Talk:Jail

POV and lack of sources
What evidence is there of a "ballooning" county jail population and subsequent strain on resources? &mdash;The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.230.120.107 (talk &bull; contribs) 12:14, 17 January 2006.
 * The article lacks sources. I have tagged the article for these sources. Also, Jails can be as dangerous as state prisons, particularly for women. Inmates held at jails can make weapons out of almost anything sounds like point of view and dare I say original research. The article will be sent to the clean-up taskforce. Compu  terjoe  14:01, 27 February 2006 (UTC)

County Jail
Obvioulsy the person asking for the review of this article has nothing to do with the profesion of corrections. I can send you so many articles on over crowding in county jail, I couldn't begin to count them. Inmates making weapons out of just about anything___I have seen weapons that could kill made from paper!! Of course the women working in this kind of setting have to be very well educated in thier field and aware of thier surroundings at all times The inmates that are held in county jails are the very same inmates in the state prisons and federal prisons. the days of Otis checking in for the weekend to sober up are gone. the inmates actually become less of a threat once they are placed in the state prison system. This system allows for the administration to put into place goals the inmates must meet in order to further his priviledge level, therefore ( the inmate) not wanting to upset the cart now has rules and regulation he WILL follow in order to get what he wants. Please excuse my spelling.

Lt. Nancy L Pickering Jail Commander 204.113.19.8 (talk) 20:49, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

Merge?
Seems to me that this really should be folded into prison. Otherwise, we're getting weird stuff like: residents of Marion and surrounding areas gathered at the city jail as jail gets disambiguated. --jpgordon&#8711;&#8710;&#8711;&#8710; 03:40, 6 April 2006 (UTC)
 * But there is a distinction between jail and prison most of the time, isn't there? Awaiting trial or serving for a misdemeanor - jail - prison has a different connotation of already convicted of a more serious crime.So if it's folded in, it would need a separate section of some kind and careful explanation of the difference - a redirect wouldn't do it.  Not sure I see why the above, and leaving separate article, is a problem though. Tvoz | talk 20:44, 21 April 2007 (UTC)
 * The redirtect just lost this discussion page and the history - I don't think it makes sense, but maybe I'm missing something. Tvoz | talk 20:57, 21 April 2007 (UTC)  Sorry - I was premature as the change was in the middle of happening - I assume history will follow. But I still question the fold into prison as above. Tvoz | talk 22:10, 21 April 2007 (UTC)
 * to me it would make sense to leave it, because i specifically looked up gaol and prison so that i could find out what the difference was. if it was merged, there would need to be an explanation of the difference.139.230.245.20 07:42, 3 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Lets just call it: Local Lockup, State Lockup and Federal Lockup. How about Military lockup too.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.149.185.243 (talk) 17:29, 18 July 2008 (UTC)

funding
this page should talk abou tthe funding of jail, money wont grow on trees, so it has to come from somewhere 137.87.66.6 18:14, 1 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Tax payers, You make the silly laws to protect your interest not the interest of all. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.149.185.243 (talk) 17:28, 18 July 2008 (UTC)

Moved to Jail
I moved the article Jail (American) to Jail because this usage is not US specific. Please see the history of Jail (American) for previous issues.--Scheibenzahl 21:11, 21 April 2007 (UTC)
 * I think you made a mistake doing this. I see no evidence that there is a difference between jail and prison in the United Kingdom. It seems to be a distinction only made in the United states. The United Kingdom is mentioned in the first paragraph but the sources cited are American. The article is a nonsense from a non-US perspective. Suitsyou 00:12, 22 July 2007 (UTC)

"One Year" Rule
As far as I know, the "one year" rule is not a rule, just the typical length of a sentence. If you look at the prison article it says jails are for offenders "typically" spendiong less than one year. I have two parents who work in a county jail and they both say it's just a very common misconception. 67.81.174.15 (talk) 22:31, 29 November 2007 (UTC)
 * Indeed, it is a rule, based on the US definition of misdemeanor vs felony. A misdemeanor is any crime punishable by less than one year incarceration and/or less than a certain amount of fine (I think $1000, but the amount may have changed); anything with a potential sentence of over a year is a felony, and you will end up in a state or federal facility.Wschart (talk) 20:25, 8 November 2008 (UTC)

"Gaol" spelling in Australia/Canada
That Australian Government website that claims "Gaol is the Australian spelling" (my emphasis) is very misleading. True, some older establishments are known as "X Gaol", but "prison" or "facility" seem to be the vogue these days. In all other contexts I know of, "jail" is most definitely the Australian way these days. -- JackofOz (talk) 10:09, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

I agree. Gaol is not the current common spelling. Australia is much like Canada in the respect that we use mostly "British" English spelling, but with modernised words such as Jail (Some Americanisations). A Jail (Gaol) website is not a source, it is used for certain Jails, usually old jails or as said above. Believe me I hate bad grammar and most americanisations, but Jail IS the correct spelling in Australia P N  57

That's completely rubbish, in all my education I have NEVER seen teachers or professors ever use jail instead of gaol. Gaol is the correct spelling in Australia, 'Americansations' are to be avoided, which is taught at our most basic level of education. 124.176.182.124 (talk) 08:49, 1 September 2008 (UTC)
 * True, but that doesn't mean we ignore them. The matter was prompted by an anon with a bug up his ass, and he went around reverting any edit I made. I think he's gone dormant for a bit. Jail can exist alongside gaol, as both are used interchangeably. Thoughts? - Arcayne   (cast a spell)  16:33, 1 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Correction. Arcayne you followed me here and made one edit - it was an edit reverting me. I would appreciate that if you are to discuss me, you do it honestly and without these continued uncivil attacks. I added text that referred to NZ as using the term Gaol - you reverted me and demanded a citation. I added the citation and replaced the text. That edit still stands, please do not engage in another one of your scorched earth edit wars here. Gaol is a real term, it is not a spelling error.75.57.172.49 (talk) 02:03, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

The spelling "gaol" is NEVER used in Canada, except possibly in reference to historic sites Not only that, but the vast majority of Canadians are not even _aware_ that "jail" can be spelled "gaol". Confronted with the spelling "gaol", most Canadians would not even know how to pronounce it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Acidtoyman (talk • contribs) 02:33, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

I don't agree that Gaol is the common spelling. Gaol may still be the OFFICIAL way of spelling it, but I definitely think Jail is the common spelling. I think the current wording (as of 10:16 AEST 30/1/09) is good, and that the citation mark be filled with a source if we can find one :P 124.179.244.120 (talk) 11:16, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Wikiproject Prisons
If anyone is interested, I have proposed a new Wikiproject concerning prisons here.--Cdogsimmons (talk) 22:47, 13 June 2008 (UTC)

Surely a source is needed for this statement
"Approximately half of the U.S. jail population consists of pretrial detainees who have not been convicted or sentenced" needs a source! 76.168.54.150 (talk) 06:30, 14 May 2009 (UTC)

"Gaol" spelling in New Zealand
i would like to see this contradiction rectified, "gaol[1] (especially in Australia[2] and New Zealand[3])", "Although jail is now more common, gaol is still the favoured spelling in parts of the Commonwealth of Nations, for example in Australia, but no longer used in New Zealand." I didn't make the change myself as i knew it would be reverted. As a New Zealander, i can tell you we were always taught in school to spell it Gaol, and i only finished a few years ago so it cant have changed that much. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.172.224.106 (talk) 15:07, 8 June 2009 (UTC)

Jail-Gaol-Prison
I have separated out Gaol, so there are now three articles:


 * Prison, about prisons in general
 * Jail, about the United States jail which should explain the difference between jail and prisons in the United States
 * Gaol, about the spelling "gaol".

I have removed this original research:
 * The word has strong historical connotations of unjust imprisonment in Ireland, and if an Irish person says someone is "in gaol" (or "in jail") rather than "in prison", they may be hinting that they consider the imprisonment unjust, a distinction that may be unnoticed by non-Hiberno-English speakers. In turn, Irish English-speakers may also invalidly assume that English speakers from other nations are making that distinction. "Prison" and "Detention Centre" are typically used for extant Irish-run incarceration facilities.  The English-built but still in-use Mountjoy Gaol was renamed to Mountjoy Prison.

jnestorius(talk) 22:27, 27 June 2009 (UTC)

Why make it US specific?
There are other countries too that have the equivalent of 'jails' and 'prisons' —Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.65.193.104 (talk) 10:16, 20 August 2009 (UTC)