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

The fights, and tax policy, confronting local governments Governments, school systems, prisons, and police and fire departments often are among the largest employers in communities and have high rates of unionization. — Bob Herman, STAT, 18 Aug. 2026

Crews now runs all three of Tennessee’s highest-security youth prisons. — Paige Pfleger, ProPublica, 12 Aug. 2026

Continue reading … CITY LIMITS – Mamdani clashes with Democratic Socialists' push to abolish police and prisons. — FOXNews.com, 11 Aug. 2026

This is probably part of why, in 2024, the New York State Department of Corrections placed prisons on lockdown and let the guards watch the eclipse, but would not let tens of thousands of the imprisoned see it. — Literary Hub, 10 Aug. 2026

Hong has also disavowed parts of the national DSA platform, such as abolishing prisons and law enforcement. — Phillip M. Bailey, USA Today, 10 Aug. 2026

After declaring an internal armed conflict in January 2024, the government sent troops into prisons and violent cities. — Robert Muggah, The Conversation, 10 Aug. 2026

De la Espriella has also proposed building large maximum-security prisons modeled after those constructed in El Salvador under President Nayib Bukele . — Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, 10 Aug. 2026

By comparison, federal prisons in fiscal year 2025 spent about $2,700 per inmate on external medical care. — Andrea Castillo, Los Angeles Times, 6 Aug. 2026