Synonyms of prisons

prisons

noun

plural of prison

1

as in jails

a place of confinement for persons held in lawful custody

the ongoing debate whether drug users should go to prison

Synonyms & Similar Words

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

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• outsides

2

as in captivities

the act of confining or the state of being confined

the view that prison does nothing to cure the criminal—if anything, it makes him worse

Synonyms & Similar Words

• captivities
• internments
• incarcerations
• imprisonments
• confinements
• impoundments
• restraints
• enslavements
• bondages
• servitudes
• restrictions
• immurements
• custodies
• arrests
• captures
• house arrests
• detentions
• entrapments
• detainments
• detainers

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• releases
• liberations
• redemptions
• liberties
• freedoms
• manumissions
• emancipations
• independences

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of prisons

Nanayakkara said some 734 inmates who were involved in the violence were transferred to other prisons. — ABC News, 7 July 2026

Grocery stores, convenient stores, restaurants, and those who supply goods to the prisons will all see significant changes to their businesses. — Walter Pavlo, Forbes.com, 1 July 2026

Existing California law already limited such markups in state prisons. — Andrea Castillo, Los Angeles Times, 1 July 2026

In late 2022, the state hired the firm KPMG to create a 20-year master plan for Florida’s prisons. — Lawrence Mower, Miami Herald, 29 June 2026

Educators will develop a statewide framework for generative artificial intelligence in schools, while officials are cracking down on flying drones near prisons and criminal trespassing at churches. — Hali Smith, Idaho Statesman, 1 July 2026

The program was established by state lawmakers in 2018 as a way to help stem the tide of mental illness in jails and prisons, usually by dismissing cases and offering treatment for the underlying conditions behind a defendant’s arrest. — Jakob Rodgers, Mercury News, 6 July 2026

There were also provisions in the main budget bill (HB 5001E) that tied $91 million in pay increases for corrections officers to the approval of the prisons bill, so those salary hikes are also nixed. — Cbs Miami Team, CBS News, 30 June 2026

Turkey's prisons held more than 420,000 inmates — far exceeding their official capacity of roughly 304,000, according to a June 2026 report citing Turkish Justice Ministry figures. — Efrat Lachter, FOXNews.com, 6 July 2026