Jail for U.S. Veterans Opens

A sheriff in Muscogee County, Georgia, claims he has opened the nation’s first jail that will serve only veteran inmates in the hope of cutting rates of recidivism. “If veterans are not dealing with issues they may have, where are they going to go? They’re going to go to local county jails,” John Darr told reporters. But those facilities often don’t have the resources necessary to help veterans assimilate to civilian life. Darr’s new facility will be located close to Fort Benning, a military base. While recent numbers are hard to come by, a 2004 report estimated that 140,000 veterans were incarcerated in state and federal prisons, a number that does not include inmates in county jails.