New York Gov. Hochul slammed for replacing ‘inmate’ with ‘incarcerated person’ as crime spikes

New York has amended several state laws to remove the word ‘inmate’ and replace it with ‘incarcerated person’ to refer to people serving prison time.

The changes, signed into law Monday by Gov. Kathy Hochul, are intended to reduce the stigma of being in jail. 

Prison reform advocates have said the term ‘inmate’ has a dehumanizing effect. 

Prisoners say it can feel degrading when jail guards refer to them as inmates, especially in front of their families during in-person visits.

This comes as crime is up a shocking 36.6 percent through August, according to the city’s own data. 

‘Language matters,’ said state Sen. Gustavo Rivera, a Bronx Democrat who sponsored the bill. 

‘This is another concrete step our state is taking to make our criminal justice system one that focuses on rehabilitation, rather than relying solely on punishment.’

Republicans ridiculed the measure as coddling criminals.

‘Parading around a bill that removes the word “inmate” from legal materials at a time when crime in New York continues to spike at an alarming rate shows you a lot about how misguided the Democrats’ agenda is,’ said Assembly member Chris Tague, a Republican from Schoharie, a town west of Albany.

While murders in the city are down 5.6 percent, robbery is up 39.2 percent, from 6,530 to 9,091, and burglaries increased by 32.9 percent, from 6,251 to 8,305, according to NYPD data.

Felonious assaults rose by 18.6 percent and rapes saw an 11 percent increase so far this year over 2021. ‘It appears there’s a normalization to this violence, and we’re saying no to that,’ Adams said last week.

Mayor Eric Adams said reforming a system takes time, and ‘when you look at how to reform a system, you don’t destroy a system.’

At a press conference, Adams, a former cop, fumed: ‘You have to work really hard to get to Rikers right now. To get there, you did something that is really bad.’ 

The city isn’t suffering alone: Upstate is feeling the uptick in crime, too.

Cities such as Rochester and Syracuse have seen a rise in shootings, with Rochester’s fatal shootings up 26.1% and shootings in Syracuse up almost 23%.

Even smaller cities such as Troy and Binghamton have felt the surge and shootings in those cities are up 100% and 80% respectively. 

The change in wording is the latest in the state legislature’s history of amending terms in state law that may be seen as outdated or offensive.

Last month, Hochul signed legislation replacing the term ‘mentally retarded,’ or other variations, with ‘developmentally disabled’ in state law. 

In 2018, the legislature passed a law replacing all instances of the words ‘fireman’ or ‘policeman’ with gender-neutral terms like ‘firefighter’ or ‘police officer’ in official documents and laws.

A similar measure to replace the word ‘inmate’ in a slew of other state laws was signed in 2021 by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Michel DeGraff, a professor of linguistics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said, ‘word choice to describe certain individuals does matter. Especially when it comes to individuals who are vulnerable in any way.’

‘When you say someone is born a slave (for example), it can make someone think there is a category of people who are slaves by nature, but there is no such category,’ he said. ‘No one is born a slave. You are a human being, and then you were enslaved.’

DeGraff said language allows people to process the past and the present, and by changing words, ‘you help people better understand who they are and how they got to be where they are.’

Making changes to help people who have committed crimes, though, carries some political risks this election year.

Hochul’s opponent in the governor’s race, U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin, has made fear of crime a central issue of his campaign, as have other Republicans running for Congress. 

Violent crime rates have increased across the U.S. since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hochul said social justice and safety can go hand-in-hand.

‘By treating all New Yorkers with dignity and respect, we can improve public safety while ensuring New Yorkers have a fair shot at a second chance,’ she said in a statement.

This comes as crime is up a shocking 36.6 percent through August, according to the city’s own data.  

While murders in the city are down 5.6 percent, robbery is up 39.2 percent, from 6,530 to 9,091, and burglaries increased by 32.9 percent, from 6,251 to 8,305, according to NYPD data.

Felonious assaults rose by 18.6 percent and rapes saw an 11 percent increase so far this year over 2021. ‘It appears there’s a normalization to this violence, and we’re saying no to that,’ Adams told Smiley last week.

The Mayor said reforming a system takes time, and ‘when you look at how to reform a system, you don’t destroy a system.’