Synonyms of jails

jails 1 of 2

noun

plural of jail

as in prisons

a place of confinement for persons held in lawful custody

sentenced to three years in jail for his crime

Synonyms & Similar Words

• prisons
• penitentiaries
• brigs
• lockups
• stockades
• pens
• coops
• coolers
• cages
• big houses
• jugs
• dungeons
• bastilles
• tanks
• hocks
• guardrooms
• joints
• cells
• jailhouses
• cans
• clinks
• slammers
• pokeys
• nicks
• tolbooths
• quods
• bridewells
• stirs
• hoosegows
• slams
• calabooses
• wards
• holes
• holds
• hulks
• gulags
• guardhouses
• reformatories
• bull pens
• prison camps
• concentration camps
• labor camps
• work camps
• glasshouses
• keeps
• blocks
• reform schools
• training schools
• oubliettes
• stalags

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• outsides

jails

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of jail

as in imprisons

to put in or as if in prison

threatened to jail the punks if they so much as jaywalked

Synonyms & Similar Words

• imprisons
• interns
• incarcerates
• confines
• arrests
• detains
• commits
• locks (up)
• restrains
• gates
• jugs
• immures
• bars
• catches
• limits
• captures
• shuts
• apprehends
• restricts
• constrains
• impounds
• seizes
• binds
• keeps
• shackles
• holds
• pinches
• fetters
• busts
• impresses
• handcuffs
• enchains
• nabs
• picks up
• manacles
• shanghais
• trammels

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• discharges
• releases
• liberates
• frees
• enfranchises
• emancipates
• unchains
• unbinds
• unfetters
• uncages
• manumits

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of jails

Noun

For decades, the Orange County branch of the Mexican Mafia was led by Peter Ojeda, a longtime Santa Ana gang chieftain who maintained control over the local streets and jails even after a federal racketeering conviction in 2006 left him in a prison cell three time zones away. —Sean Emery, Oc Register, 23 Apr. 2026

He has been held in jails in New York and Los Angeles, and for a time in New York state prison, since his first conviction in 2020. —Karla Cote, Variety, 21 Apr. 2026

Along with erecting tent jails for detaining immigrants, agents have used racial profiling during immigration raids. —Jonathan Van Harmelen, The Conversation, 20 Apr. 2026

Researchers centered their work on areas where Fulton County has direct responsibility—courts, jails, elections, libraries and public health. —Zachary Bynum, CBS News, 16 Apr. 2026

The plan is to eventually close the island to incarcerated individuals in a decarceration plan, replacing it with four other jails in Manhattan, The Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn. —Amethyst Martinez, USA Today, 15 Apr. 2026

The county’s general budget for its nearly 10 million people, supplying funding for the Sheriff’s Department, jails, healthcare, food programs, four county hospitals and several clinics, homeless services, parks, beaches and more is in a holding pattern. —Steve Scauzillo, Daily News, 14 Apr. 2026

Placer County plans to end its contract with a major for-profit company for medical services at its jails. —Theresa Clift, Sacbee.com, 13 Apr. 2026

The sheriffs vowed to continue working with ICE within a narrow framework, such as sending arrest sheets to ICE or holding individuals for up to 48 hours in local jails for ICE officials. —Jeff Barker, Baltimore Sun, 13 Apr. 2026

Verb

The facility is one of 11 Kentucky jails that contract with ICE to detain people. —Monroe Trombly, Louisville Courier Journal, 24 Feb. 2026

China, which jails human rights activists in Hong Kong, persecutes Uyghurs, has killed hundreds of thousands of Tibetans and has committed genocide against the Falun Gong, is on the UN Human Rights Council. —Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 18 Feb. 2026

The regime that jails children also profits from drugs, human trafficking, and online scams. —Kim Aris, Time, 7 Nov. 2025