Book about a prison sentence carried out by piloting a tank in wars

Question

This is going to be vague but it was a book where a person (forgot the gender) choose to carry out their prison sentence in a tank fighting wars? I don't think they were allowed to leave the tank, except for very specific circumstances. This also took place in a dystopian future where all land wars were fought with tanks like that. The tanks also could keep a person alive without them ever leaving it. The tank it self provided food and life support, etc. The criminals were given a choice to either be in prison or fight for a lesser amount of time though obviously the chance of death was higher.

I think I read it either pre 2000 or early 2000's. I don't think It was Tank Girl since that was a comic.

Answer 1

This sounds like A Boy and his Tank (1999) by Leo Frankowski

Centuries in the future, on the distant and dirt-poor planet of New Kashubia, young Mickolai Derdowski is sentenced to death for getting his girlfriend, Kasia, pregnant. His only alternative is to become a mercenary, a human backup for the artificial intelligence and virtual reality capabilities of a Mark XIX tank.

Two sequels were also published

The War With Earth (2003) (with Dave Grossman)

Kren of the Mitchegai (2004) (with Dave Grossman)