‘Mind your language’: What people in prison think about the language used to describe them
| Published date | 01 September 2023 |
| Author | Lili Bidwell,Laura Polley |
| Date | 01 September 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/hojo.12515 |
Received: 7 February 2022 Accepted: 10 August 2022
DOI: 10.1111/ho jo.12515
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
‘Mind your language’: What people in prison
think about the language used to describe them
Lili Bidwell1Laura Polley2
1Lili Bidwell is Employment Policy Lead,
HM Prison and Probation Service, London
2Laura Polley is Lecturer in Criminology,
University of Suffolk
Correspondence
Lili Bidwell, Employment Policy Lead,
HM Prison and Probation Service,
London.
Email: lili.bidwell@icloud.com
Abstract
This study investigated how people in prison feel about
the language used to describe them and how it affected
them. Previous research shows that terminology used
to describe people in prison affects their self-identity,
namely through its shame-inducing effects. A thematic
analysis of qualitative data gathered through interviews
demonstrated that language impacts how an individ-
ual in prison engages with the community and how
they view themselves. Positive and progressive language
in prisons has the potential to remove the shame and
stigma attached to the prisoner identity.
KEYWORDS
dehumanising language, identity, language in prisons, shame,
stigmatisation
1 INTRODUCTION
Many researchers have demonstrated that the language employed to describe people in prison
can greatly influence how they are considered by wider society (see Campbell & Deacon, 2006;
Chiricos et al., 2007; Lowe & Willis, 2020;Tranetal.,2018). If ‘criminals are regarded as non-
reforming savages, then public attitudes are likely to be negative and result in highly punitive
approaches to criminal justice’ (Kury & Ferdinand, 1999, in Vasilijevic & Viki, 2013,p.130).Itis
not only in academic literature that the use of language in prisons has been explored; indeed there
has been a recent shift in HM Prison and Probation Service’s (HMPPS) policy towards a more
progressive use of language. The 2021 The TargetOperating Model for probation services in England
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and
reproduction in any medium, providedthe original work is properly cited.
© 2023 The Authors. The Howard Journalof Crime and Justice published by Howard League and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Howard J. Crim. Justice. 2023;62:313–324. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/hojo 313
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