Post is within the confines of the Sumter Correctional Institution in Bushnell. These military veterans served their country, and then they started serving time in prison. Now they are serving both. American Legion Post 403 was commissioned Friday in a special Veterans Day Ceremony — behind high walls, fences, bars, rows of barbed wire and guards at the Sumter Correctional Institution in Bushnell. The ceremony comes after the post recently received its temporary charter that will allow 15 qualified inmate military veterans to participate in regular meeti ngs and other functions associated with the American Legion, the nation’s largest wartime veterans service organization. “It’s a way to show we can still serve our country, even behind bars,” said Post Commander Ryan Carroll, also inmate 134230 and a former U.S. Coast Guard member. In a ceremony that included a number of civilian American Legion officials, the 15 inmates were called up one-by-one and given their memberships cards. They also were handed a gavel to run the meetings and their post flag. Eastern Area Commander Bob Kiley, who conducted the ceremony, said while Carroll and others committed crimes, they did serve their country well in the military and should have the chance to continue serving, even behind bars. “They defended our way of life for all our citizens,” said Kiley at the podium as a number of the prison’s inmates and officials watched. The prisoners will run meetings just as they are run outside of prison. There’s a chaplain, historian, a Sergeant-at-Arms to keep order during its meeting and other positions. The meetings will take place in the prison’s veterans dormitory that is filled with military signs and is part of a re-entry program overseen by the Florida Department of Corrections. The dormitory allows veterans to live the military life where they are required to conduct a daily flag raising, abide by military standards, refrain from profanity and participate in other military-type duties. “You can definitely see the difference it has made on our veterans,” said Warden Jimmy Johnson of the 81 veterans who are in the program at Sumter Correctional Institution. But behind bars, the American Legion members won’t be able to contribute to community charities such as little league baseball and soccer, scouting and homeless veterans. Warden J. Johnson said fundraising by the prison legion for community groups will be challenging. “This will be kind of new for us,” said Kiley, who will initially attend some of the prison American Legion meetings. But the post’s prisoners are working to establish a fund-raising project that will involve collecting and recycling pop-tabs from soda cans. Carroll said they would use the funding for local charities as well as helping older and indigent prisoners who have little or no family to give them money. “Even though we are locked up, we can still volunteer our time for worthwhile causes,” Carroll said. It is the prisoners’ little access to money that will make projects difficult and prolonged the prison’s two-year effort to start the post. With only menial income coming from car washes, working the prison canteen and other menial jobs in the prison, it was difficult to find the 15 minimum number of inmates required to start the post because many of the them had difficulty raising the $21.50 fee to join. “It took a lot of work to get it started,” said prison employee, Sgt. Denise Bedwood, who helped start the post. Inmate post members are serving time for a variety of crimes, including drugs and burglary. Carroll, 29, was on active duty with the Coast Guard in 2010, is scheduled to be released in 2015. Robert Perkins, 80, inmate 031293 and the post historian, served in the Army between 1951 and 1954. He was sentenced to life in 1956. Perkins has a parole hearing in January of next year and hopes to join a civilian post if he’s released. Both said they hope being members of an inmate post will help transform their criminal reputations. “Now we’re even more determined to give back to the community and live productive lives,” Perkins said. -- November 11, 2013: Article by Millard K. Ives, Staff Writer for "Daily Commercial"