H.R. 8044 — Get Justice-Involved Veterans BACK HOME Act

This section establishes a pilot program under which the Secretary of Veterans Affairs furnishes mental health care—primarily telemental health services, or otherwise via mobile units or other means—to incarcerated veterans at not fewer than five facilities representing large and small sizes and urban and rural settings that already have separate housing units for veterans, with priority to those with service-connected post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, or military sexual trauma. The program is developed in coordination with relevant state or federal incarceration agencies; uses only VA health care providers (via a dedicated hub separate from other VA facilities and networks) for treatment and medical assessments (not disability claims evaluations); imposes no copayments; and operates notwithstanding restrictions on VA care for incarcerated veterans under 38 U.S.C. 1710(h). (As background, 38 U.S.C. 1710(h) generally bars VA hospital and nursing home care for veterans incarcerated in penal institutions, with limited exceptions for those in VA facilities or serving short sentences.)

This section directs the Director of the Bureau of Prisons (BOP), wherever feasible, to establish dedicated wards or housing units for incarcerated veterans in federal correctional institutions to provide an environment conducive to veterans' discipline, structure, and order, thereby facilitating mental health treatment, peer support, and rehabilitation. It requires the head of each such institution to collaborate with local Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) facilities for staff training, resource allocation, and tailored rehabilitation programming in those units and mandates structured veteran-focused programs, with VA oversight and support, in facilities lacking capacity for dedicated units.

This section requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to automatically resume disability compensation and dependency and indemnity compensation (DIC)—monthly payments to disabled veterans and their survivors, respectively—for individuals whose benefits were suspended due to felony incarceration upon the date of release from incarceration. The requirement takes effect 180 days after enactment.

This section requires the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)—the Department of Justice agency responsible for collecting, analyzing, and publishing statistical data on crime and justice—to (1) collect and analyze comprehensive information on the incarceration of veterans (as defined in 38 U.S.C. 101); and (2) submit to Congress an initial report on such data relating to veterans incarcerated in state and federal prisons within 180 days of enactment and annually thereafter.