A prison sentence (also called a custodial sentence) is the most serious penalty a court can impose. A prison sentence can last for one offence (‘concurrently’) or multiple offences (‘cumulatively’). A court may also give a person a ‘whole life order’ which means they will spend the rest of their life in prison, only being released if the Parole Board agrees to it and there are exceptional compassionate reasons to do so.
People sent to prison are usually transported from court to a reception prison where they will stay for the first few nights. They will then be relocated to a prison that is more appropriate for their level of offending and security category. Prisoners can often earn privileges if they behave well such as better cells, more visits or access to specific jobs in prison. This will vary between prisons.
Prison is a place where people serve long-term sentences and where most criminals end up. Jails are where short-term sentences are served and where people can be held pretrial as they wait for their trial (approximately two-thirds of arrests that could land you in jail are for low-level misdemeanor offenses like disorderly conduct and drug abuse). Changes to laws such as ‘tough-on-crime’ legislation led by a number of politicians and the introduction of three-strikes laws fueled mass incarceration in America over the last thirty years. Prisoners in America now have the highest rate of incarceration of any country in the world.
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