New York City’s jails watchdog is set to go woke — scrapping the words “inmate” and “inmates” from its rule book and replacing them with “people in custody” or “person in custody.”
The proposed rule change for the Board of Correction swaps the words “inmate” or “inmates” with “people in custody” or “person in custody” more than 300 times.
Criminal justice advocates claim that “inmates” a derogatory term for incarcerated criminal defendants or convicts.
“In 2021, the Board made a commitment to employ person-first language in its Minimum Standards and communications by deleting references to inmates’ in favor of personfirst terms such as people in custody and using gender inclusive language in Chapter 1 of the Minimum Standards,” the proposed rule says.
“The Board proposes continuing this vital effort in Chapters 2 and 3.”
The Board of Correction is not alone.
Gov. Kathy Hochul approved a law in 2022 that strikes the word “inmate” in state law, replacing it with “incarcerated individual.”
“Individuals impacted by the criminal justice system have long noted that terms such as felon, inmate, prisoner, and convict dehumanize individuals and perpetuate the idea that incarcerated people should be permanently demonized and stigmatized,” a Hochul release at the time said.
The New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, in its mission statement, said it serves the needs of the “incarcerated population.”
Meanwhile, the New York City Department of Correction, which oversees the Big Apple’s municipal jails including the complex on Rikers Island, refers to a incarcerated individual in its care as a “person in custody.”
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