What is the Latin word for prison?

The usual Latin words for “prison” are custōdia, carcer, ergastulum; also vinculum, mittō, trādō. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.

English → Latin

“prison” in Latin

custōdiaprotection, safekeeping; custody, guardianship; prisoner carcerprison, jail; jailbird; traps (barriers at start of a horse race)ergastulumpenitentiary, workhouse (or its residents); slave prison vinculumAny instrument whereby anything is bound or tied up; bond, band, fetter, chain, cord, tie, link; a bond, obligation, bin mittōto send, dispatch, cause to go, let go, release, discharge; to put out, extend, reach out (one's hand); to announce, tel trādōto hand over, give up, deliver, transmit, surrender; impart; entrust, confide; to leave behind, bequeath; to give up or condōto put together; to build, establish; form, fashion; make, construct; to put away, store or treasure up; preserve; inter inclūdōto shut up or in, confine, enclose, imprison, keep in; to obstruct, restrain, hinder; to limit, control

The English word prison itself goes back to Latin prehendō, through prehensiōnem.

Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864

prison

custodia (PROP. guard, watch; then, also, a place, where one is in custody): carcer (a public prison for criminals): ergastulum (a place in which slaves were kept at hard labor): vincula, -orum (PROP., chains and bonds; then, also, the place where they are used. ☞ Robur was not PROP. a prison, but a deep place in a public prison, into which criminals were thrown, a keep, dungeon): to put or throw into prison, in custodiam (or in vincula) mittere, tradere, condere, conjicere; in custodiam (or in carcerem) dare, includere; custodiae (or vinculis) mandare; in carcerem conjicere, detrudere: in ergastulum mittere: to send to prison, in custodiam or in vincula ducere, deducere: to hurry off to prison, in vincula abripere: to send to prison for life, vinculis aeternis mandare: to be in prison, in custodia esse or servari; custodia teneri; in carcere or in vinculis esse: to be put in prison, in custodiam or in vincula mitti, or by passive of the other verbs under “to put or throw into PRISON”: to escape from this earthly prison, e vinculis corporis evolare: ex vinculis his emissum ferri: to thrust into the inner prison, in inferiorem carcerem demittere: to die in prison, in robore et tenebris exspirare: thrust into the inner prison, clausus in tenebris.

Quick answer

What is the Latin word for prison?: The usual Latin words for “prison” are custōdia, carcer, ergastulum; also vinculum, mittō, trādō. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.

Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.