Corrections for Academic Medicine: The Importance of Using Person-First Language for Individuals Who Have Experienced Incarceration

Abstract

This Invited Commentary addresses the use of labels and their impact on people involved in the criminal justice system. There are 2.2 million adults incarcerated in the United States and close to 6.6 million under correctional supervision on any day. Many of these people experience health inequalities and inadequate health care both in and out of correctional facilities. These numbers are reason enough to raise alarm among health care providers and criminal justice researchers about the need to conceptualize better ways to administer health care for these individuals. Using terms like "convict," "prisoner," "parolee," and "offender" to describe these individuals increases the stigma that the..