New programming coming online for incarcerated veterans in Collin Co.

Posted by thejudge in Oct, 2018

Original Article  Oct 28, 2018 from McKinney Courier Gazette by Liz McGathey, lmcgathey@starlocalmedia.com

Inside the Collin County Jail, a team of attorneys and law enforcement officials have come together – not to put someone behind bars, but to create a dedicated environment just for veterans who find themselves in the criminal justice system.

Judge John Roach Jr., 296th District Court, said after bringing the Veterans Court to North Texas, he felt there was still a need for those veterans who are incarcerated.

“But rather than just letting them sit there and do their time, I knew that if we didn’t take specific action that they were going to be repeat offenders,” he said. “If we don’t address their addiction, if we don’t address their anger, if we don’t address their PTSD or their traumatic brain injury, we’re going to see them again.”

With the help of Collin County Sheriff Jim Skinner, Roach began the VALOR program –Veterans Accessing Long-term Opportunities for Rehabilitation – which offers specialized programming and cohesion among incarcerated veterans.

Like the North Texas Veterans Court, veterans must be screened before being accepted into the program. Because VALOR treatment is geared toward veterans and their specific needs, their crimes must correlate with their service.

“We are going to tackle head-on – and we’ll rival any other treatment facility in the country right here in our facility – with regard to addiction and mental health issues,” Roach said. “If we don’t resolve those, they’ll be repeat offenders repeatedly throughout our criminal justice system. You have to tackle that first.”

Those veterans jailed in Collin County will be housed in their own in the minimum security facility. Roach said through research of similar programs throughout he country, his team found that veterans do better in a prison or jail environment if they’re separated into their own area. As a result, the amount of discipline problems are significantly reduced because of the self accountability of the group, Roach said.