Incarcerated veterans at SCI contribute to veterans groups

Military service implants shared values and connections in the hearts and psyches of veterans. This is often summed up by “duty, honor, country.” It is shared by common experiences of service, leadership, sacrifice, duties in harm’s way, and often reinforced by service-connected physical and psychological injury. It applies to every branch and conflict, and includes reaching out to fellow veterans whether at home, overseas or even behind prison walls.

Representatives of three veterans organizations were invited by Sussex Correctional Institution’s Incarcerated Veterans Group Oct. 26 to receive contributions to veterans in need beyond SCI’s walls. Held in the chapel, the ceremony was facilitated by the Delaware Department of Correction and included prison staff who work with the group and are themselves military veterans.

Dave Skocik, president of the Delaware Veterans Coalition, addressed 25 incarcerated veterans in SCI's chapel. The invitation was the second one by the incarcerated veterans group in connecting with fellow veterans. Each of the recipient organizations reaches out to incarcerated veterans and their families in conjunction with the courts, the service agencies and the Veterans Administration to connect them with benefits earned through military service to facilitate their successful reentry into society. Attending the ceremony was retired Kent County Resident Judge William Witham, an Army veteran who oversaw implementation of the Delaware Veterans Court in 2011.