By Tracie Bernardi Guzman ©️2024

We know, if a person has experienced trauma or abuse, the treatment should never be inflicting more trauma and abuse.

In the case of an incarcerated person who has been accused of breaking the law, one might do better to understand their circumstance.

First, most incarcerated people have experienced some type of trauma, and if they haven’t prior to coming to prison, they certainly will during prison, starting with their first strip search.

Society created prisons as a punitive measure to thwart people from committing crimes by teaching people who violate the laws a lesson. The lesson is intended to deter them from future crime. In theory, if this method worked and was only given in small doses, I’d be shouting this system’s praises.

Unfortunately, pure punishment with no treatment only breeds more trauma. Certainly, prison has psychiatrists and mental health staff, but they are not in place to help heal the population, but more so to assist in controlling them. All too often, incarcerated people are controlled by the often unnecessary medications ordered by the providers. Everyone doesn’t need to be medicated to overcome trauma; instead, people need to be supported through their trauma.

Trauma isn’t just defined by events that happen to us or things that we witness. Trauma can be inflicted through emotional abuse as well. Lots of people who, to onlookers, might look like failures weren’t always that way and don’t always have to be that way. Let me explain: people who act like failures only became that way because someone in their lives told them they were. As we hear negative messages throughout our lives over and over, we begin to believe them. People entrusted with other people’s care must understand the trauma inflicted by negative messaging. When you tell someone they are worthless enough times, they can’t help but live up to that expectation. Conversely, when you support someone and tell them they are amazing and capable of anything, they set their goals toward fulfilling that prophecy.

So, whether a person is a parent, a teacher, a medical care professional, clergy, or a prison guard, one should always speak in a way that promotes healing and growth. One should never speak to any person in a way that reinstates and confirms all of their previous negative messaging. In order to break the cycle of abuse and keep individuals from committing more crimes and inflicting more trauma, we should, as a society, do more to rewrite the negative messaging in their minds.

Which brings me to my point: if we want to truly curb the recidivism rate, we should encourage those who end up incarcerated to believe in themselves and their ability to succeed and do well in this world. The biggest way to do that is to remove the word “offender” from all DOC-allowed language and replace it with “Incarcerated Person.”

To call an incarcerated person an “offender” is to tie them to a mistake and render them in place as if they cannot change and become better. We need people who do become incarcerated to understand they are worthy and capable of good lives in order to keep people from committing new crimes. If we abuse people through the labels we drill into their heads like “offender,” how can we expect them to grow and move forward?

I don’t need to be reminded every day of the worst five minutes of my life; instead, I need to be supported and encouraged to believe that it’s possible for me to succeed despite what anyone in my past has told me.

People who are incarcerated and who have committed crimes should be called “Incarcerated People” either pre-sentence or post-sentence. The word “offender” should be removed from all DOC language.

Anyone using this terminology is ultimately contributing to the recidivism rate and thus mass incarceration.

We may not have realized the detrimental nature of the word “offender” prior to reading this article, but now that we do, we can’t deny the knowledge of how damaging using this terminology and any other vocabulary that is used in a manner to inflict added trauma.

People are sent to correctional facilities for “correction,” hence the name.

A person cannot be expected to heal and be corrected while being re-traumatized by the words of the people entrusted with their care.

If we truly want people to become better and behave better, we must truly lead the way! We can only do this by treating people better and encouraging people to believe in themselves and those around them.

We can change the whole culture of corrections starting with the elimination of just one word:

People in prison should be referred to and addressed as “Incarcerated People.”

The safety of society depends on how we treat and refer to people.

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