Prison

In the common acceptation of the word, we generally understand by a prison a place of confinement for the body; but in Scripture language there is added to this view of a prison a state of captivity to the soul. Hence the Lord Jesus is said to be come to open the prison doors, and to bring sinners from the captivity of sin and Satan. Believers are sometimes said to be in prison - frames when, from looking off from Jesus, they get into a dark and comfortless state, and are in bondage to their own unbelieving hearts. And when at any time the soul of a poor buffeted child of God is again delivered by some renewed manifestation of the Lord Jesus, when he is brought out of the prison house, he is constrained to cry out, " O Lord, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid; thou hast loosed my bonds." (Ps. c16. 16.)

[PUNISHMENTS]

Prison. [For imprisonment as a punishment, see Punishments.] It is plain that in , special places were used as prisons, and that they were under the custody of a military officer. Gen 40:3; Gen 42:17. During the wandering in the desert, we read, on two occasions, of confinement, "in ward" -- Lev 24:12; Num 15:34, but as imprisonment was not directed by the law, so we hear of none, till the time of the kings, when the prison appears as an appendage to the palace, or a special part of it. 1Ki 22:27.

Private houses were sometimes used as places of confinement. By the Romans, the tower of Antoni, was used as a prison at Jerusalem, Act 23:10, and at Caesarea, the praetorium of Herod. The royal prisons, in those days, were doubtless managed after the Roman fashion, and chains, fetters and stocks were used as means of confinement. See Act 16:24. One of the readiest places for confinement was a dry or partially-dry wall or pit. Jer 35:6-11.

In Egypt, in Babylon, among the Romans, and doubtless in most other nations, these were used as places in which to secure prisoners. Joseph was cast into prison, and his feet were hurt with fetters (Psa 105:18), though it does not appear that there was any trial as to the crime of which he was accused. God interfered on his behalf, and made the keeper or jailor favourable to him, and he committed all the prisoners into Joseph’s care. This was the royal prison, but the condition of the place is not known: he called it ’the dungeon.’

Jeremiah was confined in ’the court of the prison,’ a place to which the Jews could come and where they could converse with him. Jer 32:2-12. Jehoiachin was in prison in Babylon. Jer 52:31. The prison at Jerusalem, under the Romans, is more fully described. Peter was bound by two chains, and lay asleep between two soldiers. It was under military rule, and the soldiers were responsible for the safety of the prisoners. The angel conducted Peter through the first and second guard to the outer iron gate that led into the city. This shows what is meant by the ’inner prison’ mentioned elsewhere. Acts 12. At Philippi there was a jailor who was responsible for the safety of the prisoners. He, supposing some had escaped, was about to destroy himself, when Paul stopped him. Act 16:23-27.

Fallen angels are said to be kept in ’everlasting chains,’ Jud 1:6; and there are spirits which are kept in prison. 1Pe 3:19. The abyss in which Satan is to be shut up for the thousand years is also called a prison, which may refer to the same place. Rev 20:7.

PRISON.—The fact that no fewer than eight different Heb. roots are used to express ‘prison’ (see Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible i. 525) in the OT, testifies to the number of prisoners in ancient times, and the variety of treatment which they experienced. Not only ordinary prison-houses, but also fortresses, barracks, palaces, and temples had commonly accommodation—more or less extensive—for prisoners, just as our rural police stations have cells attached to them for temporary confinement.

The Latin and Greek terms translated ‘prison’ are expressive and significant. Carcer (cf. Gr. ἵρκος) emphasizes restraint. Ergastulum (lit. workhouse) corresponds to our ‘penitentiary.’ Malefactors and slaves laboured therein, as in the building where Samson had languished. The Tullianum at Rome was a condemned cell. Perhaps the mildest form of imprisonment recorded in the NT was that of St. Paul (Act 28:30), when he dwelt for two whole years in his own hired house (μίσθωυα,—see illustration in Rome and its Story by Tina Duff Gordon and St. Clair Baddeley, p. 114), guarded by, and probably chained to, a soldier. οἴκημα, in polite Attic usage used for a prison, is found once (Act 12:7). τήρησις, ‘the place of keeping’ (Act 4:3; Act 5:18), translation ‘hold’ (Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 ‘ward’) and ‘prison’ (probably that attached to the Temple or the high priest’s palace, Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible iv. 103), also suggests the mildest form of restraint. The φυλακή or place of guarding, in which John the Baptist was confined (Mat 14:3), is believed to have been in the royal palace of Machaerus (Josephus Ant. xviii. v. 2). Custody in a φυλακή might mean anything, from the comparative comfort of a guard-room to the misery of a dungeon. Another word translated ‘prison’ is δεσμωτήριον, the ‘place of bonds.’ It is used interchangeably with φυλακή in speaking of John the Baptist’s prison (Mat 11:2), and became painfully familiar to the first preachers of the Cross in the course of their mission, ary journeyings. See also following article.

If those mutilations and other horrid cruelties, familiar to the older pagan world, were less common, still vindictiveness rather than reformation was a note of imprisonment at the dawn of the Christian era. The LXX Septuagint translates the place of Zedekiah’s imprisonment at Babylon οἰκία μύλωνος, ‘the millhouse’ (Jer 52:11). Grinding corn in a millhouse is a somewhat more humane punishment than hard labour on the treadmill, and some of the tasks allotted to inmates of an ergastulum may have been no more disagreeable than picking oakum. But much more severe treatment was often the unhappy prisoner’s lot. In our Lord’s parable of the Unforgiving Servant, that ungrateful wretch fell into the hands of torturers (τοῖς βασανισταῖς, Mat 18:34)—a staff of officials whose very name is sinister. One means of torture was an instrument (ξύλον, Lat. nervus) in which the bodies of victims were confined. It is described as ‘a wooden block or frame in which the feet and sometimes the hands and neck of prisoners were confined’ (Robinson, Gr. Lex. of NT). In such durance were Paul and Silas placed at Philippi (Act 16:24). The condemned cell of a Roman prison resembled that dungeon in the court of the prison into which Jeremiah was let down with cords, and where he sank in the mire (Jer 38:6). ‘They were pestilential cells, damp and cold, from which the light was excluded, and where the chains rusted on the limbs of the prisoners’ (Conybeare-Howson, Life and Epistles of St. Paul, i. 358). The Career Mamertinus on the slope of the Capitoline of Rome, and the traditional scene of St. Paul’s last imprisonment, is typical of Roman prisons all over the world during Rome’s supremacy. It consists of two chambers, one above the other—the upper one an ‘irregular quadrilateral.’ The lower, ‘originally accessible only through a hole in the ceiling, is 19 ft. long, 10 ft. wide, and 61/2 ft. high. The vaulting is-formed by the gradual projection of the side walls until they meet.’ This prison is supposed to have been built over a well named Tullianum, and hence traditionally attributed to Servius Tullius (see Varro, v. 151). An inscription records that it was restored in b.c. 22 (Baedeker, Italy, ii. p. 226). See also art. Hell (Descent into).

Literature.—Besides the authorities referred to above, see the Commentaries, ad loc.; Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible , artt. ‘Crimes’ and ‘Prison’; Conybeare-Howson, Life of St. Paul, i. 357 f.; Farrar, Life of St. Paul, i. 497, ii. 390 ff., 547.

D. A. Mackinnon.

See IMPRISONMENT:

PRISON.—Imprisonment, in the modern sense of strict confinement under guard, had no recognized place as a punishment for criminals under the older Hebrew legislation (see Crimes and Punishments, § 9). The first mention of such, with apparently legal sanction, is in the post-exilic passage Ezr 7:26. A prison, however, figures at an early period in the story of Joseph’s fortunes in Egypt, and is denoted by an obscure expression, found only in this connexion, which means ‘the Round House’ (Gen 39:20; Gen 39:23; Gen 40:3; Gen 40:5). Some take the expression to signify a round tower used as a prison, others consider it ‘the Hebraized form of an Egyptian word’ (see Driver, Com. in loc.). Joseph had already found that a disused cistern was a convenient place of detention (Gen 37:24; see Pit). The same word (bôr) is found in Exo 12:29 and Jer 37:16 in the expression rendered by AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘dungeon’ and ‘dungeon house’ respectively; also alone in Jer 38:8, Zec 9:11.

The story of Jeremiah introduces us to a variety of other places of detention, no fewer than four being named in Jer 37:15-16, although one, and perhaps two, of these are later glosses. Rigorous imprisonment is implied by all the four. The first ‘prison’ of Jer 37:15 EV [Note: English Version.] denotes literally ‘the house of bonds,’ almost identical with the Philistine ‘prison house,’ in which Samson was bound ‘with fetters of brass’ (Jdg 16:21; Jdg 16:25). The second word rendered ‘prison’ in Jer 37:15 (also Jer 37:4; Jer 37:18, Jer 52:31 and elsewhere) is a synonym meaning ‘house of restraint.’ The third is the ‘dungeon house’ above mentioned, while the fourth is a difficult term, rendered ‘cabins’ by AV [Note: Authorized Version.] , ‘cells’ by RV [Note: Revised Version.] . It is regarded by textual students, however, as a gloss on the third term, as the first is on the second.

Jeremiah had already had experience of an irksome form of detention, when placed in the stocks (Jer 20:2; cf. Act 16:24), an instrument which, as the etymology shows, compelled the prisoner to sit in a crooked posture. 2Ch 16:10 mentions a ‘house of the stocks’ (RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ; EV [Note: English Version.] ‘prison house’), while Jer 29:26 associates with the stocks (so RV [Note: Revised Version.] for AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘prison’) an obscure instrument of punishment, variously rendered ‘shackles’ (RV [Note: Revised Version.] ), ‘pillory’ (Oxf. Heb. Lex.), and ‘collar’ (Driver). The last of these is a favourite Chinese form of punishment.

In NT times Jewish prisons doubtless followed the Greek and Roman models. The prison into which John the Baptist was thrown (Mat 14:3; Mat 14:10) is said by Josephus to have been in the castle of Machærus. The prison in which Peter and John were put by the Jewish authorities (Act 4:3 AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘hold,’ RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘ward’) was doubtless the same as ‘the public ward’ of Act 5:18 RV [Note: Revised Version.] (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘common prison’). St. Paul’s experience of prisons was even more extensive than Jeremiah’s (2Co 6:5), varying from the mild form of restraint implied in Act 28:30, at Rome, to the severity of ‘the inner prison’ at Philippi (Act 16:24), and the final horrors of the Mamertine dungeon.

For the crux interpretum, 1Pe 3:19, see art. Descent into Hades.

A. R. S. Kennedy.

1. Greek words translated ‘prison.’-The term öõëáêÞ is almost invariably rendered ‘prison’ in AV_ and RV_. It is also used in a more restricted sense to designate a portion of a prison, in one instance ‘the first and the second ward’ (Act_12:10 AV_ and RV_), traversed by the apostle Peter on his way to freedom; in another, ‘the inner prison’ (Act_16:24 AV_ and RV_) in which St. Paul and Silas were immured by the Philippian jailer. The word äåóìùôÞñéïí, frequently applied by Attic orators to the prison at Athens, and used in the Acts interchangeably with öõëáêÞ, is translated ‘prison-house’ in the RV_ (Act_5:21; Act_5:23, Act_16:26). The word ïἴêçìá (‘a room, in a house’), a polite equivalent in Attic Greek for äåóìùôÞñéïí, is used (Act_12:7) to denote ‘the cell’ in which the apostle Peter was confined by order of Herod. Another word for prison, ôÞñçóéò, translated ‘hold’ (RV_ ‘ward’), is employed in Act_4:3 to designate the place of confinement into which the apostles were thrown by the sacerdotal authorities at Jerusalem; also in Act_5:18 qualified by the adjective äçìïóßá (AV_ ‘common prison,’ RV_ ‘public ward’).

2. The prison in apostolic times.-In most of the instances mentioned in the NT, prisons appear to have been a part of buildings mainly devoted to other uses, such as palaces and fortresses, rather than buildings exclusively set apart for the purpose. The system then in vogue differed in this and other respects from the one that largely prevails at the present day. As a rule, prisons were intended not as places of punishment for convicted criminals, but as places of detention for persons awaiting trial, or pending their execution. In support of this view may be cited the imprisonment of the apostles recorded in Act_4:3; Act_5:18 ff., that of the apostle Peter in Act_12:3-10, and that of the apostle Paul at Jerusalem, Caesarea, and Rome. Among the Jews, as well as among the Greeks and Romans, it was usual to inflict other penalties than imprisonment for offences against law and order, e.g., fines, scourging, death.

In Philippi, which was a Roman colony, the prison into which St. Paul and Silas were cast seems to have been a separate establishment devoted to the purpose. But it is rash to assume that prisons in the provinces were planned on the same principle as the Mamertine prison at Rome. There is nothing to indicate that ‘the inner prison’ in which the Apostle and his companion were incarcerated was a subterranean dungeon. The reference to ‘doors’ (Act_16:26) and to the circumstance that the jailer ‘sprang in’ (Act_16:29) points to the fact that their portion of the prison was on a level with the other portions. The narrative affords us one of the few glimpses obtainable into the interior of a Roman prison, with its different cells, provided with the inevitable appurtenances of chains and stocks, and its governor’s house above. In Act_12:3-10 an interesting glimpse is also given into the interior of the prison in which the apostle Peter was confined at Jerusalem. This was probably a guard-room in the fortress Antonia, situated at the north-west corner of the Temple area, escape from which could be effected only by passing through ‘the first and the second wards,’ lying between it and the iron gate leading into the city. The place of custody to which the apostles were committed by the Temple guard (Act_4:1-3; Act_5:18 ff.) was probably attached to the Temple or high priest’s palace, as it would appear to have been adjacent to the court in which the Sanhedrin subsequently met for the trial.

Among the evidences which St. Paul adduces of his pre-eminence in suffering is his ‘more frequent’ confinement ‘in prisons’ (2Co_11:23). Besides his imprisonment at Philippi and other unrecorded instances which preceded the writing of 2 Cor., he became painfully familiar with custody in prison and out of prison at subsequent dates. (1) As the result of the riot in the Temple, set on foot by the fanatical Jews of Asia, he was consigned for a time to the barracks (ðáñåìâïëÞ, AV_ and RV_ ‘castle’) connected with the fortress Antonia (Act_21:34), the scene of St. Peter’s imprisonment at an earlier date. (2) The discovery of the plot aiming at his assassination led to his being transferred to Caesarea, where he was detained for upwards of two years in the praetorium of Herod, now the residence of the procurator (Act_23:35). Here the strictness of his confinement was sufficiently relaxed to admit of his friends having free access to him. (3) On his being transferred to Rome, as the result of his appeal to Caesar, a still larger measure of liberty was granted him. ‘He dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him’ (Act_28:30). (4) If we are to assume a second imprisonment at Rome-a subject still under discussion-it seems not unlikely, judging from references in 2 Tim., that he was subjected to severer treatment. According to tradition, his place of custody was the Mamertine prison, in the lower dungeon of which, known as the Tullianum, prisoners condemned for crimes against the State were executed.

3. Metaphorical use of ‘prison.’-The word ‘prison’ is applied in a figurative sense (1) to the place of confinement of the spirits ‘which were disobedient … in the days of Noah’ (1Pe_3:19 f.; cf. Gen_6:2-4)._ These are probably to be identified with ‘the angels which kept not their first estate,’ declared in Jude (Jud_1:6) to be ‘reserved in everlasting chains under darkness to the judgment of the great day,’ and with ‘the angels that sinned,’ who are ‘consigned to Tartarus’ (2Pe_2:4, ôáñôáñþóáò), as distinguished from Gehenna, ‘to be reserved unto judgment.’ The allusion in all these passages appears to be to the Book of Enoch, which represents the fallen angels as undergoing temporary punishment (in Tartarus, xix. 1-3; cf. xx. 2) until the day of their final doom. (2) The term ‘prison’ is also applied to ‘the bottomless pit’ (RV_ ‘the abyss’), in which Satan is bound a thousand years (Rev_20:7; cf. v. 1).

Literature.-artt._ ‘Carcer’ in Smith’s DGRA_2, 1875, ‘Prison’ in McClintock-Strong’s Bibl. Cyclopaedia, viii. [1879], in HDB_ iv. [1902], and DCG_ ii. [1908]. For instances of imprisonment in the life of St. Paul, see Lives by Conybeare-Howson (new ed., 1877), F. W. Farrar (1897), and others.

W. S. Montgomery.

Psa 142:7 (b) This type represents the soul that is held in bondage by doubts and fears. He has not been set free either by CHRIST (Joh 8:36), nor by the truth (Joh 8:32).

Isa 42:7 (b) The type in this passage represents the soul that is held in the grip of sin by the Devil. (See Mat 12:29).

Isa 53:8 (a) This refers to the fact that our Lord JESUS was bound by His enemies in Gethsemane, and was kept as a prisoner until He was nailed to the Cross.

Isa 61:1 (b) Our Lord indicates that the unsaved are so bound by their sins and by black darkness in their lives that they are unable to see GOD’s way, nor live according to GOD’s plan. They have not been set free either by the Word of GOD, or by the Son of GOD. They are help captive by the will of the Devil, as CHRIST describes in Luk 11:21.

1Pe 3:19 (a) The word is used to describe hell. In the Old Testament hell consisted of two places. One place was a place of comfort, and those in that place were called prisoners of hope, as in Zec 9:12. They knew they would be delivered by the Lord JESUS after He put their sins away at Calvary. He did so and "led captivity captive." The other section of hell is a place of torment or punishment and no one who enters there is ever delivered. It is a permanent prison, from which there is no escape. (See also Isa 24:22; Isa 42:7; Isa 61:1; Luk 4:18).

God has given governments the right to send law-breakers to prison (Rom 13:4), but he forbids brutal or excessive punishments. The punishment must be in proportion to the crime (Exo 21:23-25).

In Bible times all sorts of places were used as prisons. In some cases there were official state prisons (Gen 39:20; 2Ki 17:4; Mar 6:17; Act 12:4; Act 16:24), though in other cases a prisoner may have been locked in the soldiers’ barracks at the palace (Jer 32:2), dropped into an old disused well (Jer 38:6), or kept under guard in a private house (Act 28:16; Act 28:30). Often the prison conditions were bad (Jer 37:18-20), the food poor (2Ch 18:26) and the treatment cruel (Jdg 16:21; Jdg 16:25; Jer 52:11; Eze 19:9).

Such conditions were not as common in Israel as in neighbouring countries, because the law of Moses encouraged respect for justice and human life. The guilty were to be punished, but they were not to be degraded (Deu 25:3; cf. Num 15:34). (For further details see PUNISHMENT.)