By: Lauren Silverman, KERA NEWS
The first veteran’s court in Texas opened in 2009. Today there are three in North Texas. These courts offer hope to military servicemen and women who may be struggling with post-traumatic stress, physical disability, and drug and alcohol addiction. As part of the public media initiative “Veterans Coming Home,” Lauren Silverman visited the court in Fort Worth and talked with veterans getting a second chance.
This isn’t your typical court room.
People are laughing, smiling, even joking around. Dressed in suits and button-up shirts, dozens of veterans squeeze into the wooden benches. There’s a sense of camaraderie.
Keith McDonald, who’s 37 and lives in Abilene, served ten years in the Army. He joined three weeks after 9/11.
MCDONALD: “My longest one and the one that really affected me the most was my deployment, to Iraq in 2006, 2008 during the surge. We were in combat pretty much every day. Bullets mortars, rockets, IEDs. It really takes a toll on somebody, they prep you to go kill people, but they don’t prep you to deal with it when you come home.”
When McDonald came home, he had PTSD. His wife left him with his child, he was depressed. Then, he picked up several drug charges.
MCDONALD: “I lost focus, I didn’t know who I was, and it was tough. I don’t wish that upon anybody.”
His lawyer, also a veteran, helped him apply for the Veterans Court Diversion program. Since he had no past criminal record, he was accepted. And instead of doing time in prison, he’s spent the last six months in counseling, taking drug intervention classes, and studying to become a chemical dependency counselor.
MCDONALD: “This program gives you an opportunity to work on yourself, and take care of that and they’ll take care of the legal problems. And right now, I’m the best that I’ve ever been.”
More than 130 combat veterans have been admitted to the little-known Veterans Diversion Program. Judge Brent Carr has helped the majority of them — 86 percent — return to the community.
Andrew Rodriguez made it through the program He’s now 27.
RODRIGUEZ: “I joined the marine corps when I was seventeen years old and did four tours overseas, three to Iraq and one to Afghanistan in a matter of four and a half years.”
Sitting in the break room at his factory job in north Fort Worth, Rodriguez says it’s been tough since he left the Marines, and later the Army reserves.
RODRIGUEZ: “I got into trouble at home, the charge was assault, bodily injury to a family member. I wasn’t right mind. I didn’t want to hurt my mother.”
Rodriguez, who’d never been in trouble before, ended up in jail. It was there that he was served his divorce papers.
RODRIGUEZ: “When I was in depression and all that I was all alone. I just wanted to be left completely alone. But my mom, the person I hurt is the one that looked for the help, and they welcomed me in it was all like things will be all right you just got to follow these rules follow this stuff and now even though things are not perfect, I still got to keep going and there’s other stuff I can fall back on too.”
The court helped Rodriguez clear his record. He’s now a first time college student, and wants to get his associates degree in welding.
Resources like job fairs and counseling are part of what makes the program successful. Judge Carr says so are the penalties for stepping out of line.
CARR: “You miss a meeting that should get a swift response, I’m not saying it’s tossed in jail, sometimes that is the key. Sometimes you have to write a report, community service. We have a lot of sanctions at our disposal to corral someone so they don’t break into a trend of non-compliance.”
Early intervention, individualized treatment plans, rewards, sanctions. Think of the program as a counter-offensive against the challenges a veteran faces coming home.
Lauren Silverman, KERA News
Loading ...