Incarcerated Veterans and their Adaptation to Prison

Abstract

In 2016, an estimated 107,400 veterans were incarcerated in the U.S. (Maruschak et al., 2021), comprising part of the population known as “justice-involved veterans,” veterans involved in the criminal justice system. The current study explores the influence military training had on the way justice-involved veterans “do time” in prison. In sharp contrast to the misconduct literature, which utilizes quantitative data and links variables statistically to some measurement of prison misconduct, the current study is one of the first to qualitatively explore how incarcerated veterans connect their military experiences to their adjustment to prison life by giving voice to the veterans themselves. Forty-three currently incarcerated veterans in a Midwestern state were interviewed. They described how they acclimatized to the correctional environment utilizing the discipline and adherence to structure learned during their military service. If justice-involved veterans adapt to the prison environment by relying on their military training, then it may be possible to help them further utilize that training to succeed in rehabilitation and reentry.