Former military service personnel comprise around 5% of the prison population of England and Wales. When imprisoned, they are in the unusual position of having already experienced life within a total institution and may find familiarity in the male-dominated, structured, hierarchical and regimented regime of the prison.
This study explored the views, attitudes and experiences of 40 former military personnel serving prison sentences in England. Using in-depth qualitative interviews, it analysed how former military prisoners cope with imprisonment, how they experience their lives within the prison’s institutional regime, how they build and maintain relationships with other prisoners and how they negotiate relationships with staff, all as they negotiate diminished social status and conflicting identities.
This paper presents findings which suggest that ex-military prisoners often retain a military identity, carried from the military through to civilian and eventually prison life. This includes a set of cultural norms, values and beliefs, or a “military mind-set”, that can promote self-control, self-restraint and an ability to cope with physical and mental hardships, thereby promoting compliance with prison regime and assisting prisoners to cope with prison life. These findings discussed in this paper could have important implications for the management and rehabilitation of ex-military prisoners.