Page 5 - Desert Lightning News, Nellis-Creech AFB Edition, May 10, 2019

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VA advocates for vets at correctional conference
by John Archiquette
VA Southern Nev. Healthcare System
On any given day in the United States, there are an average of 181,500 incarcerated veterans. This makes up about 7 percent of the national prison population, according to the Department of Justice.
This presents a challenge for both crimi- nal justice professionals who are inexperi- enced with Veterans’ issues and Veterans Affairs trying to reach out to incarcerated veterans.
In order to bridge that gap, and foster un- derstanding between the two groups, the VA has sent a team of experts to the Accepted Correctional Health Conference. This is a research conference that focuses on issues surrounding the incarcerated population. “This is the first year that there has been a really big content presence around veteran issues,” said Jessica Blue-Howells, National Coordinator of Healthcare for Re-entry Veterans Program. “This is important for both veterans who are incarcerated, but also veterans who may be at risk of exposure to law enforcement.”
“Dr. Andrea Finlay has been presenting her research at this conference for years and noticed that there was a lack of focus on
Courtesy photograph
VA experts attend the 2019 Academic and Health Policy Conference on Correctional Health to address issues specific to justice-involved veterans.
sues, attendees included experts from the general criminal justice community. “As a peer-reviewed conference, this is a difficult place to have your ideas and presentation accepted,” said Blue-Howells, “so we have really worked both ends of the field to create interest among the conference organizers and to advocate for interest internally to the VHA. Conferences like these bring us into contact with researchers of the general corrections populations and teaching about veterans is important because its relatively unknown to researchers.”
Participation in this conference was an important step for HCRV program, ac- cording to Blue-Howells. Previous to this program standing up 10 years ago, there was no coordinated VA outreach to veterans who were incarcerated. “We took on a model created by Veteran Service Organizations to build a full nationwide network across state and federal prisons,” she said. “It has come a long way, and this conference is a great indication of that.”
Another program that has had a key role in the VA participation in this con- ference is the Veterans Justice Outreach program, or VJO. This program has three
See vETS, on Page 10
Veterans issues,” Blue-Howells said. “She reached out to the broader veterans justice programs and thought that it would be a great way to encourage more awareness within the criminal justice community.”
This year’s conference featured several panel discussions led by VA and veteran-fo-
cused organizations. These sessions ranged on topics from Veterans Treatment Courts, law enforcement interacting with veter- ans, female justice-involved veterans, and improving employment opportunities for veterans with felonies. While many of these discussions dealt with veteran-focused is-
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