Now, about this civilian prison thing. I understand the boys were accused of corrupting the youth. Well, < href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_of_Socrates">Socrates had to drink hemlock for that.

But seriously. Military prison is not my favorite holiday destination, but you survive it. The discipline is strict, which is precisely why you don't get stabbed in your bed or raped in the showers. Civilian prison is quite a different ball game. Military prison inmates are mostly guys who had their hat on the wrong way and happened to meet their commander just after he'd had a row with his girlfriend. Civilian prison inmates are mostly criminals.

When I was there, some of the prison staff weren't too happy about us refusniks. We were somewhat more educated, more opinionated, and didn't really take the prison game too seriously. Others found us very convenient. We had these odd habits, like cleaning up our cells voluntarily and reading books. At some point we organized a prison university. Once a day someone would give a lecture on some topic he was informed in. I gave one on game theory, another guy talked about the history of black Jazz. Yet another told us about the Reserve police battalion 101. Like I said, corrupting the youth.

I don't really know what the 5 were doing, but transfer to a civilian prison seems a bit too vindictive.