A prison (from Old French prisoun)[1] is a place inwhich people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Other terms are penitentiary, correctional facility, andjail (or gaol), although in the United States "jail" and "prison" refer to different subtypes of correctional facility. Prisons are conventionallyinstitutions which form part of the criminal justicesystem of a country, such that imprisonment orincarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of acrime.