Dominic Raab demands staff stop treating prisoners as 'residents'

Despite demands by Dominic Raab for staff to stop using "woke" terminology, prisoners have been treated as "residents" in jail.

Despite an instruction from the Justice Secretary in April, HMP Moorland in South York, put up a sign directing "residents".

The language, which has also seen criminals called "service users" or "clients" has been part of efforts by prisons to avoid "labelling" offenders. Guidance from Mr Raab made clear they should stop using "politically correct" terms because it undermines the public's confidence that they are being punished.

The Prison Service admitted the term "residents" should not have been used and had been removed. A former-government adviser on extremism in jails, Ian Acheson, said: "I'm told this sign was up for six weeks. If prison leaders haven't been visible enough to notice this sign … what else is being missed?"