Earlier this year, I visited the prison medical department to request a colonoscopy. I’m 56 years old and have never had the procedure, but I’ve heard on the news that it’s important.
When I met with the nurse, the first thing he said to me was, “Let me tell you a pet peeve of mine. I hate it when an inmate demands something.”
That made me angry. Our conversation quickly turned unproductive, and I have yet to be considered for this straightforward procedure.
Looking back, I was most bothered by him calling me an inmate.
Incarcerated people already feel shame and guilt for our convictions. We are trying to take responsibility and make amends for the harm we’ve caused. We want to rise above the decisions of our past. But labels such as inmate, convict, offender and prisoner are designed to keep us down. If you call me an offender, you’re openly saying that I’m offensive. It’s hard to build anything positive from that starting point.
We need to stop both prison systems and ordinary people from using these dehumanizing labels. Instead, we should start using person-first language, which puts the individual before their condition, disability or trait. That shift can help us grow beyond our past, and create healthier and safer communities.
A few prison systems have already eliminated the use of these terms. In 2022, New York officially swapped out the word inmate for “incarcerated person” in its lawbooks. Washington state followed suit for its state statutes, websites and internal communications. Oregon did the same more recently, opting for “adults in custody” over inmates. And California is overhauling its regulatory language to use “incarcerated persons.”
Some people in prison prefer harsher terms because they feel as though it’s more honest, and reflects the brutal reality of being incarcerated in the U.S. It’s true that using different words won’t fix prisons or greatly prevent suffering. But plenty of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people agree with me. Person-centered language is a good step toward a more humane prison system.
In 2021, The Marshall Project published “The Language Project,” which examined the use of these terms. In the special project, Lisette Bamenga, a formerly incarcerated woman, wrote: “People hold on to labels like ‘offender’ to keep people like me in my place.”
“Not everyone means harm when they use prison labels,” she wrote. “But that doesn’t make the language any less damaging.”
These terms disassociate us from being thought of as human beings, even when we use them among ourselves. By just accepting these labels, we begin making them our identity. We begin to believe we are less than the rest of humanity.
This translates into our time after prison, too. Terms like ex-offender, ex-convict or ex-con carry stigma. Where people see themselves differently, they tend to act differently, becoming more community-conscious citizens. We need terminology that builds self-esteem, allows us to recognize our own self-worth and encourages us to be better.
My interaction with the nurse shows that many people who use these labels consider them benign and commonplace.
Destry McKinney, who is incarcerated with me, has had similar experiences. We both have prison jobs where we deal with staff. They mostly refer to us by our names, but we have heard staff refer to other incarcerated people with these demeaning labels.
McKinney and I realized we have the same thought when we overhear staff use this language to describe other people: “I wonder if they feel that way about me?”
