County Jail vs. State Prison – What’s the Difference?
One thing that irks me is when people don’t know the difference between jail versus a prison. It’s like no one learned about the criminal justice system in America.
You may be thinking that it is no big deal, it’s just a word, but it is more than a name. There is so much more than just mixing up jails and prisons.
I can guarantee you, if you are with someone who works in the law enforcement field, they’ve probably tried to drill it into your head the differences between jail and prison.
But for those of you who are unfortunate from having someone close that works in the law enforcement field, let’s go over the differences and start using the correct terms from here on out.
What’s the Difference Between Jail and Prison?
Let’s get this out of the way before we dive deeper into the two separate entities.
First and foremost, the difference between jail and prison is straightforward. Jails are only city and county, while prisons are state and federal. Yup, I told you it was that easy. That is it.
Jails are on the city and county level ONLY. While on the other hand, prisons are on the state and federal level ONLY.
Showdown: County Jail Vs. State Prison
If someone you know got sentenced to the county jail, you’d know he or she was only given 24 months sentence or less.
If someone you know got sentenced to state prison, you’d know that he or she was given a sentence of over 24 months.
It’s that simple. Those with lesser sentences will spend their time in county jail, while those with more significant penalties will spend their time in state prison.
It couldn’t get any easier than this.
Is Prison Worse Than Jail?
Before we can answer this, let’s dive deeper into what prison and jail are. What makes them different and allow you to decide if one is worse than the other.
Jail Features
Now that you can finally tell the difference between the tool facilities, let’s dive deeper into the jails.
As previously mentioned, jails are for those who get lesser sentences. Typically the sentence cutoff to be in a county jail in 24 months. So, when an inmate receives less than 24 months, they’ll be in county jail. But that is not all the inmates sitting in county jail; some inmates are waiting for their day in court there.
For instance, if you are waiting for your day in court, and the court system is delayed, you can sit in this facility for months to years waiting for your trial. This does happen but doesn’t happen as frequently as one may think.
Jails, unlike prisons, are on a much smaller scale. Jails typically look the same as the way Television depicts them. They have cells with a bunk bed, table, and toilet. Yup, that’s the mock-up of a section inside of a real-life jail. Depending on the layout, some jails keep their inmates inside their cells for up to 23 hours a day. These inmates will only get 1 hour of rec time daily.
Jails are typically managed by either the police department or the county sheriff’s department. This means these facilities are managed here locally. So, for instance, the people that arrest you are also residents of the same community.
Typically, you’ll either be brought to your local city or county facility when you get arrested for a crime. And at times, you may be there depending on if you can post bond until your trial is complete.
Prison Feature
Now prisons, on the other hand, are a little bit different. So, prisons are on the federal and state level. Everyone in prison has already been convicted AND sentenced to their crime.
This is a huge difference when it comes to prison and jail confusion. Prisoners are already doing their time. These offenders within these facilities get transferred from a city or county facility when they get formally sentenced. This sentence has to be over two years for them to get accepted into prison.
Typically, unless you commit a federal crime, you can guarantee that you’ll get sent off to the state facility. Most of the time, you’ll get sent to a state facility within the state you reside in. Sometimes, your state may not have room for you and sent you off to another state that does have room for you.
When you go to prison, these layouts are vastly different from those you typically see depicted on television. These layouts change from facility to facility. Most of these layouts allow the inmates to either live in dorm-style living or cell style living. This is going to entirely depend on what security level you received when heading into your state’s department of corrections (DOC).
Within prisons, you typically also get more programs to participate in because prisons have more money to spend than the local jails. This is good for inmates looking to spend the least possible time in their cell and learn something with the time they got.
Another considerable difference has to do with the fact that there are many more guards in prison. There are guards everywhere, even in areas that you may not notice them. They have guards in the bunk areas, being in the common areas, being in separate rooms, and watching cameras all day.
What Do Jails and Prisons Have in Common?
Well, for starters, when you are in jail or prison, you can have visitation. Visitation is a great privilege for those that maintain good standing.
But, also, in prison and jail, you will have fundamental rights. Your basic rights are no cruel punishment, humane treatment, and not to be subjected to sexual crimes.
In your free time, you will have the chance to access your facilities law library. The law library helps you with your case, appeals, and other things about law.
