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State Rep. James Arciero and the members of the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Veterans and Federal Affairs recently toured the first-in-the-commonwealth facility specifically designed for veterans who are incarcerated. The tour, hosted by Middlesex County Sheriff Peter J. Koutoujian who conceived of the idea for such a program and brought it to fruition, reviewed the special unit at the Middlesex Sheriff’s Office jail in Billerica.
“As a member of the Veterans Affairs committee for the last seven years and being from a military family myself, I know the struggles that our veterans face when re-entering civilian life. Sometimes it can be particularly difficult given the experiences of war that they have endured. I am very impressed by this excellent program and facility and I know it will certainly make a difference in the lives of all those Veterans in Middlesex who choose to take advantage of it,” said Arciero.
The unit is formulated along the principles that govern military units with an emphasis on respect, honor, duty and integrity. Participation in the unit is voluntary and offers a number of programs suited to address the issues of substance abuse treatment, vocational training, employment readiness, and transitional assistance. A weekly speaker’s series and an exercise program are offered. All is tailored with veterans in mind.
At the opening of the facility in March 2016, Koutoujian said, “Our military veterans fought for our country, in some cases returning home with both visible and invisible wounds of war. I am incredibly proud to open this unit as a way to create a community among these men who can share their experiences in an effort to overcome adversity with the goal of setting them on a path to a better, more fulfilled life when they returned home to their loved ones.”
The HUMV program is the result of a 2013 agreement between the Middlesex Sheriff’s office, the federal Veterans Administration New England Healthcare System and the Massachusetts Department of Veterans’ Services.
While veterans typically have a lower rate of incarceration than the general non-military population in the United States, there are hundreds of thousands of veterans jailed in the nation. In Middlesex County, there is an average of 65 veterans incarcerated, with 24 individuals currently in the HUMV program, according to a spokesman for Koutoujian.
“I congratulate Sheriff Koutoujian on his foresight for such a program and making it a reality. I am very confident that it will be a blueprint for similar programs across our nation in the not too distant future,” said Arciero.
Pictured are Middlesex Sheriff Peter J. Koutoujian, State Representative James Arciero and State Representative John Law, Chairman of the Joint Committee on Veterans and Federal Affairs
