“Jail”和“Prison” 在《新英汉词典》里都译作“监狱”。而在实际的使用中，这两个词存在两点区别：

①属于联邦或州的监狱叫Prison；属于地方(县,市)的监狱叫Jail；

②关押已判刑且刑期长的罪犯(重刑犯)的监狱为Prison；监禁嫌疑犯和轻罪犯的监狱为Jail。

此外，“Jail”和“Prison”的派生词(Prisoner/Jailer)有根本差异,《牛津高阶英汉双解词典》中对两者的解释:

Jailer: person in charge of a jail and prisoners in it （是指“监狱看守”）。

Prisoner: person kept in prison as a punishment of awaiting trial （指的是被Jailer所管的犯人，而不是管理Prison的人）。

【双语例句】

To better prevent recurrence of domestic violence, Dr YEUNG was of the view that the court should be empowered to require abusers of domestic violence on bind over order and those serving sentence in jail to attend an anti-violence programme.

为了更有效防止家庭暴力再次发生，杨议员认为，法院应获授权规定被判守行为及在监狱 服刑的家庭暴力施虐者参与反暴力计划。

Target groups supported within the framework of state housing policy include lessees deprived of privatisation rights during the ownership reform, children and young people without parental care, disabled people, elderly people, families with many children, persons released from prison and persons under probation supervision, homeless people, cooperative societies and communities, and specialists dealing with planning and development of residential environment.

在国家住房政策框架内得到支助的目标群体，包括在私有化改革期间被剥夺了私有化权利的承租人，没有父母照管的儿童和青年，残疾人，老年人，多子女家庭，牢狱释放人员和缓刑受监视人员 ，无家可归人员，合作社与合作群体，以及从事居住环境规划和开发的专门人员。