NCJ Number
83172
Journal
Federal Probation Volume: 46 Issue: 1 Dated: (March 1982) Pages: 21-28
Date Published
1982
Length
8 pages
Annotation
A self-help model of direct and indirect services through a Veterans Administration veterans-in-prison (VIP) pilot program is described.
Abstract
Between 25 and 33 percent of the California State inmate population are veterans who have served on active duty in the U.S. military. These veterans need specialized understanding and interventions, particularly veterans of the Vietnam conflict. In July 1977, a pilot project was established at the Brentwood Veterans Administration Medical Center in Los Angeles, as a part of the Vietnam Veterans Resocialization Unit within Social Work Service. Major services of the VIP program are discharge upgrading, information and application assistance dealing with various veterans benefits, help with Agent Orange claims and other possible service-connected disabilities, and help with community reentry. The overall goal of the VIP program is to help the veterans to help themselves toward a successful rehabilitation. Objectives are to effect changes in attitudes and help clients to obtain information, resources, and services. Counseling is based in the theory of reality therapy, which emphasizes the individual's responsibility for his/her behavior and circumstances. The VIP program has now expanded to serve six prisons, two central jails, and two civil commitment facilities. Nineteen footnotes are listed.