Guidelines for Advocacy
Section I

It is through language that the process of dehumanization becomes acceptable just as "the process of humanization is not founded in the conscious production of the necessities of life (Marx) or in the use of tools (Rousseau), but rather in the use of language"(Horster 1992:63).

Reality vs the covert power of Euphemisms

Cell - A prisoner exists in a cell.
A prisoner does not "live" in one's "house, home or room"--one always has the key to one's house and has the freedom to enter and leave at will, the right to refuse entry to anyone and the reasonable expectation that it is at all times a safe place.

Imprisoned, Incarcerated, Jailed not “managed”

Involuntary transfer -can include that of women to men's Special Handling Units (SHUs) where the CSC insist the woman can receive “specialized treatment” or "programs" in "special needs units”

Jail, Lock-Up, Prison: provincial authority
Penitentiary: federal authority
Not: “Institution" attempts to "civilize" the penitentiary since it brings to mind other familiar institutions like hospitals, the family, marriage, etc. “Institution” is used to normalize and sanitize the experiences of imprisonment, clearly not "normal" at all. Tragically, many prisoners internalize this fake normalcy and become totally "manageable" (institutionalized). After years inside, many are completely "programmed" (debilitated), are unable to apply critical thinking, and have no understanding of "real world" inter-relationships between work, family and community. When released, many "good inmates" fail at "reintegration," returning to prison (their "normal" "homes") over and over and over again. Prison "treatment and programs" produce good "recidivists" not good citizens.
Not: Reformatory – Prisons do not ‘reform’ the individual.
Not: Corrections – Prisons do not “correct”

Prisoner - is the only correct term
- to describe a person locked into a cage or cell within a facility not of one's choice and whose quality of existence therein depends upon the keeper(s).
Not: "inmate" -an inpatient of a mental hospital who may or may not have voluntarily entered the "institution."
Not: "client” - a person who has purchased the services of a chosen deliverer, is a patron of the one hired and/or is an outpatient-- someone who chooses to be a client. The term "resident" is also an obvious corruption.

Prisoner - is the only correct term
NEVER: OFFENDER - The continual use of the term "offender" justifies everything done to "an inmate in the name of the law." Yet "offender" describes a person who commits an offence--a current transgression, one that is occurring at a specific time. Charged with an offence, the person is tried, and if convicted becomes a prisoner. The offence has already happened. It is in the past. The prisoner in prison is not offending. S/he has already offended. S/he may have "offended" once and may never "offend" again, but utilizing the label, "offender" permits an ongoing and static reference justifying brutalization and degradation (euphemistically referred to as "treatment of the offender") and enables the continuum of power distinctions.

Punishment – cannot be treatment
It is not "treatment" that is administered in "enhanced security and/or special needs units." It is punishment to be held under segregated or solitary confinement conditions within fortified sensory-deprivation cells. "Programs" clearly cannot be delivered in segregation. Prisons and penitentiaries are not objective medical or psychiatric facilities.

Descriptives

Use care when using descriptive terms. They may be more insulting or have a different meaning inside the walls from the one acknowledged outside the walls.
e.g.: “goof” (you may understand the word to mean simply a bit of a cut-up or a foolish person, however one whose behaviour is still innocuous. Inside the walls, however, this term is one of the utmost insults to another person. A “goof” is someone who totally messes up, in a way that is intentionally harmful to other prisoners and as such is someone who could engender retaliation. If you are unsure of the application of any descriptive, refrain from using it until you are certain of the definition.