Prison Lingo & Terminology

Other Commonly Used Terms

Caregiver

person in the free world responsible for raising a child of a parent in prison. A caregiver might be the child’s mother, grandmother or other relative. A caregiver might be a family friend or a foster parent.

Children's Center (prison related)

a program that provides services for children during prison visits

Community Corrections

a wide variety of programs that allow offenders complete their sentences in the community instead of in prison. Examples include: halfway houses, probation and parole.

Contraband

things prisoners are not permitted to have, drugs, weapons and many other items

Conviction

a record of having been found guilty of a crime

Correctional Facility

a prison or jail.

Correctional Officer

prison staff that wear uniforms and control prisoner’s movements. Prison staff no longer refer to themselves as “guards,” a term that is considered demeaning.

Count

process of determining if the correct numbers of prisoners are in the prison. Prisons will stop all movement of prisoners and visitors until a count is “clear” or found to be correct.

Department of Correctional (DOC)

a title often used for the state agency responsible for operating prisons

Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP)

the agency of the Federal government responsible for federal prisons. There are federal prisons throughout the United States. These prisons hold people convicted of violating Federal laws.

Felony

a serious crime, usually one that is punishable for more than one year.

Frisk

to search a person or location

Guard

slang for correctional officer (see correctional officer above). Prison staff no longer refer to themselves as “guards,” a term that they consider demeaning.

Health Care Providers

doctors, nurses, physician’s assistants and others who provide health care services to prisoners

Incarceration

the experience of being or held in a prison

Inmate Account

money earned by or sent to a prisoner to that is usually used to purchase personal items, snack foods or candy through a prison commissary or some clothing items and other allowed items that an inmate can purchase through a state approved catalog service. These funds are generally earned by the prisoner or given by family or friends who are pre-approved to mail an U.S. Postal money order or other approved method.

Jail

local (county or city) facilities housing people awaiting trial, serving short sentences or convicted of a state or federal crime who are awaiting transfer to a prison

Lock Down

an extended period when prisoners are not allowed out of their cells. Lock downs usually occur when prison administrators want to be sure they have control of all prisoners.

Pat Search

to search a person by moving hands over the body, feeling for weapons or other contraband. Personal items are usually searched to prevent contraband entering a secure facility.

Plea Bargain

an agreement to plead guilty to a crime usually in return for a reduced sentence

Prison

a place where people are held against their will, usually while serving their time as punishment for a crime that they have been convicted of.

Prison Visitor Center

facilities at prisons that process visitors by providing a place to talk with an inmate and possibly purchase snacks both can enjoy during a “contact visit.”

Private Family Visit

program that allows some prisoners to visit with their family in a home-like setting on prison grounds (currently operating in New York, California and Mississippi)

Re-Entry

the process of leaving prison and resuming life in the outside world