Genesis 42:17

put them … into ward i.e. "in charge, or safe keeping"; as in Genesis 40:3. Not "in prison," as in Genesis 39:20. Joseph's treatment sounds to us harsh and cruel. Arbitrary confinement, however, was, and is, only too common in the East. The brethren would be a prey to the sickening dread either of being brought out only to be executed, or of being prevented from returning to their homes.

Joseph himself had endured a long experience of captive life in Egypt.