Articles & News

August 24, 2008

Veterans in state prisons caring for nation's fallen

Program has prison inmates maintaining veterans cemeteries

By LIAM FARRELL, Staff Writer, lfarrell@capitalgazette.com

As a burial ceremony was ending to the sound of "Taps" at Crownsville Veterans Cemetery last week, half a dozen prisoners in neon jumpsuits were busy watering the grass and trimming the hedges of the 103-acre cemetery.

And each of them could one day be buried there.

Maryland's prison system has been known more for its violence than its community outreach in recent years, but Gary Maynard, the new secretary of the state's Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, is trying to change that. Using military veterans serving time in minimum security prisons to clean up military cemeteries is part of a strategy to give prisoners a stake in something outside of their bleak cells.

"It will come back to protect the public because these people will be less likely to come back to prison," Mr. Maynard said while visiting the cemetery. "These people that work here, the inmates, will be less likely to create more victims."

For inmate Dwayne Harris, an Air Force veteran who served in Desert Storm, it is a chance to connect with the history and sacrifices of fellow service members. When he washes the graves, he takes notice of where each person served and what wars they were a part of.

Harris knows one day it could be his own grave that needs a helping hand.

"I feel good about that, being able to take care of those who came before me," he said. "It makes it very meaningful."

The prisoners in the detail all were honorably discharged and are serving time at the Brockbridge Correctional Facility in Jessup.

On a logistical level, the presence of the in-mates since April has more than doubled the size of the Crownsville work crew on a normal day. More people at lower cost - the prisoners who do such work are paid $2.60 a day - is a successful way to address the "perpetual care" cemeteries demand, said Bob Hooper, the director of cemetery and memorial programs in the state's Department of Veterans Affairs.

"We welcome the help. We need the help," he said. "So far, this program has been great to us."

The state will study the recidivism rate of the inmates who take part in the program, Mr. Maynard said. At the moment, he is optimistic it will make a difference.

"Their self-concept about doing good is going to be enhanced," he said. "I think the results in terms of reduction of recidivism of this group is going to be remarkable."

Part to play

So far, the most high-profile moment of Mr. Maynard's tenure was the March 2007 closing of the Maryland House of Correction. A foreboding 19th-century building in Jessup ominously nicknamed "The Cut," the building's cramped quarters provided ample opportunity for attacks on guards.

"When I came, we were focused on surviving," Mr. Maynard said. "It was a dangerous system."

An almost 40-year veteran of corrections work, the secretary has started implementing programs similar to what he did as the director of corrections in Iowa. For example, inmates there helped maintain 28 pioneer cemeteries, Mr. Maynard said.

"I think I work inmates better than anybody," he said. "I see the value of getting inmates in an opportunity to pay something back."

Corrections officials have started pitching local governments on the low cost and high return of prison labor. Some projects that will be done include restoring historically correct trees on Antietam National Battlefield in Sharpsburg and building oyster floats to help rebuild the Chesapeake Bay's depressed shellfish population.

The veterans program will expand to Garrison Forest Veterans Cemetery in Owings Mills by September.

"We do those things that aren't funded, we do those things that nobody else wants to do anyway," Mr. Maynard said.

Value of work

The value of getting prisoners to do these types of projects is encapsulated in a single phrase, said Jeff Mellow, an associate professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York: "Idle hands are the devil's workshop."

"The busier you can keep your population … the less disciplinary problems you have," he said.

Many factors - shelter, family relationships, substance abuse and mental problems - contribute to whether a freed inmate returns to prison, Mr. Mellow said. Employment, however, is at the "top of the list," he said.

Socializing inmates into a work environment and giving them positive experiences with authority figures and supervisors is as important as providing skills that can transfer to attainable jobs, such as landscaping. Too often, former prisoners will have an adversarial moment at work and just go back to their old ways, Mr. Mellow said.

But providing employment behind bars is not enough if there is no transitional employment from the jail to the street, he said. Prisoners who leave with little or no assets have to completely rebuild their lives.

"All those gains (inside) kind of go away if we don't make sure we continue it upon their release," Mr. Mellow said.

In Maryland, transitional programs are run by a combination of the state corrections department, local government and the private sector. In June, the state held the first of three town hall meetings to bring together agencies that help with re-entry.

Identifying inmates while inside prison also can help them get in touch with the Veterans Administration and cut into the number of homeless who have served in the military, Mr. Maynard said.

"I think it'll make a difference in the number of veterans that leave here and are successful," he said.

As the midday sun grew hotter in Crownsville last week, inmate Kenneth Cooley, a Navy veteran, was happy to be outside. The hours spent away from the prison are a respite and a way to relieve stress, he said.

But what has impressed Cooley the most about the veteran program is the professionalism of the staff and how they realized what working can mean to an inmate before and after his or her release.

"As long as we can work … we will be all right," he said. "It helps when you want to help yourself."