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

After the October 7, 2023, invasion of Israel by Hamas and the kidnapping of 251 people to Gaza, Ben-Gvir took a series of inflammatory measures that worsened conditions for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. —Avi Issacharoff, The Atlantic, 22 May 2026

The county Sheriff’s Office, which runs the county jails, told this news organization that Castillo was fired in November 2024. —Robert Salonga, Mercury News, 19 May 2026

Cities spend millions cycling people through jails for sleeping outside while affordable housing waitlists continue to grow. —Shianne Leclaire, Hartford Courant, 17 May 2026

As a result, families are struggling with the rising cost of living, limited access to county services, unsafe conditions in county jails, and aging infrastructure that has not been maintained. —Eleanor Dearman, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 14 May 2026

He was taken to the ICE detention facility in Broadview and eventually transferred to other jails in several states, where he was denied access to heart medication over more than two months while in custody, according to his declaration. —Madeline Buckley, Chicago Tribune, 13 May 2026

Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman said last month that the law has perhaps had unintended consequences for already crowded jails. —Ryan Oehrli, Charlotte Observer, 13 May 2026

Instead of only looking to convert warehouses into immigration detention facilities, Mullin said DHS is exploring use of county jails as well as shuttered state and local facilities that can be purchased, repaired and brought online more quickly. —Nicole Sganga, CBS News, 13 May 2026

The Obama administration, for instance, relied heavily on these types of arrests, where undocumented immigrants are transferred from jails and prisons to ICE custody and then deported. —Greg Rosalsky, NPR, 12 May 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