BREAKING NEWS – Dane County, Wisconsin – As part of a progressive push, a Wisconsin jail will encourage staff to stop describing convicted or accused criminals incarcerated at the facility as “inmates,” and to instead refer to them as “residents” or “those who are in our care,” the newly elected sheriff announced Tuesday less than 100 days after taking office.
Hosting a press conference outside the Public Safety Building in Madison, Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett said he’s making the change after meeting with former offenders through the nonprofit Nehemiah Center for Urban Leadership Development who described how being referred to as “inmates” or “convicts” while incarcerated creates a stigma that increases barriers when reentering society.
Barrett also said that he wants carjackers referred to as “transportation acquisitionists”, shoplifters as “extreme discount patrons”, and for murderers as “people who deprived others of their breathing rights”.