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The New York City Board of Correction is moving to scrub the word “inmate” from its jail regulations, replacing it with “person in custody” as part of a years-long effort rooted in the belief that incarceration should not define a person.
The latest proposal builds on a 2021 initiative that began removing the term “inmate” from the board’s Minimum Standards after officials concluded people should not be defined by their incarceration.
“People in DOC custody are people first and the circumstance of their incarceration is not their defining feature,” the board wrote in 2021. “Therefore, the Board has made a commitment to employ person-first language in its Standards and general communications going forward.”
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As part of that commitment, the board began replacing references to “inmates” with terms including “people,” “persons” and “individuals in custody.” The latest proposal would extend those revisions to additional portions of the regulations.
The changes are reflected throughout the rulebook.
A section formerly titled “Classification of Prisoners,” for example, was renamed “Classification of People in Custody,” while numerous references to “prisoners” and “inmates” were rewritten. The regulations also define a “person in custody” as “any person confined in a facility.”
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The proposal says the amendments are intended to continue the board’s earlier work.
“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 person-first terms such as ‘people in custody,'” the proposal states. “The Board proposes continuing this vital effort in Chapters 2 and 3.”
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The city is not alone in moving away from the word “inmate.”
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In 2022, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation replacing references to “inmate” throughout state law with “incarcerated individual.”
The measure amended dozens of provisions across New York law to adopt the new terminology, though New York City instead chose the phrase “person in custody.”
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The terminology debate has resurfaced as New York City’s correction system has drawn renewed public attention following a FIFA World Cup semifinal watch party at Rikers Island attended by Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
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During the event, Mamdani told attendees, “These are New Yorkers, and they will be New Yorkers when they get out of Rikers.”
The city’s terminology changes do not alter jail operations, housing policies or disciplinary procedures.
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Instead, the board has characterized the revisions as an effort to modernize its regulations and ensure the language reflects its long-standing philosophy that people should not be defined solely by their incarceration.
Fox News Digital reached out to the New York City Board of Correction asking why it chose “person in custody” instead of “incarcerated individual,” the term adopted by New York state, and whether the board received public feedback on the proposal.
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Requests for comment were also sent to the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association, which represents New York City’s correction officers, and the Vera Institute of Justice, a nonprofit criminal justice reform organization.
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