Prison
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary · Walter A. Shumaker and George Foster Longsdorf; ed. James C. Cahill · 1922
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary
A public building for confining persons, either to insure their production in court, as accused persons and witnesses, or to punish, as criminals. The root is French, as is shown by the Norman prisons, prisoners (Kelham), and French prisons, prisons (Britt. c. 11, "De Prisons"). Originally it was distinguished from "gaol," which was a place for confinement, not for punishment. See Jacob, ''Gaol." But at present there is no such distinction. It is a general term to include jails, penitentiaries, etc.