Prison

A prison—also called a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center—is a place where the state holds people, typically as punishment for crimes. These facilities have two main jobs in the criminal-justice system: keeping people who are charged with crimes until their trial, and locking up those who have pleaded guilty or been convicted to serve their sentences. Authoritarian regimes sometimes misuse prisons for political repression, detaining perceived opponents without fair trials or due process, which breaks most international laws on justice. During war, countries involved in conflict or neutral nations may hold prisoners of war or other detainees in military prisons or prisoner-of-war camps. States can also imprison civilians, sometimes in large groups, in internment camps.

The words used for prisons vary by country and legal system. In Australia, "gaol," "jail," and "prison" are all common; "gaol" was once official, and many old gaols are now tourist sites like Maitland Gaol. Officially, "correctional centre" is used for most prisons in New South Wales and Queensland, while other states and territories use different names. "Prison" is official for some facilities in South Australia, Victoria, and Western Australia. Youth prisons are called "youth correctional facilities" or "youth detention centres," depending on the jurisdiction, and those held on remand without bail go to remand centres. In Canada, people commonly say "jail" or "prison," but official names use "facility," "correctional centre," "penitentiary," or "institution," though some places keep the historical "jail." New Zealanders also use "jail" and "prison" in speech, while official terms include "correctional facility." In Papua New Guinea, "prison" is official, but "jail" is more common and widely understood. In the UK and Ireland, the modern official term is "prison" (like HM Prison Barlinnie); "gaol" is now obsolete in speech but appears in older texts and legal contexts. The Gaols Act 1823 distinguished between gaols and houses of correction. Houses of correction were created by the Poor Relief Act 1601 in England and Wales to send the "idle poor" and vagrants for hard labor. Later laws added punishment for minor crimes after summary jurisdiction and pre-trial detention. The poor-relief function was later taken over by workhouses and then general public assistance. In American English, "prison" and "jail" have distinct meanings, though casual speech sometimes blurs the line, and official names vary by state. A "jail" holds people for short periods (like under a year) or for pre-trial detention and is usually run by local government, typically the county sheriff. A "prison" or "penitentiary" holds people for long periods (many years) and is run by state or federal government; after conviction, a sentenced person is usually sent to prison.

The use of prisons goes back to the rise of the state as a form of social organization. Some Ancient Greek philosophers, including Plato, started thinking about using punishment to reform offenders rather than just for revenge. Imprisonment was often used for people who couldn't pay fines, but since poor Athenians couldn't pay, they faced indefinite jail time, so time limits were eventually set. The prison in ancient Athens was called the desmoterion, or "the place of chains." The Romans were among the first to use prisons as punishment, not just for holding people. They used existing structures like metal cages, basements of public buildings, and quarries. One famous Roman prison was the Mamertine Prison, built around 640 B.C. by Ancus Marcius. It was in a sewer system under ancient Rome, with dungeons where prisoners lived in squalid conditions contaminated by human waste. Forced labor on public works was also common, and many citizens were sentenced to slavery in ergastula—primitive prisons where unruly slaves were chained to workbenches and did hard labor. Prisons existed not just in Rome but across the Roman Empire, though there was no regulated system. In medieval Songhai, trial results could lead to confiscation of goods or imprisonment, as various prisons existed in the empire. During the Middle Ages in Europe, castles, fortresses, and public building basements were used as makeshift prisons. The ability to imprison citizens gave officials an air of legitimacy and showed who held power. Another common punishment was galley slavery, where prisoners were chained together in ship bottoms and forced to row on naval or merchant vessels.