Resources
On-Campus Resources
- TU Career Center's Resources for Justice-Impacted Individuals
- Counseling Center's Tigers in Recovery
- Center for Student Diversity's Mature & Non-Traditional Student Development Program
- Food Insecurity & FoodShare Programs
- Student Computing Services
- Tutoring & Learning Center's Academic Skills Support Services
Off-Campus Resources
- Benefits for Incarcerated and Justice-Involved Veterans
- Federal Financial Aid Eligibility for Students with Criminal Convictions
- Federal Public Defender for the District of Maryland Reentry Resource Database
- From Prison Cells to Ph.D
- Formerly Incarcerated College Graduates Network
- Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program
- Return Home Baltimore
- Unlock Higher Education
Using Humanistic Language
Carceral Setting/System: Any prison or jail like setting, including prisons, immigration detention centers, local jails, detention centers, juvenile detention centers, etc.
- Prisons are managed by state or federal governments; those held within them generally serve longer sentences (2+ years) than those in jails or city/county detention centers.
- Jails or local detention centers are usually run by the local (i.e., city or county) government; those held in these facilities are pre-trial (i.e., not yet convicted of any criminal offense) or are serving shorter sentences (less than two years).
Formerly Incarcerated Person/People: Anyone who has been held in a carceral setting and is now released. Use instead of ex-convict, ex-con, ex-inmate, ex-prisoner.
Incarcerated Person/People: Anyone currently incarcerated. Use instead of convict, inmate, prisoner.
Justice-involved Person/People: Anyone who has had direct involvement with the criminal justice system (not as an employee). Includes anyone who has been incarcerated, anyone who has been arrested and convicted (regardless of whether they have been incarcerated) and those who have had loved one(s) who have been incarcerated.
Person/People Convicted of [Type of Offense]: Use only when necessary to identify the type of conviction a person has experienced. Use instead of violent offenders, drug offenders, etc.
Person/People on Parole (or Probation): Anyone who has been convicted of a criminal offense who is now serving all or part of their sentence in the community.
- A person on parole has been released from a prison and is now serving the remainder of their sentence in the community. Though they are in the community, they remain under the supervision of the state.
- A person on probation has been convicted (in most cases) but is serving their sentence in the community. Though they have not been incarcerated as a result of their conviction, they are under the supervision of the state.
Adapted from UC Berkeley, Underground Scholars Language Guide: A Guide for Communicating about People Involved in the Carceral System