Detainer

Detention; the act of keeping a person against his will, or of withholding the possession of goods or other personal or real property from the owner. "Detainer" and "detention" are pretty much synonymous. If there be any distinction, it is perhaps that detention applies rather to the act considered as a fact; detainer to the act considered as_ something done by some person. Detainer is more frequently used with reference to real estate than in application to personal property. In Practice. A writ or instrument, issued or made by a competent officer, authorizing the keeper of a prison to keep in his custody a person therein named. A detainer may be lodged against one within the walls of a prison, on what account soever he is there.

Comyn, Dig. "Process" (E) (3 B).