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Abstract

In contrast with studies examining the incarceration experience in civil prisons, there is a lack of literature and theory focusing on the military prison incarceration experience. The present retrospective qualitative study explored the experience of 27 Ethiopian-Israelis, an overrepresented population in Israeli military prison, incarcerated during their military service due to desertion offenses. Two main themes developed from the interviews: (a) the military prison as a tool to achieve personal goals and (b) Self-perception as victims of the system. Findings suggest that military prison incarceration may be a different experience to that of civilian incarceration, at times lacking the negative psychological described in literature on civil incarceration. On a theoretical level, results suggest that the incarceration experience may not be universal but, rather, dependent on the social and cultural context and meaning of the incarceration for the individual involved.

Keywords

military criminal justice military incarceration emerging adult deserters Ethiopian immigrants

Imprisonment is considered a highly stressful environment for justice-involved persons, with many reporting mental health problems and/or difficulties coping with incarceration (Auty et al., 2017; Goomany & Dickinson, 2015; Harner & Riley, 2013). Research on institutional adaptation to prison has focused on characteristics concerning the individual (Logan & Pare, 2017) and the environment associated with imprisonment’s psychological impact (Trulson et al., 2011). Sykes (1958) described the deprivation created by the act of incarceration, which he named “pains of imprisonment,” as damaging essential aspects of the individual’s daily life before incarceration, such as liberty, property, sexual relationships, and security. Justice-involved persons are significantly more likely to feel depressed, anxious, and overstressed due to the deprivation of autonomy, safety, and relationships (Wooldredge, 1999). Crewe (2011) again widened the perspective and argued that modern penal practices had created new types of pain associated with a sense of uncertainty, psychological assessment, and self-rule as manifested in situations in which the correctional staff uses soft power.

To date, literature on the pains of imprisonment among young correctional clients has focused on the experience of civil imprisonment, and little is known about their existence or conceptual relevance in military prison. The military–crime connection among veterans, following their service, is well-established, and several studies have shown a link to criminal justice outcomes such as substance abuse, arrest, incarceration, or recidivism (Greenberg & Rosenheck, 2012; Van Dyke & Orrick, 2017; White et al., 2012). Yet, studies have not addressed the soldier population itself who are incarcerated during their military prison service. The examination of military prison imprisonment is interesting as it can shed light as to what extent previous theories on incarceration are context dependent. The current study attempts to fill this gap in the literature by examining military prison incarceration, focusing on a particular group of soldiers, Ethiopian immigrants, an overrepresented population in Israeli military prison.

The Military Prison Experience: Four Issues

When examining military incarceration, four specific issues related to the incarceration experience need to be considered. The first concerns short prison terms, typical of military incarceration, which have been suggested to characterize the most alienated and isolated groups in society (Anderson & Cairns, 2011). Roberts and Smith (2013) contend that there is no evidence that short prison terms serve any legitimate purpose (i.e., deterrence or rehabilitation). Leverentz (2018), based on an examination of interviews with men and women detained at a county-level institution in Massachusetts, explored how persons with a history of short-term imprisonment engage with the criminal justice system. The results demonstrated that most people’s major objectives—which extended beyond merely avoiding prison—were to achieve freedom or to have as little interaction as possible with the criminal justice system. According to Stewart (2008), people with a history of justice involvement, who served short terms, had higher levels of need than people with a history of justice involvement who served longer sentences; they were more likely to be homeless, jobless, lack education, and abuse alcohol and other drugs. This point is essential when we come to examine the experience of military prison as, in the Israeli military prison, soldiers are imprisoned for only short periods of a few weeks and up to a few months and in any case, no more than a year. If a soldier is imprisoned for more than a year the incarceration will take place in a civilian facility.

The second issue, as a direct continuation, refers to the population of young correctional clients—the military prison population. Studies on adolescents and young adults in correctional settings have provided evidence which suggests that younger age upon admission is associated with poorer institutional adjustment (Taylor et al., 2007). In comparison to adults, young correctional clients have often shown to be more active in disciplinary offenses, assaults on staff, and interpersonal disputes (Kolivoski & Shook, 2016). Imprisonment during adolescence and emerging adulthood affect various critical development processes, including involvement in romantic relationships, the development of autonomy, and identity processes (Cauffman & Steinberg, 2012; Sampson & Laub, 2005). Moreover, their engagement in the criminal system has more severe derailment effects than adult involvement, particularly for adolescents who have served time in adult facilities (Lambie & Randell, 2013).

The third issue concerns compulsory military service as a turning point that can change trajectories in a positive or negative way for the individual (Teachman & Call, 1996). There are times when military service and/or combat experiences might alter life path trajectories and have detrimental effects. Among the few studies that have looked at changes in criminal behavior patterns caused by military service results suggest that military families are more likely to experience domestic or family violence (Cronin, 1995).

The fourth issue regards one of the most common examples of military fractures—the act of desertion during service (Xuan, 2015). Desertion is defined as a crime that includes leaving a military unit, training facility, or place of duty to avoid performing military service (Military Justice Regulations Law, 1955). In Israel, as in other countries, desertion is punishable. The main difference between Israel and other armies regarding the reasons for desertion is that in Israel the act of desertion is mainly personal (the soldier deserts due to personal or family reasons), while in other armies the desertion can be external or political as well (the soldier deserts after switching sides; Cheah, 2018; Clause, 1961). Another reason for desertion is self-safety concern (Albrecht & Koehler, 2018). In addition to the reasons for desertion, the characteristics of deserting soldiers in Israel include low military entry data, such as coming from a low socioeconomic and educational background and being employed in administrative positions (Rosenberg, 2008).

Military Service and Incarceration

Existing research on the relationship between military service and incarceration has focused on veterans’ prison trajectories in civil prisons following their military service (but not on the military prison experience itself). Harner et al. (2011, p. 460) argue that “the concept of self takes on a new meaning after entering prison.” The experience of being imprisoned can have a profound impact on a person’s identity and sense of self while former social positions can become merely recollections of who they were before being imprisoned (Bove & Tryon, 2018). Combat military service, and the stressors involved in it, can influence the soldier’s life and shape the beginning of a delinquent trajectory based on their service experience (Brooke & Gau, 2018). Literature shows that some of the negative outcomes of military service include an increased risk of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), substance abuse, and incarceration (Greenberg & Rosenheck, 2012; McGuire et al., 2003; Saxon et al., 2001). Physical and mental burdens, and especially existential threats, are significant stress factors for soldiers involved in combat (Ginzburg et al., 2010; Hashemian et al., 2006). Estimates of the prevalence of PTSD range from 14% to 20% in veterans, which is much higher than that of the general population (Hoge et al., 2006; Institute of Medicine, 2014; Milliken et al., 2007).

A wide range of studies among correctional clients have found significantly higher rates of traumatic exposure when compared with the general population (Green et al., 2005; Grella et al., 2005). According to research, imprisonment exacerbates the impact of earlier potentially traumatic events, resulting in a cumulative effect of traumatic events (Boxer et al., 2009; Briere et al., 2016). Imprisonment has been found to be associated with psychosocial factors (homelessness, mental illness, and substance use disorder) among veterans (Tsai et al., 2021). Research shows that when compared with the non-military population, veterans are more likely to be incarcerated for violent crimes and sexual offenses (Culp et al., 2013). It has also been found that ethnic and racial minority veterans, particularly African Americans and Hispanics in the United States, are more likely to be incarcerated after discharge than White veterans (May et al., 2017). Moreover, veterans seem to have unique characteristics that put them at risk of justice system involvement, such as different mental health needs as compared with non-veterans and difficulties in returning home after deployment and readjusting to civilian life (Blodgett et al., 2015; Canada & Albright, 2014).

These results are in contrast to previous studies that showed non-veterans were at greater risk for incarceration than veterans (Greenberg et al., 2007), that veterans had 15% lower odds of resisting police officers during an arrest (Morgan et al., 2021), and had significantly less verbal misconduct or physical assault toward staff or other correctional clients (Logan & Pare, 2017). In an attempt to explain those findings, Brooke (2020) points out that military experience affects prison misconduct among those who joined the military at an older age and served for longer. According to the study, those who served in the military longer were less likely to be engaged in prison misconduct. From a resilience point of view, Bouffard (2005) found that military service acts as a resilience factor for violence among African American veterans compared with those who did not serve. Following the idea of resilience resources in the military context, some factors, such as discipline, respect for authority, maturity, and leadership abilities (resulting from the military experience), have been found to build resilience in ex-soldiers during incarceration and keep them safe from the pains of imprisonment (Logan & Pare, 2017). Moreover, Morgan et al. (2018) claim that justice-involved veterans can avoid conflict with others better than nonveterans because they are more mature, less aggressive, and can navigate prison hardship. The contradiction in the literature regarding the effect of military service on a criminal trajectory after release reinforces the need to understand the cultural context as well as understanding the effect of military incarceration during military service.

From a different perspective, Maruna (2001) examined the reasons which can lead people to change criminal attitudes and showed that a movement away from self-absorption toward more authentic care for others and the community is vital in enabling people to desist from committing crimes. In a study that explored the prison incarceration experience of women, findings indicated that women who are imprisoned feel isolated from their genuine selves, their loved ones, and society (Bove & Tryon, 2018). Maruna and Ramsden (2004) explain that when a person feels threatened in some way, as in the case of incarceration, narrative reconstruction becomes more important.

However, while previous studies which have examined incarceration among ex-soldiers present a complex picture, literature to date has not examined the experience of soldiers in a military prison during their military service. These are young people, for whom incarceration occurs during their military experience, usually due to military fractures, such as disobedience to authority, going away on leave without permission, and not fulfilling orders. The nature of the crime they are incarcerated for is often quite different from that in civil prisons. The very different nature of incarceration can allow us to examine to what extent the heart of the prison experience has a negative impact on the individual’s well-being and/or the extent to which this is context-dependent.

Military Service and Prison in Israel

Military service is compulsory in Israel, and Israeli society takes a positive view toward it, perceiving military service as a maturing experience, personally and emotionally, that accelerates personality development (Livio, 2011). The individual’s army “success” (e.g., their ability to complete a full service, the role they play, the seniority of their position, the nature of their service, such as combat, intelligence, or secretarial) is a factor that can impact on their future career and study possibilities. The length of military service, 32 months for men and 24 months for women, and the age of recruitment (18 years old), covers much of the developmental transition from adolescence to early adulthood. At that stage, known as emerging adulthood, the main task of the young person is the achievement of a coherent identity (Arnett, 2000). Entering the military, a high-level stressor with rigid rules and frameworks, during the period of identity exploration and development (Côté, 2006), can be challenging for the young person’s developmental process. Moreover. in Israel, dropping out from the military can harm the identity formation process (Arnett, 2014), as military service is an important social act in Israel and part of one’s social identity. This may be heightened among immigrant soldiers whose identity formation process must include the additional elements of ethnic identity consolidation and affirmation (Phinney, 2006).

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has one military prison, which incarcerates male and female soldiers. Whether in pretrial detention or inmate status, detained soldiers are held in various divisions depending on the length of incarceration, type of offense, and intelligence information regarding their stay in the correctional facility (Teshner, 2013). Soldiers can be incarcerated for a period ranging from several months to a maximum of 1 year, and if sentenced to more than a year, they will relocate to a civil prison. About 80% of all soldier incarcerations are due to desertion from the army (Xuan, 2015). The length of the incarceration term depends, among other things, on the duration of the desertion, whether there were previous desertions and whether the soldier has a previous suspended sentence. Dropping out from the military after incarceration in the military prison can affect the soldier and their academic and occupational opportunities (Benbanishty, 2008).

Ethiopian Immigrant Soldiers

In the current study, we focus on Ethiopian immigrant soldiers due to their high over-representation in the Israeli military prison. First- and second-generation Ethiopian immigrants constitute about four percent of all soldiers in the IDF. At the same time, data show that in 2017, they accounted for about 15% of all male and 10% of all female correctional clients in the IDF prison (Association of Ethiopian Jews, 2018).

Immigrants from Ethiopia are the second largest immigrant group to Israel in recent years. In 2019, 155,300 Ethiopian Jews lived in Israel; 87,500 of them immigrated from Ethiopia; and 67,800 were born in Israel. Significant challenges accompanied the integration of Ethiopian immigrants due to deep cultural differences, inability to read or write, and discrimination (Tannenbaum, 2008). Discrimination based on racism can cause stress, trauma, and emotional injury (Carter, 2007). PTSD has been associated with racism and can be characterized as (a) an emotional injury motivated by hatred or fear of a particular racial group; (b) a racially motivated stressor that exceeds a person’s ability to cope; (c) a racially motivated, severe interpersonal stressor that threatens one’s health; or (d) a serious interpersonal or institutional stressor motivated by racism that makes the individual feel isolated and unloved (Bryant-Davis & Ocampo, 2005; Loo et al., 2001). Immigration to Israel weakened the communal, traditional, religious Ethiopian Jewish family, forcing immigrants to redefine familial roles, and the distribution of authority in the family (Doron & Markovitzky, 2007). Labeling theory (Becker, 1963), which focuses on how social labeling contributes to the growth of crime and deviance, holds that although deviant conduct might originally be caused by a variety of factors and circumstances, after someone has been classified as deviant, they frequently experience new issues as a result of how others and themselves react to the stigma associated with the deviant label (Lemert, 1967). In the case of Ethiopian immigrants, discrimination directed at them can be seen to have increased the stigma perceiving them as a deviant population. The social rejection and the stigmatization process cause justice-involved people to be more likely to perpetrate another crime. Acquiring a labeled status has an impact on their capacity to find employment following release from prison and their ability to find housing (Antwi, 2015). In Israel, in a variety of workplaces, employers request a certification of discharge from IDF to prove full and proper military service, which soldiers who are sentenced to military prison cannot get. Without this certificate, one cannot be accepted to certain jobs.

Ethiopian culture stresses the importance of family relations, and many Ethiopian soldiers enter the military with parents or other close family members going through economic, health, or welfare challenges (Kurman & Ronen-Eilon, 2004). According to Hirschi’s social bond theory (Hirschi, 1969), people do not commit crimes because they fear endangering social relationships and their place in the society to which they belong. However, the combination of commitment toward family members who need them and questionable feelings of connection to Israeli society (Itzik, 2019) is the context within which Ethiopian soldiers are conscripted and may actually constitute one of the reasons behind soldiers feeling the need to desert. Recent years have seen a growing rise in anger among the Ethiopian community toward the institutional discrimination they perceive as can be seen in the involvement of the community in social protests (Yakhnich & Walsh, 2022; Yassan, 2022). As such, tension exists between the Ethiopian community and the Israeli (military) establishment, providing a context for understanding the meanings behind incarceration. Despite research examining the overall challenges facing the Ethiopian immigrant population, no previous studies have focused on how Ethiopian soldiers perceive and sense the military experience.

The Current Study

Despite existing literature on the prison experience in a civilian context, little is known about the prison experience for soldiers incarcerated as military prisoners. No research to date has examined the extent to which the military prison experience is similar to that of the civil prison experience. Since military incarceration occurs at a particular developmental stage (emerging adulthood) and within a specific context (military service), we suggest that it may be a unique and distinctive experience that demands deeper understanding.

The current study aims to understand the military prison experience for soldiers incarcerated during their military service. It asks the following questions: How do young adults experience incarceration during their military service? To what extent is it described as a negative and/or painful experience? By focusing on an over-represented group in the military prison, Ethiopian immigrant soldiers in Israel, we seek to deepen our understanding of the interplay between immigrant status, military service, and the prison experience. On a theoretical level, the study seeks to explore to what extent the incarceration experience may depend on context, for example, cultural understandings around incarceration, the degree of choice or agency involved in imprisonment, and the meaning given to incarceration. On a practical level, a greater understanding of the military prison’s meaning and experience for this population may enable policies to reduce military incarceration in general and among immigrant groups, in particular.

Method

The current study was conducted within a qualitative phenomenological framework that perceives social reality as flexible and meaningful. According to Gergen (2014), excellence in qualitative research is achieved when respect is given to the interviewees’ voices. This method was used as it helps researchers to see the meaning of social reality through the participants’ point of view (Higgins, 2009; Spector-Mersel, 2010).

Participants

The current study involved 27 ex-soldier Ethiopian-heritage emerging adults (6 women and 21 men), aged 21 to 25 years, from different cities in Israel. Most of the participants (22) were born in Israel, and the rest were born in Ethiopia and immigrated to Israel as children. All of the participants “dropped out” before completing their military service and after being incarcerated in a military prison due to desertion. None of the study participants had committed an offense before or after military service. Their incarceration length ranged from several months to 1 year. The participants served in the IDF in various divisions, units, and roles, including combat fighters, combat supporters, and administrative positions.

Purposive sampling (Patton, 2002), in which the researcher uses his or her judgment to choose the most appropriate participants, was used to identify and recruit participants who represented the group we were interested in understanding (i.e., young Ethiopian adults who had experienced incarceration during their military service). To locate participants for the study, we contacted youth centers, well-known people in the Ethiopian community, and personal acquaintances and asked them to forward an invitation to young people who met the criteria. These young people were asked to make contact with one of the researchers. At the end of each interview, we asked the interviewee to connect us with additional potential interviewees. A “snowball method” (Heckathorn, 2011) enabled us to find new participants.

Interviews

The research was conducted through in-depth semi-structured interviews carried out by the first author. This structure allowed us to cover the main content areas and, at the same time, to give the interviewer the freedom to focus on their unique information (Josselson, 2013). The interview began by asking the participants to talk about their military service and continued with questions regarding their relationships with their families and commanding officers, the way they perceived the military culture, and the way the Ethiopian community see the military service and prison, their offense and circumstance, their incarceration experience in the military prison, and the consequences of the incarceration. The interviews lasted for 45 to 90 min, were conducted in Hebrew, audio-taped, and transcribed to Hebrew. In the process of writing the article, the chosen quotes were translated and then back translated by native speakers to make sure to preserve the original content as much as possible. One of the authors is a native English speak, and both authors speak fluent Hebrew.

Procedure

The interviews were conducted in places chosen by the participants, which helped the researchers create a nonjudgmental and intimate environment. Interviews began by giving the participants an explanation regarding the study’s aim and its voluntary nature, in addition to assurances of anonymity. The participants were asked to fill in a consent form and give their permission to record the interview. Participants were able to withdraw from the study at any time. Each participant was interviewed once, and all the interviews were transcribed with the use of pseudonyms. Participation was voluntary, and participants were not compensated for participation. The study received ethical approval from the Institutional Review Board of the second author. All names of the participants have been changed to ensure anonymity. There was no governmental or institutional funding for the study.

Data Analysis and Trustworthiness

The criterion for completing the sampling process was determined through “categorical saturation” (Saunders et al., 2018), meaning that no more themes developed. As this was an exploratory study, interviews were analyzed based on thematic coding (Braun & Clarke, 2021). This allowed for an inductive approach, assisting us in constructing common concepts and patterns across participants, and which enabled linking the participants narratives to the research questions. Finally, a critical approach was used to focus on the participants’ perceived reality and truth contained within the data.

For the analysis, we followed Braun and Clarke’s (2021) six-step process: At first, the researchers read the interviews repeatedly until they felt intellectual involvement with the texts and understood the participants’ perceptions of military service. Then, the data were divided into meaning units, and the researchers identified codes, which became the base for the categories and themes. Reviewing led to reduction of dimensions and forming the main categories. Next, data were organized in a table containing the categories, themes, and quotations that support them. Quotes were selected if they met the criterion to present the words of the participants and their perceptions in the most authentic way. The themes reflect the participants’ shared meanings. They do so by presenting the perspectives of most, if not all, participants in a specific topic. Finally, the themes were defined, and a connection was made between the categories. At this stage, the data were conceptualized according to the categories and previous theories from the literature and the research report was written. The coding process was conducted initially by the first author. The two authors reviewed together the coding and its suitability to the research question was examined. To increase the study’s trustworthiness, we presented the main findings to key figures in the Ethiopian community in Israel. Their responses confirmed the analytic themes and conclusions presented in this paper.

Reflexivity

Both authors are women. The first author, Israeli-born, served as a rehabilitative criminologist in IDF military prisons. The second author is an immigrant clinical psychologist who did not serve in the army. While both authors have extensive experience in practice and research with the Ethiopian community, neither is Ethiopian. Glaser (1978) relates to the concept of “theoretical sensitivity” in qualitative research, to relate to the understandings, personal, and scientific, that one brings to the research process. As researchers, we brought with us the experience we have working with young people in the Ethiopian community and our knowledge of the challenges faced by them in their entrance to the army. The first author also brought with her, her experience working with Ethiopian heritage deserters. The different position of each of the researchers allowed us to come from a modest place to the meeting with the participants. The interview guide was drafted based on open and broad questions as much as possible to allow any direction of answer without judgment on our part. Throughout the analysis, constant discussion between the authors enable us to try to stay focused on the narratives of the young people themselves in the study. Consequently, presenting the findings to members of the Ethiopian community ensured that our understandings were congruent with the Ethiopian community’s perceptions. To raise awareness of personal biases, the first author documented the research experience in a research journal. Maintaining the documentation allowed observation of the process and gained a critical perspective.

Results

The current analysis focuses on the military incarceration experience as described by the participants in the study. We start by examining how young Ethiopian ex-soldiers perceive their incarceration period during their military service and then explore whether this period was perceived as negative or painful or perhaps experienced in a different way on an emotional and mental level. Two main themes developed from the interviews: The first refers to the military prison as a tool in Ethiopian soldiers’ hands to achieve their personal goals and deals with the participants’ desire to change their service condition or discharge from service as well as having to deal with an inattentive and inaccessible commander. The second theme refers to a self-perception of the participants as victims of the system and not as criminal justice-involved individuals starting a criminal career. The theme offers explanation based on the participants positive incarceration experience and the way they chose to look forward to the future after military service.

Imprisonment by Choice—The Way to Fulfill Wishes

Across the interviews of all of the participants, findings emerged presenting the Israeli military prison from a unique perspective as a tool in Ethiopian soldiers’ hands to achieve their personal goals. In contrast with civilian prisoners, the participants shared that they chose to be imprisoned due to conflicts around the need to combine military service together with their personal lives. They saw the military prison as a way to improve their service, leading them to commit an offense. Several reasons were presented by the participants who reported seeing incarceration as necessary to get what they wish in the context of military service.

Changing Service Conditions

One of the main reasons that participants presented as an explanation for their imprisonment was the desire to change their unit to serve closer to home. The IDF has a formal way to do so, but it takes time through the military bureaucracy, often leading to refusal. That situation leaves the soldiers with no institutional solution and the need to find a solution for themselves. As the participants shared, their attempts to ask for a change in units were ignored, leading them to take more decisive action. Sharon described her story:

My unit was a two-and-a-half-hour bus ride from home, and I served in a position where I came home every day. I tried to explain to my officers that I could not handle that distance and asked to be transferred to a unit closer to home. Unfortunately, they refused to listen, so I had no other way to get what I needed to complete my service other than by getting to military prison.

Sharon knew that she could change her unit within the military prison by getting treatment in the “Gahelet” intervention program (literally “spark” in Hebrew). The program is based on psychosocial assessments that identify the causes of soldiers committing an offense and their resilience resources. Gahelet’s goal is to find a way for the soldiers to finish their military service. When needed, the program has the authority to change soldiers’ units or recommend discharge (Itzik, 2019, 2023). Most of the research participants described their motivation to enter the military prison as motivated by the wish to get help from the “Gahelet” program. Within the soldiers’ perception, Gahelet had the power to shortcut military bureaucracy. By getting treatment in the Gahelet program, they ensured that someone would listen to their problems and increased the chances of changing their unit. As such, the imprisonment outcome is essentially positive for them. Daniel described his story:

I waited at the base for more than two months. During this time, my debts only grew, and I could not get a job because I served as a combat soldier. After two months, I got a negative answer. I held my head in shock, and then I grabbed my stuff and just went home. I deserted because I knew that in prison, Gahelet would help me to change units.

Discharge From Service

Another primary goal described by the participants who dropped out after being in a military prison was to face a military service adjustment committee that has the power to recommend their discharge from the army. Those participants presented a strong feeling of a lack of belonging in Israeli society that rested on discrimination experiences during their lives and negative experiences during their military service that originated from their commanding officers. As Nebsu explains: “Even if I had completed full military service, nothing would have changed in the way I was treated in Israel. The discriminatory, degrading, and racist attitude will not go away because I will always be Ethiopian.”

As noted earlier, many participants described incarceration as an act of choice, which they were willing to take repeatedly, if necessary, as long as they could eventually achieve their discharge. Knowing the incarceration period gets them closer to their goal helps, according to them, to deal with the challenges of imprisonment and the negative labeling that follows discharge from the army in Israeli society. Nisim explains “If I knew that deserting would bring me discharge, then I had no problem with it. I was willing to sit in a military prison as long as it takes to get that discharge.” Nisim, like other participants, needed to help a sick parent and serve in a close unit where he would come home for the weekend once every 2 weeks. That situation led participants like Nisim to choose their family over the military service.

Some of the participants who dropped out of military service after being in military prison talked about a significant period in which they had to stay in relatives’ and friends’ homes not to be arrested by Israeli police or the military police. They turned themselves in to the military prison because they realized that only they could end the military chapter in their lives and only through the military prison. Yair describes desertion of almost 5 years and says:

I was 23 years old, so I wanted to start my life finally. I had a sick mother at home, and only I could take care of her, so to sit in prison for a year was an issue. But I realized that only through the military prison could I get my discharge, and that was all I wanted.

Shula adds: “I just had enough! I needed to return myself the control for my life and stop hiding in friends’ houses.”

Unreachable Commanding Officers

Participants described a sense of transparency in the eyes of their commanding officers. They felt that their problems were interfering with their daily schedule, and most of all, no one believed in the difficulties they were struggling with. As they did not get the help they needed from their commanding officer through the proper channels, they searched for it elsewhere—in the Gahelet program. Dana describes the following: “I think that in my unit, with my commanders, I had no other choice but to get to ’Gahelet.’” During the interviews, participants shared their complicated relationships with their commanding officers. Most of the participants felt that non-Ethiopian commanding officers underestimated their role as second-generation immigrants at home. The officers failed to identify that the soldiers were needed to help financially at home, help parents with health problems, and be their voice in government agencies.

Shmuel described how much the commander’s mistrust of his financial and family difficulties had hurt him:

That feeling makes you want to go away and never go back. Like they don’t want me here. Really if they had come and seen where I lived, all the missing furniture, the fact that sometimes we have no electricity, I believe I would not have deserted from the army and gone to prison.

Many of the participants described craving a sense of trust. Shmuel thought he could complete his military service if only he had received the essential degree of support he expected. Unfortunately, feeling a lack of support or understanding, the young Ethiopian soldiers turn to the “Gahelet” program, which means they need to be incarcerated to be heard and get the help they need.

A Convict But Not an Offender

Interestingly, a second theme that came up was that the study participants did not perceive themselves as offenders, although many served several military prison incarceration periods. They stated that they did not start a criminal career during the military service nor did they continue to commit crimes after being discharged. Nadav explains: “I am a normative and regular guy. I never committed an offense before joining the army or after my release from service.” Limor adds: “My self-perception was not negative when I was in the military prison. I went there wholeheartedly.” As results demonstrate, they see themselves as victims of the military system who did not recognize the problems and difficulties they were dealing with and did not help them and even saw the military prison experience as one they willingly entered. According to participants, they are victims of their life circumstances that drove them to become military offenders. Aviv explains: “I am not the bad guy here! I wanted to serve my country, I just could not do so while dealing with so many issues at once.” It seems that the victim’s self-perception helps them cope with the incarceration experience.

Military Incarceration as a Positive Experience

Another unanticipated finding was that participants described the military incarceration period as positive, especially when compared with their service experience in the unit they were stationed in. The narrative was related to the fact that in prison, they could always find someone to listen to what they had to say. For many, military incarceration was described as the best period in their service. Alon described: “I can really say that incarceration was the best time in the army. It was my only good experience from military service.” Rona adds: “At first it was a shock, but at that moment I preferred it. I felt better in prison.” And Orit explains the situation from the point of view of her relationships with staff in prison: “In prison, you get treatment. I got up at five in the morning, but there was someone who woke me up, who got up before me, and took care of me.” Participants described the sense of victimization they felt in their units but that they stopped feeling like that in the military prison.

Time to Think About the Future

However, it became clear from the participants’ stories that although they were determined to make it through the incarceration period and benefit from it, the “pain of imprisonment” came from an unexpected place, when the soldier was alone with their thoughts. Participants described their thoughts about their lives after military discharge due to “bad behavior.” While participants were confident about their choice to desert and go to prison, and thereby feeling a sense of agency, some did relate to feelings of failure which they felt from not having succeeded in the typical Israeli “rite of passage.” Zahava referred to the sense of failure she felt while getting her discharge papers:

When people ask me about my military service, it’s hard for me to say that I got discharged for “bad behavior” because it sounds like I did not want to serve my country. I thought about it a lot in prison. I kept thinking, why am I different from the rest that managed to finish their military? And I believe that the answer is within my family story and the immigration consequences.

Discussion

The current study’s goal was to examine how Ethiopian immigrant soldiers experienced military prison. As such, it focused on a particular group of soldiers to explore how the specific context, cultural, and structural of these young people could be seen to influence the experience reported by them. The study aimed to deepen understandings of the subjective meaning of being imprisoned in a military prison and to expand on whether the existing theoretical conceptualization regarding incarceration is suitable and sufficient for understanding the military experience for this population. On a broader level, we sought to widen theoretical understandings of the potential meanings of incarceration, over and above those developed for civil incarceration.

Our findings suggest that in contrast to civil imprisonment, all participants saw military prison as a way to achieve personal goals. These goals may be related to their unit location, relationships with the commanding officers, or their desire to be discharged from military service. For most, the need to turn to prison comes from feeling that their commanding officers did not acknowledge their everyday problems, leaving them no other real solution. In this regard, the relationship with the commander that leads to incarceration reinforces the unique findings of a previous study by Bucerius et al. (2021) showing that for the 88 women incarcerated in Canada, prison serves as a “temporary refuge” from the marginalization and vulnerability they encounter in society. In both studies, the participants find comfort in prison. The role of the military prison in enabling young people to achieve a goal is notable in a recent study that examines the way military prison is perceived by soldiers and ex-soldiers on an online open forum (Itzik, 2022). This may be related to the limited length of imprisonment, although the research participants reported that the length of the incarceration did not concern them when they chose to desert. The army’s cultural meaning, the military prison perception in the Ethiopian community, and the soldiers’ age as emerging adults may also be relevant. Emerging adulthood, or late adolescence, is a transitional developmental period where identity formation and decision-making can involve taking chances and risks (Arnett, 2000, 2007). Pettus-Davis et al. (2017) showed that when comparing a nonincarcerated group of emerging adults to incarcerated one, social support was found to have negative and volatile effects on the incarcerated group. It may be that at this age (that covers the military service period) incarceration is seen as less severe or heavy, with fewer long-term consequences compared with adults after the period of emerging adulthood.

Findings suggest that imprisonment can be a means of gaining a sense of “agency,” which refers to the sociocultural negotiated ability to act (Ahearn, 2001). This may enable the Ethiopian soldiers to switch from passivity to activity, driven by the feeling that their commanders do not see their difficulties. A situation where they feel they were not heard can lead them to make decisions that can help them change a negative situation. Studies have shown that a marginalized population pursues their goals in alternate ways (Coe & Jordhus-Lier, 2011; Shakya & Rankin, 2008). In their recent article, Yakhnich and Walsh (2022) describe how the Ethiopian communities’ recent protests in Israel reflect a means of owning a sense of agency and reclaiming a sense of control and power following years of discrimination. For these marginalized young people, incarceration may be a means of achieving a goal, an element less identified in studies on civil imprisonment.

Using incarceration to achieve a goal should also be placed within the cultural context of an immigrant population, facing discrimination and feeling without a voice (Burstein & Norwich, 2018). Race-based discrimination is ubiquitous, resulting in injustices such as a greater risk of imprisonment, a lower chance of employment, and poorer health care. Perceived discrimination is the experience of a person who feels discriminated against; it is a cognitive process that takes place within a sociocultural and historical context and presents itself through discourse (Mellor, 2003). Studies have shown, repeatedly that perceived discrimination is associated with negative feelings toward oneself and low self-esteem (Pascoe & Smart-Richman, 2009; Schmitt et al., 2014; Tawa et al., 2012) as well as to substance use (alcohol, cigarettes, and cannabis; Walsh, Kolobov, & Harel-Fisch, 2018; Walsh, Kolobov, Raiz, et al., 2018). As can be seen in recent research, in comparison to White youth, youth of color are more likely to be related to negative internal attributions (Beckman & Rodriguez, 2021). The Ethiopian community has faced discrimination and feelings of being disenfranchised (Offer, 2007; Walsh & Tuval-Mashiach, 2012), which have left an ambivalence toward the Israeli establishment, part of which the IDF represents. As the young people expressed, they felt their voices were not heard by their officers, a feeling paralleling the experience of the Ethiopian community as a whole, leading to them exploring alternate ways of coping with their challenges. Recent research has found that these challenges, in particular incarceration in military prison, put Ethiopian soldiers in the IDF a higher risk of suicide (Shelef et al., 2020).

It is interesting to consider the responses of the participants through the sociological perspective of “accounts” (Scott & Lyman, 1968) which the authors define as statements made to explain behavior and, in particular, to “bridge a gap between actions and expectations” (p. 46). According to Scott and Lyman (1968), account strategies based on justifications involve cases where the individual takes responsibility for the action committed but denies the negative aspects to their behavior. They can do this in several ways, including “sad tales” in which the individual’s dismal past is used as justifying their behavior, and “self-fulfillment” in which the behavior is seen as a means to achieve self-goals. The analysis of the current study shows that the Ethiopian soldiers used justifications to explain their conscious choice to be incarcerated. Within this perspective, participants do not identify themselves as offenders or hold an offender identity, as there is a justified reason for their behavior. Sad tales are heard in the emphasis the soldiers’ place on their financial hardship at home, the unsympathetic officer or the parents’ demands for help. Self-fulfillment is heard through the way in which going to prison is a means to achieve a goal. Both forms of justification allow the participants to distance from themselves feelings of guilt or feeling that they did something wrong. Findings support recent research showing that DUI drivers (driving under the influence of alcohol) negotiate impaired driving on a digital stage using accounts (Tatch, 2021). Previous research on deception detection (Paik & Van Swol, 2017), academic integrity (Stearns, 2019), parenting (Heinonen, 2014), and hacking behaviors (Chua & Holt, 2016) parallel the current results by showing ways in which accounts are used to justify criminal behavior.

The use of accounts can also stem from the experience of labeling and racism that the young participants experienced at different times in their lives. Labeling theory (Becker, 1963) is concerned with how social labeling contributes to the rise in crime and deviance. This is in line with the findings of the current study showing that the experience of being labeled leads the participants to feel a lack of belonging to Israeli society and reinforces the feeling that they are victims of the situation. Participants see themselves as victims of the military system that fails to see their difficulties and of an Israeli society that refuses to accept them as equals, and it may be that that feeling reinforces the position that they are not an offender.

Another interesting finding was that incarceration in a military prison was not the start of a criminal career (Piquero et al., 2003) and was not perceived due to a lack of self-control. The participants did not see themselves as offenders and did not continue delinquent behavior in the years following their release. This contrasts with previous research, which demonstrates that institutionalization may increase individuals following criminal involvement. The detrimental impact of incarceration may be explained in numerous ways, such as the influence prisoners have on one another (Nguyen et al., 2017). Regarding adolescents, findings show that the situation of arrest increases consequent delinquency (Morris & Piquero, 2013).

Moreover, an individual that starts offending at an early age is more likely to have a long and active criminal career (Farrington, 2015). It is interesting to understand the participants’ delinquent acts in light of criminology theories. In the current study, the young Ethiopian soldiers shared that in many cases deserting from the army was thought through and purposeful, intended to achieve an aim (i.e., not from a position of lack of self-control). This was often related to a sense of commitment to their immigrant families and close family bonds (and not dysfunction).

Hirschi’s social bond theory (Hirschi, 1969) suggests that individuals who are strongly bonded to society by attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief are unlikely to undertake delinquent behavior such as alcohol consumption, use of illicit drugs, or to commit suicide. Relationships with family, friends, and significant others help build attachment (Özbay & Özcan, 2006). Commitment is created when the individual is dedicated to social goals such as a college degree or stable employment (Lanier et al., 2014). Spending time in activities such as sports or hobbies creates involvement (Akers, 2000). Belief involves adopting the norms, values, ethics, and law that the member of a society tends to hold in common (Ozbay, 2008).

Research shows that strong bonds with family and school are associated with lower drug use (Norman & Ford, 2015) and lower levels of incarceration (Mowen & Visher, 2015). Yet, in the current study, incarceration was often described as associated with care, concern, and strong bonds with their families. As such, the present study adds to the literature by suggesting that solid bonds with their family can lead the immigrant soldier to choose between his or her family and his or her service when facing a situation that requires them to choose, even if it means incarceration. The participants described the need to help their sick parents or help with financial issues at home, which led them to see the military prison as the place to change their military service. Here, it is actually the bonds with their families (and the lack of bonds with the commanding officers) that can lead to desertion and incarceration. Our findings contradict the claim of Maruna (2001) regarding the movement away from self-absorption toward more authentic care for others and the community as a way to desist from committing crimes and present an opposite argument. Yet, we suggest, it may be these same bonds that explain why they do not continue to a criminal career after release.

Moreover, Hirsch’s theory claims that individuals tend to be less involved in criminal behavior under teachers or employment supervisors (Özbay & Özcan, 2006). The current study’s findings suggest that the lack of a close and supportive relationship with the commanding officer can strengthen the chances of desertion. It seems that without a real connection, based on trust, the soldier will not manage to establish attachment and commitment to their unit, and, in return, they are likely to feel less committed to the military service and to seek a solution to their problems through the prison rehabilitation program (Itzik, 2019).

As such, our findings support theories that stress that entering a criminal lifestyle is not automatic following incarceration but somewhat dependent on personality and contextual variables. As participants explained, they did not begin their criminal career during their military service, but they committed an offense within the context of their military service. Of importance, findings showed that entering the military prison was a question of profit/gain over loss. The young people were willing to sacrifice their freedom to achieve their goals. The findings support the assumptions of Cornish and Clarke (1986) Rational Choice Theory that suggests that criminals respond selectively to characteristics of offenses and to their opportunities, they calculate costs and benefits, in making decisions deciding whether to choose an alternative crime if one becomes more difficult to commit. Thomas et al. (2020) found that people are more inclined to commit crimes they perceive as more intrinsically gratifying and less hazardous than other crimes within a specific period. From a different point of view, our findings present in a new light the widespread approach regarding the objective and subjective hardships suffered by many prisoners in a civil prison during their incarceration (Sykes, 1958; Toch, 2007). We claim that incarceration, in military or civil prisons, needs to be examined from a perspective of what the correctional client gains during and after the period of incarceration and how that helps in dealing with the prison experience, especially in the context of young people.

Moreover, findings contradict the description of the far-reaching effects on the physiological and psychological well-being of correctional clients (Crewe, 2011). The study findings extend previous theoretical understandings to suggest that the experience of incarceration may be related to contextual factors such as how an individual perceives the incarceration, the context in which it takes place, the degree of control the individual had in conducting the criminal act, and the individual’s gains which they believe they achieved through the incarceration. It seems that when incarceration is a choice or is perceived as a means by which one can achieve a more crucial goal, the pains of imprisonment may become easier to bear and experienced less negatively.

Limitations

Despite the interesting findings, there are several limitations to the current study, which should be addressed. First, one of the widely recognized critiques of qualitative research relates to the great challenge of generalizing its findings to different social environments from those of the study (Firestone, 1993). The current study focused on a particular population of immigrant soldiers. Yet, we suggest that some of the theoretical understandings which were revealed through the analysis (e.g., incarceration as a means of attaining a goal, military incarceration as a limited event, and not the start of a lifetime career, the lack of offender identity, imprisonment as a solution when a minorities voice is not heard) may be generalizable to additional populations, although this should be explored. Lincoln and Guba (1985) discuss the concept of “transferability,” which refers to how findings are transmitted to similar situations and populations. Despite the open nature of the interviews, the participants did not relate to any negative parts of the imprisonment. While we believe that this reflects their experience and is a unique finding of the study, it is important to acknowledge that the researchers’ position as outside of the Ethiopian community may have impacted on the participants freedom to discuss negative experiences. Since Ethiopian soldiers are a unique population, further research must understand the immigrant soldier’s experience in additional contexts. Also, the interviews took place only with those that agreed to be interviewed. It may be that young people for whom the prison experience was more traumatic or negative did not agree to participate.

Conclusion and Recommendations

Prison is a total institution whose purpose is to keep justice-involved people away from society and punish them for their crimes under extreme control and supervision. As established in the literature, the influence of incarceration on the prisoner has focused on civil prisons, with little known regarding military prison and its impact on soldiers. The present study extends existing knowledge about military incarceration and suggests that it may differ fundamentally from civil prison. On a general theoretical level, study findings indicate that incarceration may depend on contextual factors. These can vary widely according to the individual’s perception of the meaning and goal of the incarceration and the degree of control and agency over the criminal act and the incarceration. Findings regarding the IDF’s Ethiopian soldiers are essential as they are an over-represented population in the military prison. In particular, findings point to the officers’ pivotal role and ability to see and understand the immigrant soldiers and what they are going through as integral in preventing incarceration.

The results have a number of practical implications. They suggest that it is imperative to help young people with immigrant backgrounds to integrate into military service. We suggest that one important means of doing so should involve specific and oriented training for the commanders, which recognizes the cultural gap between the soldiers and the commanders and can give the commanders tools to close the gap or at least manage the personal-professional relationship with their soldiers. In a more particular way, further research should be done to investigate our main finding claiming the military prison and the rehabilitation program are a tool in the hands of soldiers to gain their goals. The IDF authorities should examine the incarceration policy and means of addressing immigrant soldiers’ difficulties to prevent imprisonment by choice. Further research about the desertion experience is important to better understand the military prison experience. While this study focused on Ethiopian emerging adults in military prisons, study findings suggest that a comprehensive understanding of the meaning of incarceration for the individual necessitates understanding the social and cultural context and meaning of the incarceration for the individual and the social/cultural group of which she or he is a part.

Footnotes

Authors’ Note:

The first author disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research: The article was based on doctoral research that was funded by the Israel Scholarship Education Foundation.

ORCID iDs

Lea Itzik

Lea Itzik is a rehabilitation criminologist. Among her research fields is the efficiency of rehabilitation program, risk factors for military incarceration, military prison incarceration experience, and military incarceration among immigrant soldiers.

Sophie D. Walsh is a clinical psychologist. Her research interests include psychological processes in the immigration process, developmental processes of adolescence and early adulthood, and risk and resilience factors in relation to delinquency, risk behaviors, and substance use.

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When Military Uniforms Change into Prison Uniforms: Military Prison Incarceration Among Ethiopian Soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces

Abstract

Keywords

The Military Prison Experience: Four Issues

Military Service and Incarceration

Military Service and Prison in Israel

Ethiopian Immigrant Soldiers

The Current Study

Method

Participants

Interviews

Procedure

Data Analysis and Trustworthiness

Reflexivity

Results

Imprisonment by Choice—The Way to Fulfill Wishes

Changing Service Conditions

Discharge From Service

Unreachable Commanding Officers

A Convict But Not an Offender

Military Incarceration as a Positive Experience

Time to Think About the Future

Discussion

Limitations

Conclusion and Recommendations

Footnotes

Authors’ Note:

ORCID iDs

References