{"id":300171,"date":"2026-07-19T20:19:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T20:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/300171\/"},"modified":"2026-07-19T20:19:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T20:19:10","slug":"nyc-jail-watchdog-stops-using-word-inmate-because-social-justice-group-say-its-derogatory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/300171\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC jail watchdog stops using word &#8216;inmate&#8217; because social justice group say it&#8217;s derogatory"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>New York City\u2019s jails watchdog is set to go woke \u2014 scrapping the words \u201cinmate\u201d and \u201cinmates\u201d from its rule book and replacing them with \u201cpeople in custody\u201d or \u201cperson in custody.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The proposed rule change for the Board of Correction swaps the words \u201cinmate\u201d or \u201cinmates\u201d with \u201cpeople in custody\u201d or \u201cperson in custody\u201d more than 300 times.<\/p>\n<p>Criminal justice advocates claim that \u201cinmates\u201d a derogatory term for incarcerated criminal defendants or convicts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn 2021, the Board made a commitment to employ person-first language in its Minimum Standards and communications by deleting references to inmates\u2019 in favor of personfirst terms such as people in custody and using gender inclusive language in Chapter 1 of the Minimum Standards,\u201d the proposed rule says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Board proposes continuing this vital effort in Chapters 2 and 3.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.56574924;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"40028558\" width=\"924\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/rikers-island-jail-complex-stands-134873801.jpg\" alt=\"Aerial view of the Rikers Island jail complex with the Manhattan skyline in the background.\" class=\"wp-image-40028558\"  \/>The Rikers Island jail complex stands in New York with the Manhattan skyline in the background AP<\/p>\n<p>The Board of Correction is not alone.<\/p>\n<p>Gov. Kathy Hochul approved a law in 2022 that <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/08\/08\/kathy-hochul-democrats-demand-inmates-must-now-be-called-incarcerated-person\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">strikes the word \u201cinmate\u201d in state law<\/a>, replacing it with \u201cincarcerated individual.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIndividuals 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,\u201d a Hochul release at the time said.<\/p>\n<p>The New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, in its mission statement, said it serves the needs of the \u201cincarcerated population.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the New York City Department of Correction, which oversees the Big Apple\u2019s municipal jails including the complex on Rikers Island, refers to a incarcerated individual in its care as a \u201cperson in custody.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York City\u2019s jails watchdog is set to go woke \u2014 scrapping the words \u201cinmate\u201d and \u201cinmates\u201d from&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":300172,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[21470,3130,57,9,11,10,49,51,50,1083,58],"class_list":["post-300171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-department-of-corrections","tag-jail","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-rikers-island","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300171\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}