NYC Board Proposes Replacing 'Inmate' in 2026 Jail Rules With 'Person in Custody'
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Jul 20
NYC Board Proposes Replacing 'Inmate' in 2026 Jail Rules With 'Person in Custody'
3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Jul 20
Summary
New York City's Board of Correction moved to strike "inmate" from jail regulations, extending person-first wording through additional sections of its rulebook.
The proposal follows a 2021 board commitment that people in Department of Correction custody should not be defined by incarceration, with terms such as "people," "persons" and "individuals in custody" already introduced.
Specific edits rename sections such as "Classification of Prisoners" to "Classification of People in Custody" and define a "person in custody" as anyone confined in a facility.
New York state made a similar shift in 2022, when Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation replacing "inmate" across dozens of legal provisions with "incarcerated individual."
The language push has resurfaced amid renewed scrutiny of Rikers Island after Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani attended a World Cup semifinal watch party there, though the board said the wording changes do not affect jail operations.