Prison

Criminology and penology
Theory Anomie Biosocial criminology Broken windows Collective efficacy Crime analysis Criminalization Differential association Deviance Expressive function of law Labeling theory Psychopathy Rational choice Risk and actuarial criminology Social control Social learning Strain Subculture Symbolic interactionism Victimology Secondary victimisation Victim blaming
Types of crime Against Humanity Person State Class Blue-collar White-collar Cold case Perfect Corporate Hate Immigrant International Juvenile Organized Political Public-order State State-corporate Transnational Victimless War Narcotic slavery
Methods Comparative Profiling Ethnography Uniform Crime Reports Crime mapping reform sentencing Crime statistics Positivist school Qualitative Quantitative BJS NIBRS
Penology Crime prevention Corrections Denunciation Deterrence Incapacitation Sentence Trial Prison Prisoner Solitary confinement Punishment Rehabilitation Recidivism Zero tolerance Criminal justice Participatory Restorative Retributive Right to an effective remedy Utilitarian Transformative Prison reform abolition open Prisoner abuse Prisoners' rights Victims' rights
Schools Anarchist Chicago Classical Conflict Critical Environmental Feminist Integrative Italian Law and order Marxist Neo-classical Populist Positivist Postmodernist Realism Left Right
Subfields American Anthropological Biosocial criminology Conflict Criminology Culture Cyber Demography Development Environmental Experimental Organizational Political Public Radical criminology
Browse Index Journals Organizations People
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A prison,^[a] also known as a jail,^[b] gaol,^[c] penitentiary, detention center,^[d] correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where people are imprisoned under the authority of the state, usually as punishment for various crimes. They may also be used to house those awaiting trial (pre-trial detention). Prisons serve two primary functions within the criminal-justice system: holding people charged with crimes while they await trial, and confining those who have pleaded guilty or been convicted to serve out their sentences.

Prisons can also be used as a tool for political repression by authoritarian regimes who detain perceived opponents for political crimes, often without a fair trial or due process; this use is illegal under most forms of international law governing fair administration of justice.^[3] In times of war, belligerents or neutral countries may detain prisoners of war or detainees in military prisons or in prisoner-of-war camps. At any time, states may imprison civilians – sometimes large groups of civilians – in internment camps.

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