Internment Camp? Prison?
In writings preserved from the period, the camp is referred to by many different names: the prison camp, the Indian camp, the inclosure, the captive Sioux camp, the camp at Fort Snelling, the camp and the prison, the prison compound, and the camp under military surveillance, to name a few.
Considering the nature of the camp, a hostile environment for imprisoning non-combatants, it is not surprising there were so many names for this place. But perhaps today we can offer better perspectives for what this should truly be called.
Historically, the term 'internment camp' has been used to describe places of temporary imprisonment, of which this certainly qualifies. The term concentration camp, on the other hand, has been used to describe places designed for permanent imprisonment and/or execution.
The differentiation is somewhat difficult to assign in the case of Fort Snelling. Though the camp was indeed only intended to be temporary, hundreds of people did die within its confines, from starvation, disease, and even acts of murder by the surveilling soldiers.
So then how should we refer to the camp as it was? It was a place where innocent people, non-combatants, were held, starved, and murdered simply because of the color of their skin. It was a place where the Dakota were forcibly placed, held in extreme concentration, and denied any form of rights. While they certainly were not being held awaiting their death as in a German concentration camp, it would be very well possible to argue that due to the lack of attention and help offered that they spent each day awaiting their death much the same.
It is for this reason then why we choose to use the phrase "concentration camp," as controversial as that may be.