New York City Board of Correction Proposes Replacing 'Inmate' with 'Person in Custody'

The New York City Board of Correction is moving to eliminate the word "inmate" from its jail rulebook, opting instead for the term "person in custody." This initiative is part of a continued effort to use person-first language, reflecting a belief that incarceration should not be a person's defining characteristic.

The proposal builds upon a 2021 effort that began removing "inmate" from the Board's Minimum Standards. At that time, officials stated, "People in DOC custody are people first and the circumstance of their incarceration is not their defining feature." The Board committed to using person-first language in its standards and communications moving forward.

As a result of the 2021 initiative, references to "inmates" were replaced with terms such as "people," "persons," and "individuals in custody." The current proposal aims to extend these revisions to further sections of the regulations. For instance, a section previously titled "Classification of Prisoners" has been renamed "Classification of People in Custody," and numerous other instances of "prisoners" and "inmates" have been rewritten. The regulations now define a "person in custody" as "any person confined in a facility."

This shift in terminology follows a similar move by New York state. In 2022, Governor Kathy Hochul signed legislation that replaced references to "inmate" with "incarcerated individual" throughout state law. New York City's Board of Correction, however, selected the phrase "person in custody."

The debate over terminology has gained renewed public attention following a recent event at Rikers Island where Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani attended a World Cup semifinal watch party with individuals in custody. During the event, Mamdani stated, "These are New Yorkers, and they will be New Yorkers when they get out of Rikers."

Officials have emphasized that the terminology changes do not affect jail operations, housing policies, or disciplinary procedures. Instead, the Board characterizes the revisions as an effort to modernize its regulations and ensure the language aligns with its philosophy that individuals should not be solely defined by their time in incarceration.