Still a soldier: Navigating military identity during incarceration

Incarcerated veterans are a unique segment of the prison population, but despite growing research, the voices of incarcerated veterans remain largely absent from literature. Drawing upon Narrative Identity Theory, this study examines how veterans construct and negotiate their military identity while incarcerated. Analyzing 91 essays from 48 incarcerated veterans who voluntarily submitted to the American Prison Writing Archive, we identified three key themes. First, veterans actively identify with a service member mindset, using rank, combat experience, and service records to distinguish themselves from other inmates and assert status. However, they also feel conflicted, as the status of a soldier is one to be respected but the status of a prisoner is often stigmatized. Second, veterans express mixed reflections on their service experiences, noting feelings of pride about their specialized roles, but also recognizing feelings of regret, discontentment, and disillusionment. Third, veterans draw comparisons between military and prison institutions, finding similarities that impact their institutional adjustment and identity. Overall, the findings reveal that military identity remains central to veterans’ meaning-making process during incarceration, which underscores the importance of recognizing military identity and its conflict with carceral stigma in rehabilitation and reentry interventions for justice-involved veterans.