Derek Chauvin was stabbed nearly two dozen times at a federal prison in Arizona. Larry Nassar was knifed repeatedly at a federal penitentiary in Florida. The recent assaults of two high-profile ...
The meaning of PENITENTIARY is an officer in some Roman Catholic dioceses vested with power from the bishop to deal with cases of a nature normally handled only by the bishop.
A penitentiary is a high-security correctional facility, and in federal usage the term specifically refers to a United States Penitentiary (USP), the most heavily secured type of institution the Bureau of Prisons operates.
A "prison" or "penitentiary" holds people for longer periods of time, such as many years, and is operated by a state or federal government. After a conviction, a sentenced person is typically sent to prison.
Add to word list a prison: a federal / state penitentiary (Definition of penitentiary from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)
From Middle English penitentiary, from Medieval Latin pēnitentiārius (“place of penitence”), from Latin paenitentia (“penitence”), term used by the Quakers in Pennsylvania during the 1790s, describing a place for penitents to dwell upon their sins.
- Of or for the purpose of penance; penitential. 2. Relating to or used for punishment or reform of criminals or wrongdoers. 3. Resulting in or punishable by imprisonment in a penitentiary: a penitentiary offense.
Explore the penitentiary vs. prison ordeal. Learn to recognize the key differences for a better outlook on how the justice system works.
a tribunal in the Curia Romana, presided over by a cardinal (grand penitentiary), having jurisdiction over certain matters, as penance, confession, dispensation, absolution, and impediments, and dealing with questions of conscience reserved for the Holy See