in northwest Ohio
By - Associated Press
Thursday, January 1, 2015

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) - A court dedicated to dealing with veterans facing legal trouble is set to begin taking on cases in early January.

The court will operate in Toledo’s Municipal Court.

There are just four other veterans courts in Ohio. Those are in Mansfield and Youngstown along with Hamilton County and Stark County.

Their goal is to address underlying issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder for veterans who are charged with misdemeanors.

Those veterans going through Toledo’s new court must plead guilty or no contest before the court can try and help get treatment instead of jail time.

Judge William Connelly, who will preside over the court, has spent time trying to understand how the trauma of war can lead to trouble with the law at home. He watched a video of American servicemen driving a Humvee through Baghdad, stopping for nothing despite heavy traffic and obstacles to avoid potential danger. The video then showed a veteran at home speeding through a construction zone, growing tense in the restricted space.

“He felt trapped, paralyzed,” Connelly said. He called it “an eye-opening experience” to the triggers that can agitate veterans struggling to readjust.
read more here

Maine Sheriff Tries to Prevent Veterans From Serving Jail Time for PTSD

Oakland Army veteran’s nightmare began with sexual abuse in the military
Roxane Montgomery is trying to get her life together with help from local police, including Kennebec County Sheriff Randy Liberty.
Central Maine
BY AMY CALDER STAFF WRITER
December 4, 2014

Speaking at her parents’ home in Oakland recently, Army veteran Roxane Marie Montgomery speaks about being raped by two fellow servicemen while serving in the Persian Gulf War. She says that attack and the military’s response led to a downward spiral that involves alcohol addiction and arrests.
Staff photo by David Leaming

The pain runs deep for Army veteran Roxane Marie Montgomery.

The Oakland woman has been out of the military 19 years, but the trauma from being raped by two soldiers remains.

“I’m working at it,” she said. “It’s hard.”

Montgomery, 47, now lives day to day, plagued by an acute alcohol problem that she says was precipitated by the sexual trauma she experienced while serving in the armed forces.

She has been arrested many times for alcohol-related incidents, including driving under the influence, violating conditions of release and misuse of 911. She has been in and out of rehabilitation, sees a psychiatrist regularly and gets support from VA Healthcare Systems-Togus.

So far, nothing has worked. She does well for a while, then falls off the wagon.

Everyone who has been trying to help her — officials from the Oakland Police Department, the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office and the district attorney’s office — say she is intelligent, accomplished, personable and has great potential, but she can’t seem to move past her demons.

FRIENDS WHO COUNT
Kennebec County Sheriff Randall Liberty, who at the Kennebec County jail opened the only veterans block in a Maine jail, knows Montgomery and her situation well. He suffered military-related post traumatic stress disorder himself and was the focus of “A Matter of Duty,” an MPBN television documentary about post-traumatic stress disorder that also featured Montgomery.

Liberty said many veterans suffering from PTSD self-medicate with alcohol or opiates, have problems with anger management, become disorderly, get involved in domestic violence and commit burglaries and robberies.

Liberty and others who try to work with veterans — including courts, police, crisis workers and others — have a heightened awareness of their problems, share information and try to find alternatives when one approach does not work.

About 140,000 veterans were incarcerated in state and federal prisons as of 2004, the last year for which data was available in a 2012 report, “Healing a Broken System,” by the New York-based Drug Policy Alliance. The report said a national survey of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans found that 9 percent of respondents reported being arrested since returning from service, with the arrests more strongly linked to substance abuse and mental health conditions such as PTSD.
read more here

Veterans Court Where Justice Considers Service

For veterans in legal trouble, special courts can help
CBS News
By INES NOVACIC
November 10, 2014

Every Wednesday Patrick Dugan, a judge at the Philadelphia Municipal Court and a captain in the U.S. Army Reserves JAG Corps, presides over a special kind of courtroom.

"You are here because it's your choice," he told a roll call of defendants as he opened court on a recentWednesday morning, pointing to the front bench behind the lawyers: "All these folks are here to ensure you take advantage of the benefits you are owed."

The "folks" in question were representatives from various agencies linked to the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA), because all of the cases being heard in this court involved veterans of the U.S military. Almost everyone present served in combat, according to Dugan.

"It's kind of like a one-stop shop for veteran services," said Dugan. "We're streamlining, because on a county level, we now have the federal government in the courtroom to offer services."

Dugan added how the requirements demanded by veteran courts are much more stringent than a typical criminal defendant experiences: "What I want our veteran defendants to understand is, if you're coming into my courtroom, you need to be ready to go to treatment. You need to be ready to address the underlying issues that cause the criminal behavior."
read more here

New York to pay homeless Marine veteran's family $2.25 million

New York City to pay $2.25M to the family of mentally ill homeless veteran who 'baked to death' in his Rikers Island jail cell
By ASSOCIATED PRESS and MAIL ONLINE REPORTER
31 October 2014

Loss: Former marine Jerome Murdough, 56, died in a mental observation unit on Rikers Island jail on February 15, eight days after he was sent to the facility charged with trespassing

Jerome Murdough, 56, had internal body temperature of at least 100 degrees when he was found dead in a cell in Rikers Island on February 15
Murdough was arrested a week earlier for trespassing after being found sleeping in an internal stairwell on the roof of a Harlem apartment complex
City officials said inmate's anti-psychotic medications made him more sensitive to heat and he also failed to open a vent in his cell

New York City has reached a $2.25 million settlement with the family of a mentally ill, homeless former U.S. Marine who died earlier this year in a 101-degree jail cell, the comptroller said Friday.

Jerome Murdough, 56, died in a mental observation unit on Rikers Island jail on February 15, eight days after he was sent to the facility because he couldn't afford to pay $2,500 bail on a trespassing arrest.

He was found slumped at the foot of his bed with a pool of vomit and blood on the floor and an internal body temperature of 103 degrees. Officials said he wasn't checked on for at least four hours and 'basically baked to death.'

His mother, Alma, filed initial papers to sue the city for $25 million over her son's death. But Comptroller Scott Stringer said Friday his office took the unusual step of settling the case before a lawsuit was filed after a review of the facts of the case.
read more here

Homeless Veteran Baked To Death in New York Jail Cell

Mexico Released Marine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi

UPDATE
U.S. Marine Tahmooressi Released From Mexican Jail

Mexico orders immediate release of Marine veteran
Associated Press
By JULIE WATSON
November 1, 2014

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A Mexican judge ordered the immediate release of a jailed U.S. Marine veteran who spent eight months behind bars for crossing the border with loaded guns.

The judge on Friday called for retired Marine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi (Tah-mor-EE-si) to be freed because of his mental state and did not make a determination on the illegal arms charges against the Afghanistan veteran diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a Mexican official who had knowledge of the ruling but was not authorized to give his name.

Tahmooressi has said he took a wrong turn on a California freeway that funneled him into a Tijuana port of entry with no way to turn back. His detention brought calls for his freedom from U.S. politicians, veterans groups and social media campaigns.

"It is with an overwhelming and humbling feeling of relief that we confirm that Andrew was released today after spending 214 days in Mexican Jail," the family said in a statement.

U.S. Republican and Democratic politicians had held talks with Mexican authorities to urge his release. A U.S. congressional committee also held a public hearing to pressure Mexico to free him.
read more here

Australia: Increased number of PTSD veterans in prison

Concern post-traumatic stress leading to an increase in number of veterans in prison
ABC Australia
By Alex Mann
Updated about an hour ago

There are concerns post-traumatic stress among Australia's veterans is leading to an increase in the number of returned service people in prison.

One veterans' support group believes there could be as many 500 veterans in prisons across Australia.

But those figures are uncertain, as there is no agency keeping track of what happens to soldiers when they return home from war.

Beau King, 31, is a veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts and was first on the scene when his friend Michael Lyddiard stepped on a mine.

"That was probably the biggest one for me," Mr King told the ABC's 7.30 program.

"That was literally the day that for me, [I thought] enough was enough.

"I couldn't physically take any more. I just ... that was it."

He suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on his return to Australia, but did not seek any help.

Instead, he quit the army, returned to civilian life and his life spiralled out of control.
read more here

PTSD Vietnam Veteran Died Detained Instead of Helped to Recover

If you still think the problems veterans face getting help for PTSD instead of being lock up is new they are not. Not much has changed no matter how much we seem all so willing to congratulate ourselves on how much we've done for them.

Another mentally ill inmate died of dehydration
News and Observer
Posted by Joseph Neff
September 25, 2014

A North Carolina prison inmate with a history of mental illness died of dehydration in March, according to an Associated Press report. All the details are not yet known, but there are a number of striking similarities to the 1996 of a Vietnam veteran who suffered from post traumatic stress.

A subsequent federal audit found a host of problems plaguing medical and mental-health care at Central Prison: inadequate staffing, an out-of-date facility, poor management and overuse of drugs and restraints in the psychiatric hospital.

In March, Anthony Michael Kerr, 53, died of dehydration while in care of Alexander Correctional Institution.

A damaged veteran:

Mabrey grew up in Roanoke Rapids, the oldest of four children. His father was a loom repairman for J.P. Stevens, working in the textile mill featured in the movie "Norma Rae."

Drafted after high school, Mabrey served in Vietnam from 1968 to 1970, escorting convoys, setting up ambushes and protecting an Army base in the Ia Drang Valley.

"It was rough," said Melvin Tharrington, a boyhood friend who recalled the night they spent pinned down under enemy fire for five hours. "Glen was good as gold. He was like a brother to me. He wasn't the same Glen I had known after he got back. I think it just really got to him."

A week after Mabrey's return, his mother heard noises in his bedroom. She found him in his closet crying, banging his head against the wall.

"Momma said he talked about all his friends coming back in body bags and it was too much for him," Hollowell, his sister, said.

He was a welder by trade, but had trouble holding a job. Diagnosed with post-traumatic stress syndrome, Mabrey lived on monthly $ 900 disability checks.

He had numerous run-ins with the law resulting from his abuse of alcohol and cocaine: DWI, driving with a revoked license, larceny, writing bad checks. His first marriage ended. His second marriage was rocky. He was arrested for assaulting his wife, usually while he was drinking.
read more here

Veterans with PTSD still being locked up instead of helped out

Treatment Behind Bars: Jails Struggling With Flood of Mentally Ill

Revolving door complicates care, management and safety of inmates.

A U.S. veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder sits in a segregated holding pen at Chicago's Cook County Jail after he was arrested on a narcotics charge. The complex is one of the country's largest single-site jails.

Charles Rex Arbogast | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

By ADAM GELLER
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: Monday, July 14, 2014 at 10:05 p.m.

Last Modified: Monday, July 14, 2014 at 10:05 p.m.

CHICAGO | The numbers, posted daily on the Cook County sheriff's website, would be alarming at an urgent care clinic, let alone a jail: On a Wednesday, 36 percent of all new arrivals report having a mental illness. On a Friday, it's 54 percent.

But inside the razor wire framing the 96-acre compound, the faces and voices of the newly arrested confirm its accidental role as Chicago's treatment center of last resort for people with serious mental illnesses. It's a job thrust on many of the nation's 3,300 local jails, and like them, it is awash in a tide of bookings and releases that make it particularly unsuited for the task.

Peering through the chain link of an intake area holding pen, a 33-year-old man wrapped in a navy varsity jacket leans toward clinical social worker Elli Petacque Montgomery, his bulging eyes a clue that something's not right.

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Homeless Veteran beaten to death in jail cell

Family of slain veteran sues sheriff, county commissioners
Family of slain inmate sues sheriff, Oklahoma County commissioners in federal court, alleging man’s civil rights were violated.
New OK
By Matt Dinger
Published: March 18, 2014

Hales was arrested on March 11, 2013, on complaints of three misdemeanor complaints of loitering, littering and failure to appear.

He was killed in his cell March 18, 2013.

Two men with apparent mental issues, one with a history of violence, were placed together in an Oklahoma County jail cell.

One ended up beaten to death, the other was charged with murder and now the dead man’s mother is suing Sheriff John Whetsel and county commissioners in federal court, alleging her son’s civil rights were violated.

The lawsuit contends the jail had no business placing Artie Hales, 55, a homeless veteran suffering from post traumatic stress disorder and dementia, in the same cell as Marshall Tyrone James, 51, a convicted felon in jail on a sexual battery complaint.

“Artie Hales was deprived of life and liberty without due process,” the complaint states.

Whetsel himself has complained that with 350 to 400 inmates with mental disorders and on psychotropic medication, the jail has become by default the largest mental health care provider in the state.
read more here

Ohio Supreme Court considers veteran's sentence

Ohio Supreme Court considers veteran's sentence
Toledo Blade
BY JIM PROVANCE
BLADE COLUMBUS BUREAU CHIEF
March 12, 2014

COLUMBUS — An Iraq War veteran convicted of shooting at Oregon police officers deserves “one fair shot” to have his post-traumatic stress disorder considered in his sentence, his attorney told the Ohio Supreme Court today.

But some justices questioned whether the 27-year sentence he received would be any different if they sent the case back to Lucas County Common Pleas Court for resentencing even under an amended law now requiring such a diagnosis to be considered.

The court did not immediately rule.

Jeffrey Belew served three years with the Marines, including one year in Iraq in 2008.
read more here

Former soldier suffering from PTSD says he got no support behind bars

Former soldier suffering from PTSD says he got no support behind bars
NATIONAL BREAKING NEWS
The Canadian Press - ONLINE EDITION
By: The Canadian Press
Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2013

LETHBRIDGE, Alta. - A British war veteran recently held in the same Alberta jail where a Canadian soldier killed himself says the justice system doesn't properly deal with people who have post-traumatic stress disorder.

John Collins, diagnosed with PTSD about six years ago, was arrested last month at his home in Lethbridge on various charges, including assault.

He said he sat alone in a cell for six days until he was released on bail.

"I mentally shut down," said Collins, 61. "I prayed to die."

"You are on automatic, back in the wars. Once the adrenalin is gone, there is no hope."

Collins believes no one took into account his mental health. He said he should have received support and instead he felt abandoned.

Then, last week, he learned about the suicide of the artillery soldier at the same Lethbridge Correctional Centre.

The man, identified by friends as Travis Halmrast, was being held on charges of domestic assault. He was found in distress at the jail and later died in hospital.

The Defence Department is looking into the death and investigations are also underway into the recent suicides of two other Canadian soldiers. All three men had served in Afghanistan.

It's not clear if any of them suffered from PTSD, but their suicides have put a spotlight on supports available for people dealing with the effects of the disorder.

Collins didn't know Halmrast and doesn't know the circumstances of his death, but has strong feelings about the case.

"He shouldn't have been there," he said. "From the moment they found out he was ex-military, alarm bells should have been ringing."
read more here

How the Government Is Handling 700,000 Jailed Veterans

How the Government Is Handling 700,000 Jailed Veterans
Nextgov
Bob Brewin
December 3, 2013

The 700,000 veterans consigned to the dustbins of society -- prisons and jails -- won some top level attention this week at the first national Vet Court Conference in Washington, which brings together 1,000 judges, mental health and substance abuse professionals and the leadership of the Veterans Affairs and Defense Departments.

The conference, sponsored by the Justice for Vets division of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals, focuses on veterans involved in the criminal justice system as a result of substance abuse and mental health problems. There are some grim statistics behind this issue: One in six returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan suffers from a substance abuse disorder; since 2004, the number of veterans treated for mental illness and substance abuse has increased 38 percent, and 81 percent of arrested veterans had a substance abuse problem.

read more here

Veterans Moving Forward Even Behind Bars

Some of my friends are better than I am because they have prison ministries, healing souls behind bars but you never hear about the wonderful work they do. If it doesn't make sense to you that veterans are different from the rest of us, then you must not know too many of them. If you think they should be forgotten about since they are locked up, you must have forgotten what Christ said.

34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
Matthew 25

Most of these veterans came home with PTSD and self-medicated to numb the pain they felt. The fact is most veterans do not seek help from the government even after all these years. Some commit crimes and were unlucky enough to commit them in states without Veterans Courts offering them help instead of jail. Do we forget about them? Do we just leave them alone so they can do their time and not even try to help them?

Veterans Courts are not a "get out of jail free" way out. They are given the connections they need to begin treatment they should have had all along and they are helped to do what the judge says. If they do not do it, they have to serve their time behind bars. Keep in mind that veterans are only 7% of the population.

VA medical centers recognize the value of partnerships with local justice-system and community treatment partners

Many VA medical centers are engaged with partners in their local criminal justice systems. In response to a June 2008 review, more than one third of medical centers (58 of 153) indicated that they either currently engage with local justice system partners to coordinate services for Veterans, or intend to request resources to support such engagement. Currently, the VA participates in 8 Veterans Court programs located in Santa Ana, CA, Buffalo, NY, Anchorage, AK, San Bernardino, CA, Santa Clara, CA, Chicago, IL, Rochester, NY, and Tulsa, OK. Elsewhere, VA medical centers have established relationships with a range of justice system and community partners, including police and sheriffs’ departments, local jail administrators, judges, prosecutors, public defenders, probation officers, and community mental health providers.

If we did for them when they came home, most wouldn't have ended up behind bars. They commit crimes are were given jail time but that doesn't mean they do not deserve our time and efforts to do the right thing for them.

Vets unite behind bars at Vista jail
Authorities hope they can better rehabilitate service members by housing them together in unit at Vista Jail
UT San Diego
By Pauline Repard
NOV. 16, 2013

A patriotic artwork is displayed on the wall near the telephones in the Vista Jail housing module for military veterans.

Vista — Early this month, 32 veterans in blue jail uniforms filed into a freshly painted, red, white and blue Vista Jail dormitory with walls brightened by patriotic murals.

They dropped their bags of belongings in double-bunk cells, then were officially welcomed to the Veterans Moving Forward program initiated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

By housing the veterans together, authorities hope to encourage camaraderie while helping them kick drug habits, gain job skills, find housing and undergo treatment for mental illness — all factors that could keep them from returning to jail.

“The ultimate goal is transitioning them back to the community,” Sheriff Bill Gore said in an interview.

“Veterans have given so much to this nation.”
read more here

From PTSD to Prison: Why Veterans Become Criminals

From PTSD to Prison: Why Veterans Become Criminals
The Daily Beast
by Matthew Wolfe
Jul 28, 2013

Nearly 1 in 10 inmates have served in the military. Matthew Wolfe on how the system fails them—and the new prison dorms that could help them get back on track.

During the last year of his service contract with the Marine Reserves, Christopher Lee Boyd was sent to Iraq. Boyd was a driver in the 4th Combat Engineer Battalion, Charlie Company, out of Lynchburg, Virginia. In Iraq, Boyd’s unit escorted convoys and swept for land mines. When Boyd drove, he watched the road for IEDs. The bombs could be disguised as almost anything; his team found them stashed in potholes, trash bags, and, once, in a dead sheep. In November of 2004, Charlie Company was transferred to a base near Haditha. At the same time, 100 miles to the southeast, coalition forces were attacking Fallujah, an insurgent stronghold. As the insurgents fled the city, they flocked north.

Four of the Marines in the Humvee — Sgt. Jesse Strong, 24; Cpl. Jonathan Bowling, 23; Lance Cpl. Karl Linn, 20; and Cpl. Chris Weaver, 24 — were killed. Five others were injured. Of the ten men in his vehicle, only Boyd escaped without injury.

A few months later, Boyd was back in Virginia, working a third shift at a Frito-Lay plant. He had trouble sleeping. When he did sleep, he had nightmares about the raid. Boyd soon discovered that if he drank until he passed out, he didn't dream.

Boyd's twin sister, Crystal, remembers the change in her brother happening gradually. She knew Chris as a cheerful, easy-going family man. Slowly, he grew anxious, irritable and sullen. He began to distance himself from his girlfriend and their two sons. Before long, he started carrying a gun, a .380 pistol. He explained that he wanted to be able to protect his family.

One Saturday morning in 2008, Boyd finished his shift and began to drink. In the evening, a friend drove him to a party. The last thing Boyd says he remembers is sitting in the front seat of the car outside the party, drinking liquor. When he woke up, he was in a police car, on his way to jail. The police officer told Boyd that he had shot his friend in the chest. The bullet made a clean exit, and the friend lived. Corporal Boyd was sentenced to five years in prison.
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Death row inmate files lawsuit claiming denial of mental health treatment

Death row inmate files lawsuit claiming denial of mental health treatment
Published: April 21, 2013
Macon Telegraph
By AMY LEIGH WOMACK

A man sentenced to die for fatally shooting a Laurens County deputy in 1998 has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that because he is on death row he is not receiving the mental health treatment he needs.

Deputy Kyle Dinkheller clocked Andrew Howard Brannan driving 98 mph on Interstate 16 on Jan. 12, 1998. The traffic stop ended with a gunfight between the 22-year-old deputy and Brannan, who was shooting a high-powered military-style rifle. Brannan was shot once in the abdomen. Dinkheller was shot multiple times, including in the chest, twice in the back and twice in the head.

Jurors convicted Brannan of murder in 2000 and sentenced him to die. Brannan had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
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