New program helps veterans in prison

New program helps veterans in prison
Feb. 8, 2012
By Erica Bryant
MECKLENBURG COUNTY, N.C. — More than 1 million veterans are in jails and prisons in the U.S. More than 2,000 of them are in North Carolina prisons, arrested for crimes ranging from theft, to drugs, to murder.

Many incarcerated veterans suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, traumatic brain injury or other mental health issues. The problems are side effects of their service that they might not recognize until it’s too late.

But there is a new effort in Mecklenburg County to help them.

Wesley Woodling will never forget the night he killed an innocent man, someone he mistakenly thought was trying to rob him.

“I was using tactics when I did it. I did it from a tree line where nobody could see me,” he said. “Like I was trained to do.”

He was trained in the National Guard and served in Iraq and Kuwait.

He was diagnosed with PTSD and bi-polar disorder and discharged in 2008. He said he was suicidal and hearing voices after he returned to his Charlotte home.
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