Parliament Wednesday 22nd October 2008:
During Prime Ministers Question Time the Prime Minister Mr Gordon Brown was asked a question by Plaid Cymru member Mr Elfyn Llwd MP regarding imprisoned ex-servicemen – estimated at around 8,500 which is approximately 10% of the prison population and ‘why’ this was so?
The Prime Minister quickly responded and stated that 96% of ex-service personnel find work within 6 months of leaving the Armed Forces? This all sounds great news (on the surface that is) but unfortunately Mr Brown is playing with words in his answer – and deliberately trying to hide the very high numbers of combat soldiers/veterans in the prison population. Veterans In Prison statistics show that 95% of the 8,500 ex-servicemen in the prison population are ex-soldiers and that they are the ones most likely suffering combat related PTSD (CRPTSD) because its these combat soldiers on the ground who are the most vulnerable and at risk of ending up inside the prison system – not Mr Brown’s insinuated entire Armed Forces personnel (deviously the Prime Minister was adding ‘all’ Service personnel together in his statistical bid to disguise the ‘mountain’ of ex-soldiers in the prison population).
The Prime Minister also cited the Governments source of pride their ‘In-Reach’ programme for ex- servicemen in prison – an organisation put in place to (supposedly) help veterans in prison. However this may come as a hell of a surprise to Mr Brown but the ‘In Reach’ organisation knew about this very same problem ‘4 years’ earlier and completely ignored it – even though the issue was highlighted by Commodore Toby Elliott Chief Executive of Combat Stress (after a meeting in prison with Jimmy Johnson founder member of Veterans In Prison) on Monday 4th October 2004 – as an extract from the minutes of the ‘In Reach’ meeting shows:
Points arising from a meeting to discuss prison In Reach to ex-servicemen on Monday 4th October 2004
Item 2 – experiences of support organisations
- Combat Stress. Little contact with ex-service prisoners who are still serving their sentence but we have few ex-prisoners on the books. Chief Exec has had contact with one prisoner in Durham jail who is keen to publicise the plight of the ex-servicemen in prison suffering PTSD. His experience would suggest 10% of prisoners are ex-service (straw poll) and that little is being done to recognise or treat PTSD amongst the prison population.
Thankfully some professionals working with the Prison Service – the National Association of Probation Officers (NAPO) realised that there was an extraordinary amount of ex-soldiers in the prison population convicted for drugs and violence (many ex-soldiers are also serving Life sentences for murder ) and published the shocking figures of 8,500 ex-servicemen in prison custody. The appalling inadequacy of ‘In Reach’s’ failure to rehabilitate any of those troops/veterans (unknowingly suffering from CRPTSD) since its actual creation – only reflects the Governments incompetence in dealing with this devastating mental disorder inside the prison system!
A poignant and sad example to the best that this Government can offer troops/veterans in the degree in which they have been blatantly ignored regarding this fiasco of very high numbers of ex-soldiers in the prison population (particularly the ones unknowingly suffering CRPTSD) is scandalously and shamefully the proof of ‘In Reach’s’ credibility - especially when this same controversy is being put forward in Parliament by Mr Llwyd MP 4 years later.
So who does the Prime Minister think he’s kidding standing at the dispatch box and pulling the ‘In Reach’ programme out of the hat – when in fact thousands of troops/.veterans suffering this disorder will have been released back into the community during the past ‘4’ years not treated not rehabilitated and not able to fit back into society because they are still unknowingly suffering CRPTSD and still ticking time-bombs. The reality is that Mr Brown is not only kidding the Plaid Cymru MP but he’s also kidding Parliament and the whole country with this ‘In Reach’ delusion – the bottom line is that the Governments ‘In Reach’ programme has done nothing (and plenty of nothing) in helping troops/veterans unknowingly suffering CRPTSD in the entire prison population!
Finally another twist in the tale – rounding off his reply to the Plaid Cymru MP’s question the Prime Minister said: “it’s our duty to assist these ex-servicemen in prison”. Again what message is Mr Brown sending when bizarrely the Veterans Minister Mr Derek Twigg MP was doing is damndest to hide ( and keep them hidden) these high numbers of troops/veterans in the prison population – as the following example shows:
On the 8th September 2008 the Veterans Minister Mr Derek Twigg MP was asked a question on BBC TV Breakfast programme – regarding the concerns about the recent revelations on the news about the ‘very high’ numbers of ex-soldiers in the prison population. The Veterans Minister stated: “This is now ‘all in hand’ a Dr Ian Palmer is dealing with this situation and he is prepared to visit anyone in prison in relation to PTSD who writes to him”.
Pathetically Mr Twigg’s reply was nothing but a’ red herring’ and scandalously he is knowingly ‘selling troops/veterans (and their families) down the river’ by coming out with such deceiving statements – his key words being “Dr Palmer is prepared to visit anyone in prison in relation to PTSD who write to him”.
The scam or purpose behind Mr Twiggs announcement is that the Government are genuinely relying on the fact that troops/veterans in the prison population are completely ‘unaware’ of themselves suffering from CRPTSD (it’s a known fact that the vast majority of troops/veterans suffering CRPTSD ‘do not know or realise’ that they are suffering from it) and accordingly troops/veterans unknowingly suffering from this mental disorder – will not write to a doctor about something that they cannot believe or even realise they are suffering from (why should they)? Consequently and conveniently the Veterans Ministers way of hoodwinking and virtually getting troops/veterans to diagnose themselves – ensures that no-one or the very least possible numbers of troops/veterans unknowingly suffering CRPTSD inside the prison system will write to Dr Palmer.
Besides how can Mr Twigg seriously suggest that Dr Palmer can do anything meaningful with these very high numbers of troops/veterans in the prison population? When you realise that Dr Palmer is the head of the MoD’s pilot medical Assessment Programme (MAP) and also has his own clinic to run a well as helping Camden and Islington pilot (MAP) schemes? Subsequently if Dr Palmer worked 365 days a year (7 days a week) to diagnose and write out medical reports for each of the individual ex-servicemen in the prison population (all 8,500 of them) and taking only a minimum of 2 days for each report – plus also interviewing every ex-servicemen it would take Dr Palmer 46 years to complete this task (this does not include the thousands of troops/veterans who are at present serving in Iraq and Afghanistan and already pre- destined for prison)!
Veterans In Prison are not happy with this situation especially if Dr Palmer (who is an ex-serving military GP and a consultant psychiatrist) is agreeing to this approach – in that it doesn’t say much for his ethics as a doctor because ‘double dealing’ is no way to treat troops/veterans who have been wounded due to their service to their country. Put simply ‘if you are cut (physically or mentally) you bleed’ no matter what and an ex-military officer GP knows this certainty. In truth Dr Palmer should be shouting from the rooftops for the Government to do its moral duty and sort out this ongoing catastrophe – by checking each and every combat veteran in the prison population (who has served in any war/conflict) for CRPTSD!
On the other hand is the real intention behind the Governments lackadaisical approach to this problem – because it would make a mockery out of the whole Criminal Justice system (especially since this ‘ignorance is bliss’ policy by the Ministry of Justice/Home Office had been going on for years)? And you don’t need a degree in Law or psychology to realise that thousands of the 8,500 troops/veterans now already in the prison population (along with many thousands of troops/veterans before them) who are unknowingly suffering CRPTSD will also be miscarriages of justice)! Appallingly these troops/veterans crimes have been mischaracterised because no-one in authority could be bothered to check at the time of their trials if they were suffering form CRPTSD – and prison is not much thanks from a grateful nation for being (unknowingly) wounded whilst being exposed to the horrors of wars/conflicts!
Footnote: regrettably the Prime Minister acted like a ‘used car salesman’ (taking someone for a ride) in his response to Mr Llwyd’s question. But tragically its not laughable and this problem is much worse than the Government pretends because thousands of troops/veterans (their families) an innocent victims lives are being destroyed by Mr Browns spiel – and ‘In Reach’s’ failure to carry out its responsibilities regarding the high numbers of ex-servicemen unknowingly suffering CRPTSD in the prison population over the past 4 years confirms this performance and the Governments negligence!
