Matt I, like Marcia, also found this interesting and had never given the terminology much thought.  Just looked at all of them as being pretty much the same thing, a bad place to be.  As you know I am a strong supporter of H.R. 1529 and I have mostly used the term ex-offender. I think that probably stems from the full title of the legislation: H.R. 1529 the “Second Chance for Ex-Offenders Act of 2009.”  Maybe the real answer to the problem is to re-double our efforts, get '1529 a new sponsor since Rep. Rangel seems to have abandoned ship and move it forward to becoming law.  Then many of these people can simply be called "Productive American Citizen."  Dosen't that sound better?

Well, our pjustice system is not exactly the most just system, y'know? So, if it seems odd that convict might be the preffered term, you're just not putting yourself in the convict's keds.

There's only one way to get put in jail or prison, after all, and that's to be convicted. It doesn't matter if you're guilty or innocent in actuality, you've been convicted. This term simply makes the observation that you're on the inside.

And it's no wonder that it might be preferable to 'prisoner', which I agree is more relevant than 'inmate', 'felon', 'offender', or what have you. When you're locked up, do you really need to be called a prisoner? It's readily apparent to you every waking moment and even some of the moments that you aren't.

As for ex-offender, that's a pretty crappy term. First, it assumes that recidivism is not going to happen, which would be nice, but isn't realistic, simply due to the nature of the system. Secondly, it implies that the person was an offender in the first place, which may or may not be true, but probably encourages that same recidivism anyway.

That's my .02

I think that the difference in preference comes from personal involvement/perspective. Consider yourself Matt, you work in reform which means that you prefer the optimistic approach maintaining both awareness that each person you encounter has committed a crime but the crime does not define the individual.  Consider the perspective of a police officer, we come into contact with the subject almost immediately. Therefore, for officer safety reasons and use of proper terminology we would use the term prisoner. The subject does not have free will to leave at his/her leisure, we are transporting them from one confinement to another. Lastly, from the perspective of a corrections deputy, again both for officer safety purposes (to maintain vigilance and set boundaries) and department mandated terminology it becomes necessary to label the subject as a convict. Even more so because a subject does not go into prison without a conviction.  I think the terminology follows a cycle as it moves through the criminal justice system. That's just my opinion. I think ultimately the decision on what the subject is going to be known as falls on his/her shoulders alone. Is he/she a career criminal or just dabbling? 

LISTEN CLOSELYIf you listen closely enough during the silences you will hear the drums of Truth's battle cry.
You will hear thousands upon thousands of our children's souls screaming "Freedom" from behind cold, retributive and prejudicial prison bars.
Listen
closely
And you will hear in a resounding voice truth's proclamation declaring war against societal inequities and falsehoods. A proclamation stipulating there's a way to effectively combat the tangible and intangible elements of poverty and to make the invisible citizens visible. 
There's a way for health care to be universal in America without the principles of socialism being applied, there's a way for capitalism to thrive without the financial exploitation of the worker.
There's a way for the American dream to be realized before we reach an age too old to substantially enjoy it.
There's a way of reducing the prison population in America, taking the US off the top of the list of having the most prisoners in the world.
There's a way of snatching our children from the claws of unrelenting gangs and placing them back on top of the world's best educated.
Listen
Closely
And you will hear truth loudly proclaim that you are a soldier within an army dedicated to progressive social movement.
We are all soldiers in this army whether we like it or not.
To what battalion do you belong?
If you've agreed with anything I've said then I think that question has been answered.
Contact me, for we have work to do.

Dante D. Cottingham
#259241
Green Bay Correctional Institute
P.O. Box 19033
Green Bay
Wisconsin
54307-9033

My father is sentenced to life without parole for armed robbery! There was no one physically hurt or killed! He has been in prison for 10 years and since then the prosicuiting attorney has been convicted of embesselment . My dad was tried in a "one horse town". And I pray someone will read this and maybe know someone who can help me .

I never really thought about what we called a "prisoner" but the other terms are quite harsh. I have my fiance who is in jail for willingly sleeping with 2 girls who were 4 years younger then him, he was 20 and they 16. He is called an "inmate" and he was charged with 2 counts of sexual assault on a "child" and he had so serve 180 days jail time, with 10 years probation...he is also a registered sex offender. I believe the justice system DOES not seek justice at all, they simply judge based on their feelings that day...or that is how I feel...feel free to comment Id like your opinions...

Really, all the terms are harsh in their own way. They all say, in one way or another, "this person is a bad person, it has been judges so by legitimate authority."

I do not believe that the justice system is about justice or even the safety of society at large. Having been through it an and read about such things as recidivism, I've come to the conclusion that, like most things in this country, it's an industry.

I realize some of the people working in this industry (police, probation officers, judges, lawyers, etc) may become involved in it because they are motivated by their morals. The system doesn't care about that, though. It cares about two things: rules and money.

Laws are rules, and if you violate them, you end up in the system. Then you start losing money, just like when you enter the health system. A night in jail is gonna drain your wallet. Maybe not as badly visit to the emergency room, but it's no drop in the bucket.

Equality is enforced by a removal of rights. However, these rights are replaced by priviledges, both granted (for good behavior, they say) or taken (because one knows how to work the system - I saw this many times). If you want to get treated like something more than human garbage you have to take advantage of the system. I failed to do so because I felt an obligation to honesty. My mistake, I nearly starved while I was in jail. Yes, literally.

I digress, though. Money. Evry step through the system costs you money. When you leave, it's not over, because you really haven't left. Now you're imprisoned by chains known as debt. Not a debt to society, but debt imposed by the injustice, I mean 'justice', system. One that you have to pay, else they reel you back in on those chains of debt.

Why? Well, like trees, criminals are people. By being living beings, they become a natural resource, since they're the means by which which money enters the system. Everyone still get paid if you get convicted. If you don't, though, that means less money coming into the system and less of a chance that they're gonna get ahold of you again. If you get convicted once though, then you're a steady stream of bullion. Even ignoring the fact that you're in debt, you've still been living in an alternate reality. If you've made any effort to adapt to living there, it's automatically a step towards future criminality - to swim with sharks, you have to become a bit sharklike, else you'lll get eaten. You still might get eaten.

I could rant about this for days.