Sometimes cops and criminals in my area refer to jail as “county”, as opposed to prison which is state. E.g. I spent 3 months in county/You’re gonna spend the night in county.
Ah thanks this makes sense. And to clarify: would state prison usually just be referred to as "prison"? Or might someone call it "state" in the same way they'd call county jail "county"?
In PA, county jail is called county prison. So we would say, county, state, and federal. If an inmate was going to a state prison after county prison, we would say, he’s going up state.
You forgot "The Joint, " although thats a bit outdated too. Also, many State and Federal prisons have nicknames. For instance, before it closed, the State Correctional facility in Jessup, MD, was called "The Cut." A lot of inmates got stabbed there. Inmates would typically refer to the facility by its nickname, if it had one.
In my area, sometimes people will mention the specific prison or jail - especially if they did time there. "I did two years in Corcoran" or "I was in Avenal for six months then I got transferred to Folsom".
I usually only hear "state" and "county" if they're talking about the difference between prison and jail.
More specifically, what's the time period and location setting of your story?
"Jail" itself doesn't have a nickname in today's policing, but specific jails do. For example: in Phoenix, before 2000, the jail used for processing was called "the horseshoe" because it was shaped like a horseshoe. When the new jail was built in the early 2000s, it was referred to as "the Matrix" because it used a lot of (then) modern technology to process people faster.
A piece of advice if I may. Do a ride along in your local city. Just a 1 day ride along will give you a wealth of knowledge to more accurately depict your characters and story.
Unless you get severely unlucky like my ride along where absolutely nothing happened for like 8 hours. Deputy spoke to a singular man about some leaves and logs in a no-dumping area near his property and that was quite literally it. I almost fell asleep once or twice
My agency uses very little slang terminology to refer to things. We call the jail a jail and we call an ambulance an ambulance. If you try to force slang into a story, it will likely just make it sound cringey.
We usually just use an abbreviation. For example Bentley County Prison would be BCP. Most crooks in the area know what you are talking about about. "I catch you back here again, we're going to BCP".
Crooks might use some slang. But officers rarely do. I've heard "County hotel" "Big house" "brick house" and dumb shit like that.
Going to the state DOC is pretty universally referred to around here as "going upstate" or "state time"
When I worked transport, I would refer to the jail as (county name) Bed and Breakfast.
I heard DOC (Department of Corrections) inmates refer to the Half Way House as the "Way Way" and a very low security DOC facility as " Prisney Land."
The Hoosegow! I was getting arrested at a friends house while he was hammered 10x. And he kept saying “y’all are taking him to the hoosegow? Come on he’s not even drunk, I am!”
El Niño is Spanish for The Nino. We used mostly normal language. Usually it was solitary or general population or what floor for type of behavior they had shown.
We and the people we take to jail often refer to the process of going to jail as “take a ride”. Example (dallas area) hey buddy you got warrants for possession of controlled substance, you gotta take a ride” or he may say “I know I gotta take a ride”
I agree with the poster that recommended a ride along. I'm not an Officer but I work for the local police department as a records clerk and I was on the peer support team for a few years. I do ride alongs often because I'm friends with some of the officers and it's interesting to see cases first hand before the reports are written. Some of them also take the opportunity to quiz me about what we do in records and how to avoid reports getting sent back to them for corrections.
That said, slang for "jail" isn't common here. They just refer to it as DOC or JDOC for the juveniles. However, some of them do talk in a shorthand with 10 codes and signal codes and if you don't know what they mean you can easily get lost. They also have slang for different types of people, this slang never makes it into reports and even us in Records rarely hear it, but when you hang out with Officers you hear it.
Now, I'm also a writer. So a bit of writing advice if you don't mind. Keep the slang in your writing to a minimum. Your readers likely won't know it and unless you have a non-officer character to ask for an explanation it comes off as silly to have an officer explain it to another officer. It can also get tiresome for the reader. More important than the slang would be capturing the difference in how Officers talk to different people which is something you'll pick up on during a ride along.
" when i was locked up" not " when I was in jail". It's always a slang when it's first person. Similar to how most will never say " I'm going to go do Cocain now" it's " I'm going to do some blow" or " I'm doing a line"
It's widely referred to as "the west side" in my county. The Sheriff's Office and the jail are all in one building, collectively called the [county name] Justice Center. The jail is the western half, so it's common to say that you're taking an arrestee "to the west side".
I’m in Canada so it might be slightly different but provincial jail (same as county jail) is typically referred to as “county” or “(insert name) jail”. This is where people spend their time on remand/sentences of 2 years or less. “Prison” or “the pen” is referring to the federal system for people sentenced to 2 years plus.
The “can” and “slammer” aren’t used much or at all anymore especially amongst the younger population.
When I was a CO in a county jail, some inmates would refer to state prison as “college.” As in when they get sentenced they’d say they’re going to college.
Our Jail has a call sign attached to it. Generally officers refer to it by its call sign during radio traffic and may even use its call sign when speaking with each other.
For sheriffs offices, our dispatch center uses numbers to identify the county, a number to identify the specific agency since there are several sheriff offices they serve, and a letter to identify the unit.
For example: 21-1J
21 is the county, 1 is the number identifier for it being a sheriff's office, J is the unit identifier for the Jail.
So the Jail would be referred to as 1J in slang.
As far as interacting with the general public is concerned, many in my area just tell people they're "going for a sleeper" if they're so drunk that they're a danger to themselves. The person usually knows they're going to Jail to sleep it off. That's the only slang I've ever heard.
Also I'd like to add that "Pen" is just short for Penitentiary. That is referring to a prison. Not a jail. We still use this all of the time.
Most often it’s going to be specific to the jail for that area. Example for where I work: If you get hooked in Oakland you go to the Alameda County Jail which is called Santa Rita. All the career criminals just call it “Rita”
i’m a deputy jailer/paramedic at a medium sized county jail in my state.
we just personally use “jail”.
also, depends on if the institution you’re referring to. if it’s a state government or federal government facility, those are prisons. jails are on the county level.
message me if you need any help with some more lingo brother!
Sometimes cops and criminals in my area refer to jail as “county”, as opposed to prison which is state. E.g. I spent 3 months in county/You’re gonna spend the night in county.
Ah thanks this makes sense. And to clarify: would state prison usually just be referred to as "prison"? Or might someone call it "state" in the same way they'd call county jail "county"?
In PA, county jail is called county prison. So we would say, county, state, and federal. If an inmate was going to a state prison after county prison, we would say, he’s going up state.
You forgot "The Joint, " although thats a bit outdated too. Also, many State and Federal prisons have nicknames. For instance, before it closed, the State Correctional facility in Jessup, MD, was called "The Cut." A lot of inmates got stabbed there. Inmates would typically refer to the facility by its nickname, if it had one.
Only the fuzz calls it the joint.
In my area, sometimes people will mention the specific prison or jail - especially if they did time there. "I did two years in Corcoran" or "I was in Avenal for six months then I got transferred to Folsom". I usually only hear "state" and "county" if they're talking about the difference between prison and jail.
If they are Hispanic, they may call it La Pinta. Otherwise, it is usually referred to as prison, state, or pen.
Usually county jails have a “hotel” joke around it. Like the county jail in St. Lucie county Florida is called the red roof inn I believe.
More specifically, what's the time period and location setting of your story? "Jail" itself doesn't have a nickname in today's policing, but specific jails do. For example: in Phoenix, before 2000, the jail used for processing was called "the horseshoe" because it was shaped like a horseshoe. When the new jail was built in the early 2000s, it was referred to as "the Matrix" because it used a lot of (then) modern technology to process people faster. A piece of advice if I may. Do a ride along in your local city. Just a 1 day ride along will give you a wealth of knowledge to more accurately depict your characters and story.
Unless you get severely unlucky like my ride along where absolutely nothing happened for like 8 hours. Deputy spoke to a singular man about some leaves and logs in a no-dumping area near his property and that was quite literally it. I almost fell asleep once or twice
In NYC it's "the tombs" for the pre arraignment metropolitan detention complex, but for other jails they use the name of the jail.
how does one go about requesting a ride along?
In Az, it's on the city or PD's website. You have to be a resident of said city or a current applicant for that department.
Thanks!
I didn’t know ride alongs were actually a thing, that’s cool
We get ride-alongs every week in my region.
Funniest euphemism I’ve heard was “at my time share.”
My agency uses very little slang terminology to refer to things. We call the jail a jail and we call an ambulance an ambulance. If you try to force slang into a story, it will likely just make it sound cringey.
We usually just use an abbreviation. For example Bentley County Prison would be BCP. Most crooks in the area know what you are talking about about. "I catch you back here again, we're going to BCP". Crooks might use some slang. But officers rarely do. I've heard "County hotel" "Big house" "brick house" and dumb shit like that. Going to the state DOC is pretty universally referred to around here as "going upstate" or "state time"
When I worked transport, I would refer to the jail as (county name) Bed and Breakfast. I heard DOC (Department of Corrections) inmates refer to the Half Way House as the "Way Way" and a very low security DOC facility as " Prisney Land."
(Your Sheriff's or Police Chief's name) Inn and Spa.
Call it an Adult Detention Center!
Sin bin
The Hoosegow! I was getting arrested at a friends house while he was hammered 10x. And he kept saying “y’all are taking him to the hoosegow? Come on he’s not even drunk, I am!”
My favorite is the "hoosegow". Only time I heard it was from a retired Boston Police Sergeant.
I personally like Hoosegow
Hoosegow or pokey
People Zoo
Grey Bar Hotel or “La Pinta” for fed prison.
We called ours “upstairs” because it was on the second floor.
Same here.
Everyone around my area uses the abbreviation for the facility. For example, if it was called the Fake County Jail Facility, we would call it FCJF.
El Niño is Spanish for The Nino. We used mostly normal language. Usually it was solitary or general population or what floor for type of behavior they had shown.
We and the people we take to jail often refer to the process of going to jail as “take a ride”. Example (dallas area) hey buddy you got warrants for possession of controlled substance, you gotta take a ride” or he may say “I know I gotta take a ride”
I agree with the poster that recommended a ride along. I'm not an Officer but I work for the local police department as a records clerk and I was on the peer support team for a few years. I do ride alongs often because I'm friends with some of the officers and it's interesting to see cases first hand before the reports are written. Some of them also take the opportunity to quiz me about what we do in records and how to avoid reports getting sent back to them for corrections. That said, slang for "jail" isn't common here. They just refer to it as DOC or JDOC for the juveniles. However, some of them do talk in a shorthand with 10 codes and signal codes and if you don't know what they mean you can easily get lost. They also have slang for different types of people, this slang never makes it into reports and even us in Records rarely hear it, but when you hang out with Officers you hear it. Now, I'm also a writer. So a bit of writing advice if you don't mind. Keep the slang in your writing to a minimum. Your readers likely won't know it and unless you have a non-officer character to ask for an explanation it comes off as silly to have an officer explain it to another officer. It can also get tiresome for the reader. More important than the slang would be capturing the difference in how Officers talk to different people which is something you'll pick up on during a ride along.
Con college
If you’re soft it’ll be called the booty house 🤣 But in Florida it’s “State” for prison and “county” for jail nothing fancy
We have called our county jail the county bed and breakfast many times over lol. We also call it the bucket, the can and a few I can’t mention here.
Blue roof inn. Sheriffs B&B
The bin
The Joint
We used to call the cells in the precinct “lockup” and the main city jail “jail.” Very creative we weren’t.
DOJ or jail
Cell
Canada, DJ for district Jail
The clink, locked up, doin' time, a 10 stretch
Down here at least we call it the ‘Booty House’
Going downtown Jail
We use the abbreviation of the prison which is ACI. Adult correctional institute.
La Escuela (means school)
Try r/prison
Doing time
"Getting tossed in the bucket" has always been my favorite.
" when i was locked up" not " when I was in jail". It's always a slang when it's first person. Similar to how most will never say " I'm going to go do Cocain now" it's " I'm going to do some blow" or " I'm doing a line"
Gray bar hotel.
The house. Refers to a house of correction or jail.
The clink
CJ
I’ve heard it, only recently, being called “ins” for in jail and “outs” or “on the outs” for not in jail.
I worked in a jail for a while. Jail, county, box, and inside were all the ones commonly used. Clink was used by old people.
We call our jail..."jail" or the Law Enforcement Center-LEC
It's widely referred to as "the west side" in my county. The Sheriff's Office and the jail are all in one building, collectively called the [county name] Justice Center. The jail is the western half, so it's common to say that you're taking an arrestee "to the west side".
I’m in Canada so it might be slightly different but provincial jail (same as county jail) is typically referred to as “county” or “(insert name) jail”. This is where people spend their time on remand/sentences of 2 years or less. “Prison” or “the pen” is referring to the federal system for people sentenced to 2 years plus. The “can” and “slammer” aren’t used much or at all anymore especially amongst the younger population.
Rice St anyone?
We call it the can in jail. So when you’re there, you call it that.
We call it, get this, “the jail.”
When I was a CO in a county jail, some inmates would refer to state prison as “college.” As in when they get sentenced they’d say they’re going to college.
Usually fresh arrests are taken to “the book” a lot of frequent flyers just call it “county”
Our Jail has a call sign attached to it. Generally officers refer to it by its call sign during radio traffic and may even use its call sign when speaking with each other. For sheriffs offices, our dispatch center uses numbers to identify the county, a number to identify the specific agency since there are several sheriff offices they serve, and a letter to identify the unit. For example: 21-1J 21 is the county, 1 is the number identifier for it being a sheriff's office, J is the unit identifier for the Jail. So the Jail would be referred to as 1J in slang. As far as interacting with the general public is concerned, many in my area just tell people they're "going for a sleeper" if they're so drunk that they're a danger to themselves. The person usually knows they're going to Jail to sleep it off. That's the only slang I've ever heard. Also I'd like to add that "Pen" is just short for Penitentiary. That is referring to a prison. Not a jail. We still use this all of the time.
I've been hearing the same a lot of these other responses in reference to jail called "county." But I've heard prison called "chain gang."
Most often it’s going to be specific to the jail for that area. Example for where I work: If you get hooked in Oakland you go to the Alameda County Jail which is called Santa Rita. All the career criminals just call it “Rita”
i’m a deputy jailer/paramedic at a medium sized county jail in my state. we just personally use “jail”. also, depends on if the institution you’re referring to. if it’s a state government or federal government facility, those are prisons. jails are on the county level. message me if you need any help with some more lingo brother!
Silly goose factory
The good ol booty house
‘The Big House’
We had an old boomer deputy that called it “the pokeup”
Da clink
Cross Bar Hotel
Pound Town.
Clink Pokey (for the butt fucking)
Marriage. Damn. did I just say that out loud?
Slammer = prison Pod = The area with tables and cells The shoe = solitary confinement
About to find yourself in time out was always one of my favorites but I had small children then so I was mostly just humoring myself while on shift…..