I’m a Veteran in Jail, Do I Still Get VA Disability?

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, in 2015, there were more than 180,000 United States veterans in local, state, and federal prisons.

An additional 37,085 veterans were estimated to be homeless as of 2019. And people without shelter are nine times more likely to spend time in jail than those who have access to shelter.

If you’re a veteran or a friend of a veteran and you’re concerned about their housing or legal status, you may be wondering, “Do you lose your VA benefits if you go to jail?” Read on to learn what will happen to your benefits in the event of your incarceration.

Disability Compensation

One of the primary benefits many veterans receive from the VA is disability benefits. The VA grants these benefits to veterans who have ongoing conditions due to their military service that impact their ability to live a normal, healthy life. These conditions may be either mental or physical, and you will receive a check each month from the VA, with the amount depending on the severity of your condition. 

If you go to jail for fewer than sixty days, your disability compensation will not change. As we’ll discuss more in a moment, a jail sentence of longer than sixty days will affect your compensation, though you won’t lose it entirely. Your compensation impact will also depend on whether you’ve been convicted of a felony or of a misdemeanor.

Sixty-Day Time Limit

In general, your VA benefits will remain active as normal for your first sixty days in jail. If, after you’ve served sixty days, you have completed your sentence, you’ll be able to continue receiving all of your benefits with no interruptions. This goes for felony or misdemeanor offenses. 

However, if your sentence is sixty-one days, or longer, your disability compensation and pension will be reduced. You will still be eligible for some of your additional disability benefits, which we’ll discuss more in a moment. Once you are released, you’ll be able to resume your normal disability and pension benefits. 

How A Felony Affects VA Benefits

If you were convicted of a felony charge and you have a jail sentence longer than sixty days, the VA will reduce your disability benefits after the 61st day. If you had a disability rating of 20 percent or higher, you’ll only get the 10 percent compensation amount for the duration of your sentence. If your disability rating was 10 percent, your monthly compensation will be cut in half.

In general, felonies are more serious crimes which come with a jail sentence of at least one year or more. This can include violent crimes such as assault, burglary, or murder. You can also be convicted of a felony for certain non-violent crimes that involve large amounts of money, such as embezzlement, fraud, and certain illegal drug deals.

Misdemeanors and VA Disability Checks

If you were convicted of a misdemeanor, your disability benefits won’t be impacted, even if your sentence is longer than sixty days. You’ll maintain your same disability rating and compensation throughout your sentence and after your release. It’s also important to note that veterans participating in work release programs, living in halfway houses, or under community control won’t have their benefits reduced.

Misdemeanors are less serious crimes and tend to come with shorter jail sentences. They may include shoplifting, some forms of assault, and drunk driving. Some of these misdemeanors can also qualify as felonies if a person reoffends with the same crime.

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VA Compensation Amounts

The VA bases disability compensation amounts on your disability rating. For instance, if you have a 10 percent disability rating, you’ll receive $171.23 per month. If you have a rating of 20 percent, you’ll get $338.49 each month. 

For ratings over 30 percent, the VA considers whether you have people depending on you financially when determining your compensation amount. For instance, if you have a 50 percent rating and no dependents, you’ll get $1,075.16 per month. But if you have a spouse and a child relying on you, the monthly amount will be more.

VA Pension in Jail

If you’re eligible for pension through the VA, the same sixty-day time limit will apply as with disability compensation. If your sentence is less than sixty days, your pension benefits will go on unchanged. But after the sixty-first day, your pension benefits will be terminated entirely for the duration of your sentence. 

The VA will terminate your pension after sixty days in prison no matter whether you committed a felony or a misdemeanor. Once you’re released, you may apply to get those benefits back, though there may be a delay if you waited to tell the VA about your imprisonment. The only exception to this rule is if you get your pension apportioned during your sentence. 

Healthcare Benefits

As a veteran, you may be entitled to healthcare benefits through the VA. While you’re in jail, you technically retain rights to those healthcare benefits. That will not change whether you commit a felony or a misdemeanor.

However, you will not actually have access to healthcare through the VA while you’re in jail. You’ll be limited to using the medical care the jail provides until your release, when you’ll be eligible for VA healthcare benefits again. But retaining those rights can be important if you get paroled or if your sentence is overturned.

Apportionments

If you’re in jail, your family can apply to have your benefits paid out to them instead. This is called apportionment, and it’s designed to help financially dependent families of incarcerated veterans. Even though you’re in jail, their needs and situation haven’t changed, and without any income you may have been earning, they could be left in a bad financial situation.

If the VA does decide to award apportionment, your family may be able to keep receiving your pension benefits while you’re in jail, even after the sixty-first day of your sentence. 

Your family can also get the remaining amount of your disability benefits after your compensation is reduced. For instance, if you have a 60 percent rating that gets reduced to 10 percent, they can receive compensation for the remaining 50 percent of your disability claim. Once you get released from jail, you’ll start getting your benefits directly again.

Applying for Apportionment

In order to apply for apportionment, your family will need to fill out VA Form 21-0788, Information Regarding Apportionment of Beneficiary’s Award. This form will ask about how much income they make outside of your income, as well as what their expenses are. They’ll also need to provide information about any assets they may have. 

The VA will award apportionment depending on financial need. Your spouse, children, and parents can all apply for apportionment, depending on the extent to which they depend on you financially. If the VA does award apportionment, they’ll divide it up among your dependents based on their need. 

Education Benefits

As a veteran, you have access to some education benefits through the VA. They may help you pay college tuition or help pay for some of your family members to attend college. You can also get educational and career counseling through the VA to help you determine what education you need for the career that will best suit you. 

If you’re in jail for a misdemeanor, you’ll still receive full education benefits from the VA, even if you’re in jail for longer than sixty days. If you committed a felony, you’ll only have access to compensation for the cost of tuition, fees, and necessary school supplies. If another program is already helping to cover some or all of these expenses, the VA will not give you more than the program costs.

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Notifying the VA

If you do get arrested and convicted, it’s important that you notify the VA as soon as possible that you’ve gone to jail. This will start the clock on that sixty-day timeline, but that clock starts the day you go to jail no matter what. If you don’t notify the VA about your incarceration, they’ll withhold payments after you get released from jail until the overpaid amount has been met.

But if you let the VA know that you’ve gone to jail right away, your family will have time to file for apportionment benefits. They may have time to get that claim processed before your sixty days is up. This means your family should be able to keep receiving the money they need without a hitch as long as you move quickly. 

Applying for VA Benefits in Jail

What do you do if you’re in jail at the time you realize you may be eligible for VA benefits, disability or otherwise? You do have the right to apply for these benefits while you’re in jail. The VA will review your application and award an appropriate amount just like they would in any other situation.

However, the amount of money you get during your sentence will stay the same even if you get your approval while you’re in jail. For instance, if you apply for VA disability benefits and receive a 60 percent rating, you will still only get 10 percent for the duration of your jail sentence. Once you get released, you can start getting the full benefits of your 60 percent rating, and in the meantime, your family may be able to apply for apportionment.

If Your Conviction Is Overturned

In some cases, you may be in jail for a wrongful conviction, and your sentence may get overturned on appeal. So what happens to the disability and pension payments you lost if it turns out you were innocent all along? Once your conviction is overturned, all your benefits will be restored to you in full.

If you notify the VA of your successful appeal, they will give you a retroactive payment for all the disability compensation you lost during your incarceration. However, they will not repay you for lost pension payments. And if your family was receiving apportionment during your sentence, you will also not get that retroactive payment.

If You Become a Fugitive 

If you are a felon and you go on the run to avoid going to jail, or if you violate your probation or parole terms, you will be considered a fugitive. If you do become a fugitive for any of these reasons, you will not be able to get any cash benefits from the VA, including disability, life insurance and pension benefits. Your family will also not be eligible for apportionment, even if they have nothing to do with your fugitive status.

You will also not be eligible for education or healthcare benefits while you’re a fugitive felon. You can get your benefits back once you are no longer a fugitive. This means your warrant was cleared by your arrest, your surrender, a dismissal of your charges, or a court document declaring that you’re no longer a fugitive. 

After You’re Released

Once you’re released from jail, all your VA benefits will go back to normal. You’ll begin receiving your full disability compensation check tax-free each month, and your pension will start back up again if you’re eligible. You’ll also get full access to your education, healthcare, and life insurance benefits again.

Keep in mind that if you violate your parole or probation, you’ll be considered a fugitive and will lose all your benefits. If your family is receiving apportionment, that will end once you’re released. However they will still have access to supplementary benefits, such as education benefits or life insurance payouts. 

Answer, “Can I Lose My VA Benefits If I Go to Jail?” 

The question, “Can I lose my VA benefits if I go to jail?” is a fair question to ask. Too many of our veterans find themselves homeless or in dire straits trying to make ends meet. If you or a veteran friend wind up in jail for whatever reason, you may lose some of your benefits, but they’ll be restored upon your release.

If you’d like help handling your VA benefits, get in touch with us at Woods and Woods, The Veteran’s Firm. We aren’t lawyers that help with crime, we just help veterans with disability. We fight for veterans every day, and you don’t pay unless we win. Contact us today to start getting the compensation you deserve.