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Croken, McCulloh lobby for veterans court in each Iowa district

Quad City Times - 3/12/2020

Mar. 12--Ken Croken and Waylyn McCulloh held a press conference March 6 under sunny skies, in front of the building that houses the Seventh Judicial District'sDepartment of Correctional Services.

They were there to talk about a new bill up for debate in the Iowa Senate aimed at channeling veterans into a Veterans Treatment Court if they commit a crime.

Just five other people showed up to learn about Iowa Senate Bill 2287.

Reporters from three media outlets listened to Croken, a member of the Scott County Board of Supervisors. Two men stood behind McCulloh, the director of the Seventh Judicial District'sDepartment of Correctional Services.

Ron Johnson and Keith Foster were there to attest just how easily veterans can find themselves incarcerated.

"I spent four months in an Arizona jail because I could not get the help I needed," said Foster, a 57-year-old Air Force veteran. "It was four wasted months.

"There was no one there to talk to me. No one there to help me."

The new bill seeks to put Veterans Treatment courts in all seven judicial districts to help get veterans access to behavioral health services, employment counseling, and other social services. McCulloh said that if properly funded, the courts will look a lot like the established Drug Courts.

"If there is funding, a commitment of time and resources, we can help keep veterans out of prison," McCulloh said. "But we have a lot of work ahead of us."

Johnson is a veteran who needed early intervention. The 58-year-old Gulf War veteran said he came home with PTSD. He ended up serving eight years in Iowa prisons.

"In 2010, when I got to Oakdale Prison, I was part of a group called Incarcerated Veterans," Johnson said. "It was through that group that I learned what services were available to me, the resources that I could look for.

"Now I think about how having that kind of help before I went into prison might have helped sooner."

The total number of inmates housed in Iowa's nine prisons in Anamosa, Clarinda, Fort Dodge, Mitchellville, Oakdale, Fort Madison, Mount Pleasant, Newton and Rockwell City stood at 8,473 when the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019.

According to the Department of Corrections, there were 387 veterans behind bars in Iowa. That's 4.57% of the total incarcerated population. There are another 1,145 on probation, parole, or in a work-release program.

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