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

Some in county jails are there for just a few days, but others can stay behind bars for months or even years before their cases are tried in court. — Amber Gaudet july 18, Charlotte Observer, 18 July 2026

This came after the Obama administration broadened a program that linked people booked in local jails with federal immigration officials. — Christopher Cann, USA Today, 17 July 2026

What replaced them was not community care but jails, shelters, and sidewalks. — Sunny Patel, STAT, 17 July 2026

The former youth pastor suspected of pushing his wife off a Utah cliff died by suicide in a very unusual way, said the sheriff who oversees Las Vegas’ jails. — Bay Area News Group, Mercury News, 16 July 2026

Williams, who was arrested and jailed in connection with each of these encampment sweeps, became part of this huge minority in local jails. — Ariane Lange, Sacbee.com, 15 July 2026

The Sandra Bland Act signed into law in 2017 requires that county jails help get inmates with mental health and substance abuse issues treatment, and help expedite the bailing process for those who meet these requirements. — Rachel Royster, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 14 July 2026

Today, there are more than sixty thousand people in ICE jails across the country, up from thirty-nine thousand in January, 2025. — Jonathan Blitzer, New Yorker, 13 July 2026

The five-member Board of Supervisors is charged with approving settlements with the families of people who die or are injured in county jails. — Jeff McDonald, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 July 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