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What is the difference between being jail and being in prison?

Whats the difference between jail and prison?

  • I was watching this documentary abouts american jails and this guy mentioned that he had been in jail 2times and then he said that he had been in and out of prison for 4 - 5 years. ...show more

  • Answer:

    Nope. They are completely and totally different. Jail facilities are run by the county - meaning the sheriff's department. This is essentially a criminal "hotel" because it involves a short stay. Individuals who are arrested will be booked into jail - and may bond out or be released almost immediately. If a judge sentences a defendant to serve less than one year, that defendant will serve that time in the county jail. Prisons are for more lengthy terms - at least one year. Defendants are sentenced to serve prison time when they have committed a serious offense and/or when they have been in and out of jail so often the judge has to recognize that short sentences are getting through to him. You have state prisons and federal prisons. They are not run by a sheriff's department - but by correctional officers. Federal facilities are run by the Bureau of Prisons and house inmates convicted of federal crimes. Inmates can be transferred to any federal prison anywhere in the country - so a Florida resident convicted of robbing Florida banks can serve his time at the Federal Correction Institution in Lompoc, California. If that Florida resident had been convicted of robbing a grocery store, he would be sent to a prison facility within the state of Florida. So, the guy you saw profiled was probably convicted of two different crimes to justify getting sentence to jail time. And then committed other violations that caused him to be sent to prison. Generally, the "three strikes" law involves a single defendant committing and getting sentenced for three separate felonies (one at a time). The third felony results in an exceptionally long sentence.

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jail is where you serve time of usually a year or less for misdemeanor offenses prison is where you go for felony offenses you can serve from a couple months to life

One sucks and the other is really shitty.

Tagboy

Jail is where you are send for misdemeanours they are small over crowed , you will also be taken to jail if you are arrested before you are taken to court to apply for bail . Jail's are over crowed horrible places there is no courses or jobs for the inmates to do .You will serve less than a year . The Federal prisons have MCC which are like federal jails . Prison's are bigger have more programmes they tend to be more organised , the conditions are better , you will serve a year to life in prison

sparky slade

jail is were you get booked for crime and have not been proven guilty yet...or where you serve time for misdemeanor offenses, for local crimes...crimes against the state or felonies that aren't on federal property or against federal employees. send you to state prison, usually jail is for anything between days to up to 3yrs. and state prison is for 6mths - life or death !!! depends on ya state. ask any inmate state prison is better than any jail, except for location.

Mr.NastytheLickmaster

Where I live (NY), jail is just county jail and prison is state/federal jail or. And not every place has a three strike rule.

Jessica

all the above answers are correct but in jail the optional things an inmate can buy are very expensive and its very limited as to what you can have, in prison the optional things an inmate can buy are much more cheaper and their allowed to own their own portable t.v. or cellphones etc.. and a federal prison is like a country club compared to a county jail or a state prison.

Miss L

Jail is where a person serves a term of up to one year for a misdemeanor offense. Prison is when a person is convicted of a felony offense and has to serve a sentence anywhere from a year to life. However, the exception to this rule is for parole violations. If a person has to be on parole for 18 months, and violates that parole 3 months before they are supposed to finish their parole, then they would serve that 3 months in prison.

Tony S

jail is smaller

msw1842

Jail - County / Prison- State

defendant

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