VietNow
National Magazine
Veterans Incarcerated
Putting a Human
Face on Veterans in Need and at Risk
By Matt Davison – VietNow
National Veterans Incarcerated Chair
Matt
Davison |
|
Our program in California, Tecumseh, and
various other correctional institutions
nationwide, continues to grow and fulfill
its objectives in the successful transitioning
of veterans incarcerated from prison to
society. We have entered our third year
serving four institutions in three California
counties, traveling over 1,400 miles a
month. But this report is not a typical
report in the standard sense. It is more
of a commentary that needs to be brought
out because veterans themselves are most
often the least likely to help these veterans
in need.
In the years that I’ve been
involved with homeless and incarcerated
veterans, I have come across a disturbing
intolerance of veterans who had the good
fortune to come home intact, against
those who did not.
Many veterans seem to
think that it is the preference of homeless
veterans to live on the streets or to become
criminals. We don’t like to take
into consideration the possibility of
an out-of-control PTSD episode or self-medicated
substance abuse to dull the memory of
combat. After all, you got through it – why
can’t
they?
By the end of the Vietnam War,
the percentage of veterans we were shipping
off to prison for violent crimes was
higher than the percentage of civilians
going to prison for those same offenses.
We gave the veterans longer sentences
than their civilian counterparts as
well. Why was that? Was there a failure
in readjustment?
We exchanged the slow
boat home from combat for individual
flights that took a man from combat to
civilization in days or hours. We dropped
the education program that put troops onto
campuses and into contact with older and
wiser faculty members for a few years.
And we all know of the unpopularity of
the Vietnam War that robbed combatants
of the hero’s welcome
so important to the veterans in the
history of warfare. The psychological
costs borne by the Vietnam veteran
was horribly high and painfully deep.
Other risks faced by veterans included:
Training and experience in the violent
resolution of problems; never being
de-programmed; the effects of PTSD,
Gulf War Syndrome, and Agent Orange;
and exposure early on to alcohol and
drugs in the service, resulting in
addiction and incarceration.
In my time
working with veterans in need and at
risk, I have encountered recipients of
the Bronze Star for bravery in battle,
a Silver Star recipient, and two World
War II veterans who took part in the invasion
of Iwo Jima. Why these elder warriors are
still incarcerated is beyond my understanding,
since their offenses were not of a violent
nature.
The point is, before you disrespect
a man, take a look at his combat record
and consider the fact that maybe he
had your back 35 years ago in Vietnam.
The majority of those veterans I work
with have substance abuse or PTSD issues.
This is not their choice. Some drugs
such as tranquilizers and phenothiazines
were administered on the combat front
to suppress psychological trauma. These
coping mechanisms were often traded
for drug use and alcohol abuse after
returning from combat.
Fortunately, change
is beginning to enter the prison system
and reach out to our homeless brothers.
New transitional housing is being
built here in Los Angeles, and the
Department of Labor/Department of Veterans
Affairs has funded the Incarcerated Veterans
Transition Program that prepares
veterans for successful transitions
back into society upon their release.
Some state prisons around the nation
have their own veteran programs, and
veteran service organizations such as VietNow
have incorporated chapters inside state
correctional facilities. We owe it
to these men to rehabilitate them and
help them in their reintegration back
into society.
We must make sure they have
a second chance to establish themselves
with the privileges and responsibilities
of citizenship. We should judge each
veteran on his own merit, and not
on stereotypes, prejudice, or stigma.
These veterans must be encouraged
to become valuable assets to the community
by supporting themselves, their families,
paying their taxes, and contributing
to the public good.
Several states
have already passed legislation to assist
qualified veterans in gaining employment
without prejudice because of arrest or
conviction records unrelated to their
ability to perform jobs they are seeking.
The
next time you walk past a veteran in
need or at risk, don’t
turn away. Look him
in the eye and be thankful for your own
good fortune. And when someone tells you
that helping these men will
result in tax increases,
tell him that the successful
rehabilitation of incarcerated
veterans is dramatically less than the reincarceration
of that veteran. It not only
makes sense to give hope to a veteran
in need of hope, it saves tax dollars
at the same time. Most of all,
respect your brothers and welcome
them home. It will do you as much good as
it will do him.
Matt Davison,
Veterans Advocate with Joint Efforts,
Inc., began working with veterans incarcerated
two years ago through the creation of
the Veterans Support Group at the Federal
Corrections Institution at Terminal Island,
San Pedro, CA. He has also counseled
pre-release veterans at the Los Angeles
County facility in Lynwood, CA., and
worked to get a veterans incarcerated
support group set up at San Quentin.
He received the “Beacon of Light” award
from FCI Terminal Island for developing
the fastest-growing program at the institution.
Back to main Veterans Incarcerated page.
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