Gordon Grilz writes about the loaded language used to label people in prison — and why labeling people in a dehumanizing way does nobody any good.
What word is the proper title for someone who is locked up in prison? Is it prisoner, convict, inmate, resident, or incarcerated person? You may ask, what difference does it make? But words are important, and labeling people in a dehumanizing way allows them to be mistreated without regret. History is replete with examples, including Jews in Europe and Blacks and others in America.
I maintain that “prisoner” is the proper word. It is both accurate and neutral. Everyone in prison has either been convicted of or pleaded guilty to a felony. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean they are actually guilty. They are all in prison — hence, prisoners.
The Wrong Words
Some might prefer “convict,” since many prisoners have been convicted of felonies in court, but this word carries so many connotations, most of them negative, that it is not a viable option.
“Inmate” carries the meaning of someone in an insane asylum. This comes from the phrase “the inmates are running the asylum,” a reference to the 1920 film, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. There are crazy people in prison, on both sides of the bars, but that word is misapplied to most prisoners. Correction officers chose inmate as a word to degrade those they were describing. But it never changed the truth.
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Resident is a word used to describe those living in a college dormitory or a nursing home — people who voluntarily choose to live in a particular setting. People sent to prison have no choice where they are going. This is an attempt by correction officers to soften the image without changing anything. Prisons are hard, often brutal, places to live.
A more recent term recommended by some prison advocates is “incarcerated person.” On the negative side, people can be incarcerated in prisons, mental hospitals, asylums, and more, so it’s not exactly clear what or to whom the term refers. On the positive side, it calls us a person, as opposed to an animal, monster, psychopath, sociopath, ad infinitum, ad nauseam. Still, it smacks of an effort to sanitize the landfill by spraying air freshener on it. Thanks, but no thanks.
The Politics of Labels
Person-first language sounds clinical, but it can never change the reality, however well intended. It plays into a softer version that many prison officials and criminal justice employees want to sell the public — a cover-up of what the treatment and conditions really are inside prisons. What will they want to call us next, “correctional clients”? It costs nothing to change a name. It takes courage, lots of money, time, and real work to begin addressing the systemic horrors and deficiencies of our failing prison systems.
“Prisoners” is the correct word to describe those of us in prison. It is a neutral word without a lot of negative baggage. You probably won’t offend anyone in prison by calling them a prisoner. Good luck using other words. To many prisoners, convict is a label, inmate is an insult, resident is a joke, and incarcerated person is a euphemism. Let’s keep it real.
