The fate of our veterans
looks at the plight of servicemen and women returning from Iraq and Afghanistan who then end up in prison
The growing controversy over the fate of thousands of ex-servicemen and women in prison after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan is to be highlighted in a series of reports by the Howard League to be released over the next six months. An inquiry under John Nutting, QC, due to be published on Armistice Day, has been widened in scope into three separate reports following the amount of information gathered by the Howard League on the plight of service personnel who end up in prison.
The Fox report has been told by the Howard League that its report will not be published as scheduled on 11 November but instead three separate investigations into alcoholism, mental health problems and potential innovations in treating damaged ex-servicemen learned from the United States will be released between the end of the year and armed forces day (25 June 2011).
Elfyn Llwyd, the Plaid Cymru MP for Meirionnydd Nant Conwy and a member of the Howard League inquiry, told the Fox report: ‘We are looking at alcoholism, drug taking and mental health issues because they are all part of the mix.’ He promised the findings will be wide ranging.
The inquiry was set up at a time when even the number of ex-servicemen in prison was a matter of controversy. The last government insisted that the figure was no higher than three per cent of the 85,000 people in prison – after conducting what it called a survey for the ministries of defence and justice.
The National Association of Probation Officers (NAPO) challenged this. NAPO took soundings from prisons where inmates had been asked if they were soldiers and found more than three times that number, suggesting that it could top 8,500.
The union was backed by Kent Police. Their early data found that out of 7,600 people arrested and taken to police stations, some 232 had served in the armed forces. The majority were aged between eighteen and twenty-five and the most common offence – nearly a third of all former soldiers arrested – was for violent offences against other people. The police are certain that this is an underestimate since not all of them would have declared themselves as ex-soldiers.
The controversy over the figures led the new government to recommission the survey using a snapshot of the prison population and checking back with the military – and it still came back with similar figures. In fact, according to ministers in the justice department, they believe the figures for violent offences by soldiers are lower than in the general population, though they admit that figures for sexual assault and domestic violence against a partner are higher.
The controversy is unlikely to go away. Elfyn Llwyd still disputes the methodology of the new survey.
He told the Fox report: ‘I still believe the figure could be nearer nine per cent because of the scoping of the study by the government. It excludes anybody under eighteen, all the reservists, women and people from Northern Ireland. Frankly, I don’t think the government has a clue what it is doing.’
So far the government has continually tried to underestimate the problem by saying it cannot survey the entire prison service. The argument, according to the prison service, is that to do this it would be necessary to amend its new computer system to add an additional question for all new inmates – and this would add to costs and delays that have already plagued its introduction. It is also very convenient because, as parliamentary questions have revealed, the government does not have a full record of all the offences committed by ex-soldiers and there is a suspicion that some might be very violent.
One serving prison officer, who is ex-army, and has set up a veterans support group, for example, found he had one murderer in the group.
So far the response has been rather piecemeal and inadequate. A report, Fighting Fit, by Andrew Murrison, Conservative MP for Westbury, recommended action should be taken mainly by the mental health charity, Combat Stress, to help servicemen and women. Government money to pump-prime new initiatives amounts to just £150,000 from the Ministry of Defence and £1.225 million from the NHS. And both sums are subject to spending cuts by the Treasury. Most of the new cash is to come from the Big Lottery Fund – which has some £35m to distribute to charities. Effectively this is asking the Big Society to take care of the problem.
Andrew Murrison’s report – released to coincide with the Conservative Party conference this month – got virtually no publicity. Perhaps this is hardly surprising since the report proposed very little. There was only to be a trial of early interventions to help service personnel and a small increase in outreach work by mental health experts. The main change appeared to be asking more relevant questions during medical examinations as soldiers face discharge from the army.
The Howard League findings look likely to be more relevant and far more radical. Elfyn Llwyd said he was very impressed with the innovations he saw while visiting the US with committee members.
The most radical initiative – the veterans’ court – was the one that initially gave him the most misgivings – but he was won round when he saw it in action.
He said: ‘I was perplexed and not persuaded of the merits of setting up a criminal court supposing to cater for the needs of any class of society because, after all, equality before the law is a cherished and vital component of the legal system in England and Wales. Having visited the veterans’ court in Buffalo, New York, the reality was quite different.’ (See more about this court on page 8.)
Elfyn added: ‘This court has been in operation for some years and has seen thousands of offenders through and back into mainstream society. Over the last three years there has been close monitoring of it and the re-offending rate is an incredible zero per cent! If that is not a success story, nothing is.’
The extraordinary facts surrounding all the problems facing ex-servicemen, particularly army recruits, is how little the government seems to want to know about them. It has thrown a generation of young people directly into two combat situations, which have now lasted longer than the second world war.
The clue about the denial of any real problems can be found in the evidence to the Howard League inquiry from ministers and from the fiction writer and ex-soldier Andy McNab.
Kevan Jones, the former Labour armed forces minister, told the inquiry: ‘Many veterans who end up in the criminal justice system may well have ended up there anyway because they come from some of the most challenging communities in the country where educational standards may be low. Military service can act as an interruption to or diversion from a criminal lifestyle.’
In his evidence Andy McNab said: ‘The perception that service men and women suffer Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is wrong. Service personnel are very resilient. PTSD tends to manifest itself years after the events. By then the vast majority of suffers have left the armed services.
‘What is starting to emerge in the Armed Forces are people wanting to leave before the end of their contract claiming they have PTSD in order to claim a medical discharge and a medical pension. It is starting to be perceived as an honourable excuse for leaving prematurely.’
David Hencke is a freelance investigative journalist based in parliament and the former Westminster correspondent of The Guardian newspaper. He now writes for a wide range of publications as well as working for Raw Cut, an independent TV production company. His website is http://davidhencke.wordpress.com.
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