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“Best Practices: Report on Improving Veterans’ Incarceration and Reentry in Florida”

By Douglas Berman

Though I have missed Veterans Day by almost a week, I am still glad that I did not entirely miss this new report from the Florida Policy Project that has the title of this post. Here are some passages from the start of the report:

Efforts have been made to limit veterans’ exposure to incarceration.  While these efforts may be diverting some veterans from prison, many veterans are still incarcerated in Florida and will eventually return to their communities. Understanding how to improve their incarceration experience and lower barriers to reentry will ensure that Florida’s veterans have access to the services they earned and return to their communities better than when they left them. This report describes the problems Florida’s incarcerated veterans face and offers examples of programs that could be implemented to help reduce recidivism and improve reentry….

Justice involved veterans have garnered increased attention in recent years. Several practices have been deployed to help divert veterans from incarceration.  The Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA) Veterans Justice Outreach (VJO) program and the increased use of Veterans’ Treatment Courts have helped respond to the needs of justice-involved veterans while maintaining accountability for criminal activity.  Despite these efforts, many veterans find themselves incarcerated in prisons around the country.  Although national estimates suggest that over 96,000 veterans are incarcerated in state prisons in the United States (accounting for about 8% of all people incarcerated in state prisons) many states underestimate their incarcerated veteran population.  For example, based on data from inmate self-identification, California estimated their incarcerated veteran population to be approximately 2.7% of inmates.  After accessing VA data, they found that 7.7% of their incarcerated population qualified as veterans — making them eligible for numerous federal benefits.

According to data from the Florida Department of Corrections, as of October 2023, 3,989 people in Florida prisons self-identified as veterans.  Over 99% of the 3,989 people are men (only 30 women in Florida prisons self-identified as veterans).  Accounting for approximately 5% of all people incarcerated in Florida prisons, as noted above, this proportion likely underestimates the true number of people incarcerated in Florida facilities who would qualify under federal statute as a veteran.  Difficulty in identifying veterans is exacerbated by the fact that Florida Statute and the United States Code differ in their definition of who qualifies as a veteran.

Though focused on Florida’s prisons, the report closes with a helpful national review of “additional veteran-specific programs that Florida policymakers and correctional practitioners should consider implementing.”  Anyone concerned about veterans involved with the criminal justice system should fine this report of interest, and a short form of the report here provides a useful overview.

Some of many prior related posts: