But it is the word that the government itself uses when referring to its orders of confinement.

Today, we are the government's prisoners. Wear your mask. Stay at home. Don't go to work. Don't open your business. Don't go to church. And, for heaven's sake, don't gather in any group larger than 25 — unless it is to speak words of which the government approves.

Here is the backstory.

When the United States was founded, the folks who framed the new government shared many political and philosophical views. Some of those views were reprehensible, unnatural and contrary to the others — most notably that the new Constitution would permit the states to enforce a system of human slavery.