October 2014 newsletter

 Nearly 1,500 inmates with ‘restored credits’ released by state:

From an article written by Cary Aspinwall/ALL World Staff Writer

Nearly 1,500 inmates have been freed from prison since March under an early-release system restoring “earned credits” lost due to misconduct, data show.

The Department of Corrections data was provided in response to a Tulsa World request under the Open Records Act.

Prison inmates in Oklahoma can earn credits toward their time served for good behavior or achievements such as earning a GED or college credit, and they can lose those credits for committing infractions



 Gulf War vets: VA trying to silence claims of illness:

According to an article written by Paul Giblin, of The Republic –

“The head of a national committee that studies the health of Gulf War veterans says senior Department of Veterans Affairs officials are obscuring scientific evidence that points to war-related illnesses among an estimated 250,000 veterans who served in the 1990-91 conflict often called the First Gulf War.

The Gulf War committee and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies have concluded that Gulf War illness exists and that it likely was caused by exposure to neurotoxins from oil-well fires, anti-nerve-gas pills, pesticides and chemicals released from low-level chemical weapons damaged in the destruction of Iraqi facilities.

VA officials are trying to suppress the number of veterans who would be eligible for treatment and compensation to keep down costs and waiting lists for care, said committee Chairman James H. Binns, a Vietnam veteran and Phoenix business executive involved in the medical equipment industry.

About a third of those involved in the ground war suffer from a variety of ailments including respiratory conditions, unremitting pain, memory loss, intestinal disorders and skin rashes, which have combined to ruin careers, Binns said.”



 VA Notification: Final Regulations for Camp Lejeune Veterans and Coverage of Certain Costs for Family Members:

From a September 23 VA Fact Sheet: Since the passage of “Honoring America's Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act of 2012,” VA has enrolled and provided health care to those veterans who served on active duty at Camp Lejeune for at least 30 days between January 1, 1957, and December 31, 1987. From 1957 to 1987, people living or working at Camp Lejeune were potentially exposed to drinking water contaminated with chemicals known as volatile compounds, including industrial solvents and benzene from fuels.

The law provides that veterans stationed at Camp Lejeune between 1957 and 1987 will be eligible to receive health care through VA, and exposed family members will be reimbursed for healthcare costs, for the following medical conditions: 1. Esophageal cancer; 2. Lung cancer; 3. Breast cancer; 4. Bladder cancer; 5. Kidney cancer; 6. Leukemia; 7. Multiple myeloma; 8. Myelodysplastic syndromes, 9. Renal toxicity; 10. Hepatitis steatosis; 11. Female infertility; 12. Miscarriage; 13. Scleroderma; 14. Neurobehavioral effects; and 15. Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

The published regulations now allow VA to reimburse eligible Camp Lejeune family members for out-of-pocket healthcare costs related to any of the 15 covered medical conditions listed in the 2012 Act. Under that law, VA can reimburse costs from March 26, 2013, onwards. Family members can start applying 30 days after the regulation publication dateVictim or Criminal?

 Victim or Criminal??

Communities weigh how to deal with battle-scarred soldiers who do wrong after coming home

From The Washington Post

Compassion or conviction - that's the choice more and more communities across the country are facing as “the effects of 12 years of war are increasingly seeping into the American legal system.

The vast majority of veterans who have suffered mental wounds in combat do not commit crimes, but post-traumatic stress disorder has been found to increase the risk of criminal behavior, especially when combined with alcohol, family stress or feelings of anger. Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who reported problems with PTSD and alcohol were seven times as likely to engage in acts of "severe violence" than veterans with neither of those problems, according to a 2014 study conducted by researchers affiliated with the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Another study by the same research team found that 23 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans with PTSD and irritability issues had been arrested since returning home from combat, compared with a 9 percent arrest rate for all of the 1,400 veterans in the survey.”



 Getting Ready to Join a Community Outside of Prison:

You have an idea of when you will be getting out of prison so don’t wait until the last minute to figure out where you want to live. You need to start about 6 – 9 months preparing yourself for your release and you can:

1) Determine where you want to live and don’t go back to the area where you know there is trouble.

2) If you don’t have a place to live start writing apartment complexes and getting information, write to various projects like “Helping Hands”, “Liberty House”, etc. because it takes some time to find a place to live. Get information on rent, size of apartment, restrictions, policies, etc.

3) Make sure you have a support group; become active in a religious community and/or a veteran service organization like The Disabled American Veterans, The American Legion, The American Legion Riders, etc.

4) Write to the Chamber of Commerce and get a list of employers in the area and then YOU write to them and ask questions.



 What if I am Serving LWOP?

You can help your fellow veteran stay straight while in prison. Be proud of your service and support your brother/sister veterans. You can offer them support from all different sides and you should encourage them to stay straight. Be positive and help them to stay positive.

YOU can help with projects that help children, homeless veterans, families of our military, our active military, etc. THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX and do something other than sit in your house and complain. Become active in your veterans group and if you don’t have one, ask the warden about starting one.

You know better than anyone else that a veteran will talk to another veteran before they talk to anyone.