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 jails have staff members or volunteers teach courses, as well, Beal said. — Kyle Werner, Des Moines Register, 22 Sep. 2026

In 2023, lawmakers passed SB 519, which requires them to release records and footage for deaths in jails and prisons. — Theresa Clift, Sacbee.com, 21 Sep. 2026

As the Broadview detention center filled, and while federal agents moved detainees from there to jails in Indiana and Kentucky and elsewhere, habeas corpus emerged as a viable legal tool. — Andrew Carter, Chicago Tribune, 20 Sep. 2026

Re-read Lev Facher’s explainer on medetomidine from last year, and another great piece from STAT contributor Hannah Harris Green on how jails are on the front line of addressing this new, complicated type of withdrawal. — Theresa Gaffney, STAT, 16 Sep. 2026

County jails must keep occupied areas between 65 and 85 degrees, according to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. — Tiffani Jackson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 16 Sep. 2026

And as the cops try to arrest them, only to realize their own jails aren’t accessible, the film expresses perfectly how the government trips over its own feet while resisting inevitable change. — Glenn Garner, Deadline, 10 Sep. 2026

Across California, individuals experiencing psychiatric emergencies are repeatedly funneled into de facto psychiatric facilities like local jails instead of receiving timely clinical care. — Kerry Martin, San Diego Union-Tribune, 10 Sep. 2026

In 2015, the Sheriff’s Department entered into an agreement with the Department of Justice to implement reforms on mental health and use-of-force in its jails. — James Queally, Los Angeles Times, 9 Sep. 2026

Verb

Only 65 people rebooked into those counties’ jails two or more times through June 2026 were eventually released on bond. — Mario Ariza, ProPublica, 27 Aug. 2026

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