In a message dated 7/16/2006 11:57:38 PM Eastern Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:


> Paul Drake wrote:
> >There is and was a substantial difference between "jail" and
> >"penitentiary";
St. George Tucker Ranson writes:
I don't know about Virginia and history, but in present day New York
City/State, jail is for pre-trial confinements (for those who cannot
make bail) and for sentences of less than one year, which are served
locally, while those convicted and sentenced to terms longer than one
year are sent upstate to penitentiary

I write:
     And just to make it more confusing...in Maryland, jails and detention
centers are for those waiting to go to trial. Prisons and penitentaries are for
long term sentences and now they have a new name for them....institute. Sounds
like a college.

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