Do the words “jail” and “prison” refer to different things?

Question

In everyday speech, the terms jail and prison are used interchangeably in many situations. However, my understanding is that, at least in the US, they actually refer to slightly different things. For instance, it appears to me that it would be rather unusual for an American to use the expression federal jail. He'd most probably say federal prison instead.

Am I right? What is the correct usage of jail vs prison? Are there any (historical or legal) differences between the US and the Commonwealth?

Answer 1

I consider "jail" to mean a temporary, local facility where suspects are held until and during trial. In general, you can get out of jail by paying a bail bond. "Prison" is where convicted felons are sent to serve their sentence.

Thus, there aren't a lot of federal jails--there's not much point to the local and federal governments having two jails in the same city--the feds just pay the locals for use of their jails.

Answer 2

In the United States, jails are operated by cities and counties (or equivalent). Prisons are operated by states and the federal government. Jails are generally thought of as for short-term incarceration, such as before or during trial, or for minor crimes that result in a sentence of incarceration, usually of less than one year. Prisons are for long-term incarceration for major crimes.

However, even though there is a technical distinction in that every one of these institutions will have a name which is usually one or the other, jail is a generic term that can refer to prisons or any type of “correctional facility”.

Answer 3

Jail is a municipal level, prison is on a state/federal/provincial/territory level.

You will not serve life in a jail, but you will in a prison, which is more for serious crimes.

Answer 4

Jail is used much less commonly in the U.K. (in my experience at least), Prison is almost always used in its place.

Answer 5

The NOAD reports the following definitions:

jail /dʒeɪl/ ( British also gaol)
noun
a place for the confinement of people accused or convicted of a crime: he spent 15 years in jail | [as adjective] a jail sentence.
- confinement in a jail: she was sentenced to three months' jail.

prison /ˈprɪzən/
noun
a building (or vessel) to which people are legally committed as a punishment for crimes they have committed or while awaiting trial: he died in prison | both men were sent to prison.
- confinement in such a building: prison saves one man and hardens another.

From the description, I would understand that jail is a place for temporary confinement; from the given examples, it seems there isn't much difference in using one word or the other.

Answer 6

The terms are synonymous in British English.

I work in a prison where part of my training was in jail craft (Learning the sneaky ways prisoners will manipulate you).

The distinction between the US term jail and prison is made by referring to some prisons as local prisons — as opposed to longterm or training prisons.

And incidentally, the term inmate for prisoner is officially deprecated in the UK. Though it still gets used a lot in conversation.

Answer 7

I would suggest theres only a contextual difference, but no inherent difference between the words in usage.

In common usage, "He went to jail" | "He went to prison" would carry the same meaning, stigma, weight. To suss out the sense I would bring up that with "jail term" | "prison term", the only way to make them interchangeable is to qualify them; as in 'i was put in jail last night.'

as a facility there are too many other words (ie correctional facility, rehabilitation center, etc) for there to be a clear cut difference between choosing just jail and prison. also, i would note that although there seems to be a difference in @robert 's answer, it hinges on the examples being qualified.

Answer 8

user5142 is correct that they are synonyms in British English use. I'll add that the same is true of Irish English use.

In official usage, both countries now tend to use prison.

Gaol and jail are both found, one is not a misspelling of the other, but both are close-cousins who came into English in the Middle English period from Norman and central French respectively. Jail has been increasingly in popularity over gaol in all forms of English for centuries, and is now far more often found.

The terms may be found in the names of given prisons though, in which case it is normally kept as it is in the name. Hence usually "Stirling Old Town Jail", very rarely "Stirling Old Town Gaol", and usually "Kilmainham Gaol", very rarely "Kilmainham Jail".

Official name changes may have an effect, so while we might speak proleptically of Oscar Wilde having been in HM Prison Reading, we are more likely to talk of his having been in Reading Gaol, as it was called at the time. (And of course, we'd only use that in terms of the famous poem). For a similar Irish example, Mountjoy Prison was once Mountjoy Gaol.

The modern official names are the form "HM Prison X" for British prisons, and most Irish prisons have the form "X Prison", but some don't have any such word in them. None in current use have Jail or Gaol in their names.

In colloquial use, some in Britain and Ireland will use jail for remand or short-term detention, and prison for those serving sentences, but this use is not universal, so each term can be found for each condition. Some will even use jail for police/garda custody, or the holding cells one would be in when in such custody, which does not match any official terms.

Historically, the distinction was not made as can be seen from the names of different places holding the same category of prisoner containing Jail in some cases, Gaol in others and Prison in yet others. This includes debtor's prisons/jails/gaols; a category of prison that no longer exists.

Answer 9

You go to jail for up to a year, or if you are waiting for trial. You go to prison for over a year.