A prison (from Old French prisoun) is a place in which people are physically confined and usually deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime. Other terms used are penitentiary, correctional facility, remand centre, detention centre, and jail or gaol. In some legal systems some of these terms have distinct meanings.
A criminal suspect who has been charged with or is likely to be charged with criminal offense may be held on remand in prison if he or she is denied or unable to meet conditions of bail, or is unable or unwilling to post bail. A criminal defendant may also be held in prison while awaiting trial or a trial verdict. If found guilty, a defendant will be convicted and may receive a custodial sentence requiring imprisonment.
As well as convicted or suspected criminals, prisons may be used for internment of those not charged with a crime. Prisons may also be used as a tool of political repression to detain political prisoners, prisoners of conscience, and "enemies of the state", particularly by authoritarian regimes. In times of war or conflict, prisoners of war may also be detained in prisons. A prison system is the organizational arrangement of the provision and operation of prisons.
Read more about Prison: History, Design and Facilities, Security Levels, Population Statistics
Other articles related to "prison":
... murder of Helen Purdy and executed in 2002 by the State of North Carolina at the Central Prison in Raleigh ... a steak sub, and two Cokes from the prison canteen, for which he paid $4.20 from his prison account ... In a statement that was recorded by the warden of Central Prison, Carter said "The only thing I would like to say is that I apologize to the victim's ...
... The former royal Prison in Anrath is now a federal state prison named "Justizvollzugsanstalt Willich" ...
... was dented on 13 May 1997 when a critical inquiry into a series of prison escapes was published ... advance of the publication Howard made statements to assign blame to the prison service ... Asking whether Howard had intervened when Derek Lewis sacked a prison governor, Paxman asked "Did you threaten to overrule him?" Howard did not give a direct answer, instead ...
... CNN's Larry King if he was nervous about going to prison, and he admitted his trepidation about doing time ... nervous about that." On December 9, 2010, Snipes reported to federal prison to begin his three-year sentence ... McKean Federal Correctional Institution, a federal prison in Pennsylvania, and is scheduled for release on July 19, 2013 ...
... He is best known for having escaped from prison four times over three years ... He escaped from Aomori prison in 1936 ... He escaped from Akita prison in 1942 ...
Famous quotes containing the word prison:
“You ain’t got much, Stroud, but you keep subtracting from it.”
—Guy Trosper, U.S. screenwriter, and John Frankenheimer. Kramer, a prison guard (Crahan Denton)
“So must pure lovers’ souls descend
T’affections, and to faculties,
Which sense may reach and apprehend,
Else a great Prince in prison lies.”
—John Donne (c. 1572–1631)
“People have passed through a very dark tunnel at the end of which there was a light of freedom. Unexpectedly they passed through the prison gates and found themselves in a square. They are now free and they don’t know where to go.”
—Václav Havel (b. 1936)