New Books in Sociology Jason A. Higgins, "Prisoners After War: Veterans in the Age of Mass Incarceration" (U Massachusetts Press, 2024)
Nov 10, 2025
Jason A. Higgins, a historian and Digital Scholarship Coordinator at Virginia Tech Publishing, explores the profound ties between military service and mass incarceration in his groundbreaking work. He unveils eye-opening oral histories of veterans who became entangled in the criminal justice system post-service. Highlighting the impacts of government policies rooted in racism and patriarchal values, he discusses the rise of Veterans Treatment Courts and the importance of acknowledging veterans' complex realities. His research also emphasizes the need for thoughtful commemoration on Veterans Day.
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Veterans At The Intersection Of Two Systems
- The book links veterans' postwar struggles to both the military and prison industrial complexes.
- Higgins centers formerly incarcerated veterans to show how policy and social forces produce cycles of service and punishment.
The Military-Carceral Pipeline
- Higgins coins the 'military carceral state' to describe how recruitment, service, and punishment interlink.
- He frames a school-to-military-to-prison pipeline driven by poverty, racism, and policy choices.
Veterans Overrepresented In Prisons
- DOJ data showed veterans were overrepresented among incarcerated people, with estimates rising from 73,000 in 1978 to ~150,000 by 2001.
- Many of those incarcerated were Vietnam vets, disproportionately Black and disabled, but true numbers are likely higher.
