When I worked with prisoners (who nearly all had drug problems), many told me they'd experienced sleeping rough and begging/stealing to keep their habit going and somehow survive. I try not to judge. Suffering is suffering, no matter what path a person has trodden to arrive at this point. I just can't for the life of me see a solution. I imagine there are day-centres and homeless hostels, but I also heard from 'my' prisoners that life on the streets is very dangerous and violent, and of course the hostels have rules about no drugs or alcohol on the premises.

We have the Charity 'Help For Heroes' here in UK, which looks after veterans who are either homeless or in financial difficulty. Once they leave the Forces, no-one officially seems to watch over them.

My husband is always shocked to see that such poverty exists in the 'First World'. We've both seen terrible things in W Africa, but this is just as bad.