Veteran Voices Within Prison Walls: Exploring Military and Prison Experiences Through Personal Narratives

• In Event: Addressing the Gaps: Improving Identification and Support for Justice-Involved Veterans

Abstract

In this qualitative study, we explore the written narratives of incarcerated individuals who self-identify as veterans and discuss their military experience using essays from the American Prison Writing Archive (APWA). The APWA is an online repository of writings by incarcerated individuals and those who work with or know incarcerated individuals, consisting of over 3,800 essays, lyrics, and poems. Our study utilizes content analysis to explore the first-person narratives of these incarcerated veterans and identify common themes among the works, including feelings of abandonment by the United States government, comparisons of prison and military life, motivations for military service, and descriptions of veteran programs, among others. Overall, these findings expand our understanding of incarcerated veterans' prison experiences, perceptions, and unique needs by focusing on their own unfiltered and unedited written words.

Authors

• Allison Escobedo, The University of Texas at Dallas

• Ugur Orak, Middle Tennessee State University

• Monica Solinas-Saunders, Indiana University Northwest

• Melissa J. Stacer, University of Southern Indiana