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

Birch said he was moved around between prisons as the years passed. — Edmund H. Mahony, Hartford Courant, 19 July 2026

That would do more than all the police and prisons put together to reduce the future crime rate. — Ronald J. Allen, Chicago Tribune, 19 July 2026

With more than 93,000 women released from North Carolina state prisons and county jails annually, few homes like the one near Charlotte’s Sugaw Creek neighborhood exist. — Amber Gaudet july 18, Charlotte Observer, 18 July 2026

Citizens provided banking services to CoreCivic and The GEO Group, both companies that own or run private prisons throughout the country. — Ken Sweet, Fortune, 18 July 2026

In Prague, explore the city’s medieval history by touring its underground prisons, ancient cisterns and vaulted alleyways from the 13th century, which were built before flooding forced the city to be raised about 5 to 25 feet. — The New York Times News Service Syndicate, San Diego Union-Tribune, 16 July 2026

Between 2020 and 2022 — a time when many prisons throughout the country saw high death tolls because of the COVID-19 pandemic — the total was only 10 deaths for Idaho. — Alex Brizee, Idaho Statesman, 15 July 2026

Politicians and candidates want to build prisons there (as if this were a solution). — Cristina Dorador, The Dial, 14 July 2026

Widdecombe was in the House of Commons from 1987 to 2010, serving in roles including prisons minister in Prime Minister John Major’s 1990s Conservative government. — ABC News, 14 July 2026