the.com/prison
Society's way of pressing pause on people it hasn't figured out what to do with.
means A building where people are legally confined as punishment for crimes, or while awaiting trial.
from From Old French 'prison,' meaning both the act of seizing and the place of confinement, which traces to Latin 'prensio/prehensio' — a grabbing or taking hold, from 'prehendere,' to seize. The same root gives us 'prey' and 'prehensile.' So at its core, prison is just the ancient idea of being caught, made into a noun and a building.
- US population
- Holds nearly 2 million people, highest total on Earth
- word cousin
- Related to 'prize,' as in seized goods
- solitary origin
- Invented by Quakers hoping isolation would inspire penitence
- global outlier
- US has 5% of world population, 20% of prisoners