“Our objective here at the Missouri Veterans Program is to reduce recidivism in the veteran community by restoring our honor and means to succeed. We will accomplish this objective by providing veteran-specific resources and a therapeutic environment.”

MVP Mission Statement

Service in the U.S. military can develop lifelong qualities and characteristics in an individual. The main mission of the armed forces is to serve and protect American citizens.

Many veterans struggle with a variety of social problems, and some end up in prison. However, their warrior values can be revived when a challenge becomes an opportunity. The men residing in the Veteran’s Wing at the Moberly, Mo., Correctional Center (MCC) were given such a challenge when asked to help a struggling nonveteran assigned to their housing unit. This was a trial for the institution’s administration, the veterans, and the young man who had become a product of the prison system at an early age.

While growing up, Johnathan Box moved frequently around the neighborhoods of Kansas City, Mo. At the age of 14, he entered the juvenile system. At 17, he was arrested for second-degree murder and armed criminal action. By his 19th birthday, Box was in a maximum-security prison where hardened criminals sized him up daily.

While trying to survive in that environment, he was charged with voluntary manslaughter after being attacked by another inmate and defending himself. Most teens in adult institutions become either predator or prey. As a result, Box joined a prison gang. Although he had experimented with drugs before incarceration, he became addicted to heroin while in prison. When that was not available, he would use anything that would get him high. Box says his drug use was a “coping device” and a “way to pass the time.” Whenever drugs are involved, criminal behavior and criminal thinking are magnified. Narcotics and gang affiliation became the main source of power, money and enjoyment for him.

Box arrived at MCC the summer of 2018 after his custody level was lowered by the prison administration. It was going to be a fresh start for Box. However, the criminal mindset was programmed into his way of thinking. Drug use, fights and gang life defined his religion, purpose and understanding of normalcy.

“Old habits die hard,” he said as he accumulated too many conduct violations and was at risk of returning to a maximum-security prison. The official reason was listed as “poor institutional adjustment.” However, some staff members had an ounce of hope left for Box and wanted to try a different plan of action as a last resort. It was something that could backfire and create a disturbance among the offender population. So, in July 2021, Box was assigned to the Missouri Veterans Program at MCC.

Picture a six-foot tall male with prison tattoos on his face, neck, arms, and most of his body, along with a cast on his right arm from his most recent fight strolling into the most quiet and disciplined wing at the institution. Most of the veterans did not know who Box was due to his gang association and because he had spent the last several months in administrative segregation (the hole).

Fear, anger and resentment hit many of the veterans like a tidal wave. However, several of the veterans knew Box from the prison yard and welcomed him into their environment. This was their chance to lead by example and expose Box to military values—strength, honor, and professionalism, something that Box never had as a foundation in his life. Now the veterans had an opportunity to once again serve society by helping a person who could one day be released back into the community. But he still needed direction and values set by example.

After living in a military-style environment with more rules, standards and requirements than the rest of the prison system, it was time for Box to sit down with me and answer some questions about his experience. It had been 30 days since his arrival at the Veteran’s Wing, and the tension surrounding this civilian among the vets had decreased sharply. In order to live in the Veteran’s Wing, Box had additional restrictions set by the prison administration to see if those “old habits” would reemerge.

I asked Box how he felt his first day in the wing, and he replied, “I felt nervous about the Veteran’s Wing. I was thrown into an element that I knew nothing about.”

Box was required to take the mandatory two-week orientation class, the core values class, and the color guard course. (All residents of the Veteran’s Wing are required to participate in the flag raising and lowering ceremony.) Box adapted impressively to the military-style leadership positions that govern the daily operations of the wing. I inquired about how he was able to conform to this garrison-type configuration, and his reply was, “The structure we live by in the wing is no different than the (prison) yard. The gang affiliations have a ranking system adopted by the military. I knew who I was accountable to and who was accountable to me. But this ranking system (Veteran’s Wing) is for the positive, not the negative. I understand the ranking structure in the Veteran’s Wing, and I respect it.”

Since Box was able to remain in the wing, he has modified his behavior and qualified for the offender long-term drug treatment program. He was placed on the transfer list as he eagerly awaited his next challenge. Box described his “awakening moment” that the Veteran’s Wing allowed him to discover. He realized that “prison is only temporary” and that a good life is possible for him outside of the fences. He confesses that his “foundations in life were built upon criminality, narcotics and misery.”

I asked Box what he had learned so far in our wing, and he described how he had discovered a different type of people to emulate, ask for advice and seek knowledge from, men who had built a foundation while they were in the military service, a foundation that he missed out on. At the end of the interview, Box looked at me with a grateful smile and said, “This was the best four weeks I’ve spent in prison.”

While this second chance for Box is still in its infancy, the experience for the veterans in the wing validates the saying: “You can take the man out of the military, but not the military out of the man”.