Spirit World (Latter Day Saints) - Spirit Prison

Spirit Prison

For a different concept with a similar name found in other faiths, see Spirits in prison.

Spirit prison is believed by the Latter-day Saints to be both a place and the state of the soul between death and the resurrection, for people who have either not yet received knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ, or those who have been taught but have rejected it. It is a temporary state within the spirit world. Those who rejected the gospel after it was preached to them may suffer in a condition known as hell. The suffering associated with the spirit prison refers to anguish of soul because of acute knowledge of one's own sins and unclean state.

Latter-day Saints believe that spirit prison (a name based on the phrase "the spirits in prison" in the KJV translation of Peter 3:19) is a place in the post-mortal spirit world for those who have "died in their sins, without a knowledge of the truth, or in transgression, having rejected the prophets". This is a temporary state in which spirits will be taught the Gospel and have the opportunity to repent and accept ordinances of salvation that are performed for them in temples. Those who accept the Gospel may dwell in paradise until the Resurrection. Those who choose not to repent but who are not sons of perdition will remain in spirit prison until the end of the Millennium, when they will be freed from hell and punishment and be resurrected to a telestial glory.