Prisoners should not be called 'inmates', says MoJ
By Tom Whitehead, Home Affairs Editor
Last Updated: 6:16PM GMT 31 Dec 2008
Prison officers have been told not to refer to their charges as "inmates" because it might offend them.
Prison staff have been told to use the word 'prisoner' in preference to the words 'inmate' or 'offender' Photo: PA
Ministers claim the age-old term is not appropriate if criminals are to be treated with "respect and dignity".
One prison officer leader attacked the move and warned jails have already become too soft as he called for a return to tough prisons in 2009.
Opposition MPs said it was "politically correct nonsense".
In a scathing outburst, Brian Caton, general secretary of the Prison Officers Association, called for an end to the "namby pamby attitude" that has led to soft prisons.
"It never ceases to amaze me, the hypocrisy of politicians and senior civil servants," he said.
"On the one hand they say we are not going to have soft prisons but on the other phraseology that has been around for a long, long time suddenly becomes offensive to our dear charges.
"As far as I am concerned they are convicts, they are prisoners, they are inmates.
"We should treat them fair and properly but prison should be tough. As we come to 2009, prisons should move away from being seen and actually being soft options to be challenging and demanding places of punishment.
"Without that we will continue to slide down in the views of the general public and will send people out of prison more likely to reoffend."
Prisons minister David Hanson revealed the Ministry of Justice stance in a letter to an inmate in HMP Wakefield, in which he said: "Prison staff are expected to treat prisoners with dignity and respect and for this reason the term 'prisoner' should be used in preference to the term 'inmate'."
He went on to say the term "offender" was not inappropriate.
