Woke Prison Service tells wardens to stop referring to criminals as 'convicts'
The Prison Service has issued new guidelines to wardens
PA
Prison officers have been ordered to stop using the term "convicts" when referring to criminals in new guidelines.
Civil servants working for the Prison Service have told staff that they should use terms such as "persons with lived experience" or "prison leavers" for ex-convicts.
It warned that it was conducting a "clamp down on inappropriate deviations" from the new rules.
Outraged at the decision, Mark Fairhurst, National chairman of the Prison Officers' Association (POA) trade union, said there was "nothing offensive" in calling someone who has been jailed a convict.
Mark Fairhurst said there was 'nothing offensive' in the term
Prison Service
"I received a letter saying some people found the word 'convict' offensive and that we should not use that term," he told the Daily Mail.
"The letter from the employee relations department of HM Prison and Probation Service said the terms 'prisoner' and 'offender' should be used instead.
"But there is nothing offensive about that language when you are describing someone who has been convicted and incarcerated."
He added: "When I talk to prisoners they call themselves 'cons'. So what's the problem?"
The latest rules come after new guidance was issued by the Department last year.
The then Justice Secretary Sir Robert Buckland was left outraged after learning that the Prison Service was referring to inmates as "residents".
Responding to the latest criticism, a Prison Service spokesman said: "We have set clear and robust guidance on language to be used by staff, and have clamped down on inappropriate deviations from this.
"However, 'convict' is inaccurate, given a large proportion of prisoners are on remand ahead of trial and have therefore not been convicted."
The Met Police have also rebranded one of their teams
PA
News of the revised language for convicts comes at the same time that the Met Police has also been reported to have undertaken a rebranding.
Scotland Yard's violent gun crime unit, which was known as "Operation Viper", is to be known as the "Proactive Armed Team" going forwards according to the Telegraph.
The decision was made after senior management at the Met Police expressed concern that the association with venomous snakes portrayed the wrong image.