Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Washington Times
July 7, 2008
Pg. B6
Helps offenders with transition to civilian life
By Carolyn Thompson, Associated Press
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The first clue that the Tuesday afternoon session in Part 4 of Buffalo City Court is not like other criminal proceedings comes just before it starts.
Judge Robert Russell steps down from his bench and from the aloofness of his black robe. He walks into the gallery, where men and women accused of stealing, drug offenses and other nonviolent felonies and misdemeanors fidget in plastic chairs.
"Good afternoon," he says, smiling, and talks for a minute about the session ahead.
With the welcoming tone set, Judge Russell heads back behind the bench, where he will mete out justice with a disarming mix of small talk and life-altering advice.
While the defendants in this court have been arrested on charges that could mean potential prison time and damaging criminal records, they have another important trait in common: All have served their country in the military.
That combination has landed them here, in veterans treatment court, the first of its kind in the country.
Judge Russell is the evenhanded quarterback of a courtroom team of veterans advocates and volunteers determined to make this brush with the criminal-justice system these veterans' last.
"They look to the right or to the left, they're sitting there with another vet," Judge Russell said, "and it's a more calming, therapeutic environment. Rather than them being of the belief that 'people don't really understand me,' or 'they don't know what it's like' - well, it's a room full of folks who do."
If the veterans adhere to a demanding 1- to 2-year regimen of weekly to monthly court appearances, drug testing and counseling for any combination of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, substance abuse or anger management, they could see their charges dismissed, or at least stay out of jail.
After counting 300 veterans in the local courts last year, the judge tailor-made the treatment court to address not only vets' crimes, but their unique mental health issues.
Charles Lewis, who stood before Judge Russell at a recent session, may be exactly the kind of defendant the judge had in mind. The 25-year-old acknowledged walking out in frustration from his last counseling session.
"We all know that you're a good person who at times has done some inappropriate things," Judge Russell told him. "It's time to get past the nonsense, don't you think?"
Lewis nodded in agreement. A jet mechanic four years into what he thought would be a 20-year Navy career, he severely injured his leg on the flight deck of the carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt in 2004 and was discharged.
Forced to rethink his future before his 22nd birthday, he returned to Buffalo, where he found work as a laborer and in the concrete business before starting his own concrete company. After taking on more work than he could handle, Lewis said he found himself charged with petty larceny in December for keeping a $3,000 deposit from a customer for a job that never got done.
A daily habit of prescription pain pills for the plates and pins in his leg compounded the problems of someone who had known only the rigors of the military from the time he was 18.
"It was hard to adjust," Lewis said later at his home in Buffalo's north end. "I was used to that structure. That whole time [in the Navy] I was doing what I was supposed to do, then I got out, and it was just not working."
Admittedly stubborn - he walked out of counseling because he got tired of hearing people complain - the 25-year-old father of four is only now addressing anxiety and attention disorders linked to his wartime service and the toll it took on his leg and hearing. A 30-day stay in rehab to get off prescription drugs began his path through veterans treatment court.
"I'm doing really good now," he said.
Judge Russell believes the need for courts like his will only grow, pointing to the 1.6 million troops who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. It has been highly praised by the federal Department of Veterans Affairs and other veterans organizations.
"What I appreciate about this is, this isn't letting people off for what they do, it's just getting them the care that they need," said Patrick Campbell, legislative director for Iraq Veterans of America.
The group has been working with Sen. John Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat and a decorated Vietnam War veteran, on legislation that would provide grants for the creation of veterans treatment courts like the one in Buffalo.
"A lot of veterans, when they come home, find the transition difficult, and we all turn to different things to get through those times," said Mr. Campbell, who served in Iraq in 2004-05. "If we're not lucky enough to have a strong family social network to hold us together in those difficult times, people turn to drugs, turn to alcohol.
"All of a sudden they find themselves in a position where, instead of being the outstanding patriot who's always been the person everyone looks to, they find themselves on the other end of the law," Mr. Campbell said. "This is going to get service members back to serving their country again."
Although the judge is not a veteran, he noticed a bond between vet defendants and the project's director, Hank Pirowski, who served in Vietnam - and so he built a mentor program into this court.
Twenty mentors take turns sitting in on the court sessions and meet individually with defendants to help them keep up with appointments and benefits applications, or just to talk.
Daniel Kind stands before Judge Robert Russell in Buffalo, N.Y., City Court Thursday. (Associated Press)
"It's that battle-buddy mentality, that teamwork. Who do you want in your foxhole? It's going to be another veteran," said Mr. Pirowski, whose stage-whispered "good job" and handshakes are a reassuring presence.
Mentor Jason Jaskula's best friend, Staff Sgt. Christopher Dill, was killed while the two were in Iraq in 2005, and Mr. Jaskula had the wrenching duty of accompanying the 32-year-old Buffalo firefighter's body home.
Mr. Jaskula is convinced the numbers of troops returning with PTSD - 40,000 since 2003, by the Department of Defense's count - are underestimated.
"I can see for a younger kid just getting out, they don't know how to deal with it," he said.
The 37-year-old is a detective with the Department of Veterans Affairs police, but would rather help fellow service members get past their problems than put them in jail.
"If you've done something that deserves to be punished, by all means you're getting punished. This isn't a get-out-of-jail-free card," Mr. Jaskula said. "But if you're hitting some stumbling blocks, I'd rather help you out.
"With mentors," he said, "it's not just some bureaucrat talking to you. I'm saying, 'Listen, this is what I've done. These are the potholes that I hit and the dead ends that I hit, so we're going to go and take this route.'"
Mr. Jaskula mentored a father of three who was arrested for selling marijuana to supplement his fast-food restaurant wages after returning from Iraq.
"He's going from making money and having an important role to coming back to a society that's saying, 'Go flip burgers for minimum wage, and if you can't make it, oh well,'" Mr. Jaskula said.
Jack O'Connor, a Vietnam veteran who is on the advisory board of Buffalo's VA hospital, has no problem finding veteran mentors for the sessions.
"We didn't have it when we got out. We were kind of spit on," Mr. O'Connor said. "I think these guys know that they don't want that to happen to this group.
"I got arrested when I got out. A lot of us did," he said. "I wish we had a Judge Russell to listen."
July 7, 2008
Pg. B6
Helps offenders with transition to civilian life
By Carolyn Thompson, Associated Press
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The first clue that the Tuesday afternoon session in Part 4 of Buffalo City Court is not like other criminal proceedings comes just before it starts.
Judge Robert Russell steps down from his bench and from the aloofness of his black robe. He walks into the gallery, where men and women accused of stealing, drug offenses and other nonviolent felonies and misdemeanors fidget in plastic chairs.
"Good afternoon," he says, smiling, and talks for a minute about the session ahead.
With the welcoming tone set, Judge Russell heads back behind the bench, where he will mete out justice with a disarming mix of small talk and life-altering advice.
While the defendants in this court have been arrested on charges that could mean potential prison time and damaging criminal records, they have another important trait in common: All have served their country in the military.
That combination has landed them here, in veterans treatment court, the first of its kind in the country.
Judge Russell is the evenhanded quarterback of a courtroom team of veterans advocates and volunteers determined to make this brush with the criminal-justice system these veterans' last.
"They look to the right or to the left, they're sitting there with another vet," Judge Russell said, "and it's a more calming, therapeutic environment. Rather than them being of the belief that 'people don't really understand me,' or 'they don't know what it's like' - well, it's a room full of folks who do."
If the veterans adhere to a demanding 1- to 2-year regimen of weekly to monthly court appearances, drug testing and counseling for any combination of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, substance abuse or anger management, they could see their charges dismissed, or at least stay out of jail.
After counting 300 veterans in the local courts last year, the judge tailor-made the treatment court to address not only vets' crimes, but their unique mental health issues.
Charles Lewis, who stood before Judge Russell at a recent session, may be exactly the kind of defendant the judge had in mind. The 25-year-old acknowledged walking out in frustration from his last counseling session.
"We all know that you're a good person who at times has done some inappropriate things," Judge Russell told him. "It's time to get past the nonsense, don't you think?"
Lewis nodded in agreement. A jet mechanic four years into what he thought would be a 20-year Navy career, he severely injured his leg on the flight deck of the carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt in 2004 and was discharged.
Forced to rethink his future before his 22nd birthday, he returned to Buffalo, where he found work as a laborer and in the concrete business before starting his own concrete company. After taking on more work than he could handle, Lewis said he found himself charged with petty larceny in December for keeping a $3,000 deposit from a customer for a job that never got done.
A daily habit of prescription pain pills for the plates and pins in his leg compounded the problems of someone who had known only the rigors of the military from the time he was 18.
"It was hard to adjust," Lewis said later at his home in Buffalo's north end. "I was used to that structure. That whole time [in the Navy] I was doing what I was supposed to do, then I got out, and it was just not working."
Admittedly stubborn - he walked out of counseling because he got tired of hearing people complain - the 25-year-old father of four is only now addressing anxiety and attention disorders linked to his wartime service and the toll it took on his leg and hearing. A 30-day stay in rehab to get off prescription drugs began his path through veterans treatment court.
"I'm doing really good now," he said.
Judge Russell believes the need for courts like his will only grow, pointing to the 1.6 million troops who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. It has been highly praised by the federal Department of Veterans Affairs and other veterans organizations.
"What I appreciate about this is, this isn't letting people off for what they do, it's just getting them the care that they need," said Patrick Campbell, legislative director for Iraq Veterans of America.
The group has been working with Sen. John Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat and a decorated Vietnam War veteran, on legislation that would provide grants for the creation of veterans treatment courts like the one in Buffalo.
"A lot of veterans, when they come home, find the transition difficult, and we all turn to different things to get through those times," said Mr. Campbell, who served in Iraq in 2004-05. "If we're not lucky enough to have a strong family social network to hold us together in those difficult times, people turn to drugs, turn to alcohol.
"All of a sudden they find themselves in a position where, instead of being the outstanding patriot who's always been the person everyone looks to, they find themselves on the other end of the law," Mr. Campbell said. "This is going to get service members back to serving their country again."
Although the judge is not a veteran, he noticed a bond between vet defendants and the project's director, Hank Pirowski, who served in Vietnam - and so he built a mentor program into this court.
Twenty mentors take turns sitting in on the court sessions and meet individually with defendants to help them keep up with appointments and benefits applications, or just to talk.
Daniel Kind stands before Judge Robert Russell in Buffalo, N.Y., City Court Thursday. (Associated Press)
"It's that battle-buddy mentality, that teamwork. Who do you want in your foxhole? It's going to be another veteran," said Mr. Pirowski, whose stage-whispered "good job" and handshakes are a reassuring presence.
Mentor Jason Jaskula's best friend, Staff Sgt. Christopher Dill, was killed while the two were in Iraq in 2005, and Mr. Jaskula had the wrenching duty of accompanying the 32-year-old Buffalo firefighter's body home.
Mr. Jaskula is convinced the numbers of troops returning with PTSD - 40,000 since 2003, by the Department of Defense's count - are underestimated.
"I can see for a younger kid just getting out, they don't know how to deal with it," he said.
The 37-year-old is a detective with the Department of Veterans Affairs police, but would rather help fellow service members get past their problems than put them in jail.
"If you've done something that deserves to be punished, by all means you're getting punished. This isn't a get-out-of-jail-free card," Mr. Jaskula said. "But if you're hitting some stumbling blocks, I'd rather help you out.
"With mentors," he said, "it's not just some bureaucrat talking to you. I'm saying, 'Listen, this is what I've done. These are the potholes that I hit and the dead ends that I hit, so we're going to go and take this route.'"
Mr. Jaskula mentored a father of three who was arrested for selling marijuana to supplement his fast-food restaurant wages after returning from Iraq.
"He's going from making money and having an important role to coming back to a society that's saying, 'Go flip burgers for minimum wage, and if you can't make it, oh well,'" Mr. Jaskula said.
Jack O'Connor, a Vietnam veteran who is on the advisory board of Buffalo's VA hospital, has no problem finding veteran mentors for the sessions.
"We didn't have it when we got out. We were kind of spit on," Mr. O'Connor said. "I think these guys know that they don't want that to happen to this group.
"I got arrested when I got out. A lot of us did," he said. "I wish we had a Judge Russell to listen."