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

There is no evidence that foreign countries intentionally emptied prisons or mental institutions and sent people to the United States. — Jack Harvel, Kansas City Star, 2 Nov. 2026

Final results could come as early as Thursday evening after about a half-million absentee ballots are counted from military personnel, diplomats, people in prisons and hospitals, and others. — Cara Anna, Chicago Tribune, 29 Oct. 2026

Understaffing is a big problem at Tennessee's prisons, said Hatcher, who is the chairman of a legislative subcommittee looking into the prison system. — ABC News, 28 Oct. 2026

Even those who escaped Ortega’s prisons may remain within the regime’s reach. — Lynn Northcutt Vega, Sun Sentinel, 28 Oct. 2026

The total includes five clinics in prisons and three mobile units. — Yashaswini Singh, The Conversation, 28 Oct. 2026

In 2023, an audit of Tennessee prisons found the department was struggling to fill open positions at the prison and had a 61% vacancy rate for correctional officers in that fiscal year. — CBS News, 27 Oct. 2026

Flávio has promised to designate major criminal factions as terrorist groups, expand prisons and lower the age of criminal responsibility. — Alessandra Freitas, CNN Money, 25 Oct. 2026

The history of castles is, of course, also filled with gruesome details, and some of the most famous fortresses served as prisons and sites of torture and execution. — Andrea Margolis, FOXNews.com, 25 Oct. 2026