detention center

[dih-ten-shuhn sen-ter]

noun

1. a facility maintained by the civil authorities for persons charged with a crime, immigrants awaiting deportation rulings, or sometimes witnesses before a trial.

2. juvenile detention center.

Word History and Origins

Origin of detention center¹

First recorded in 1945–50

Example Sentences

After the Home Depot raid, he was taken to a detention center in downtown Sacramento, where he had to sleep on a hard ceramic floor with an aluminum blanket.

From Los Angeles Times

The reality TV star was released Tuesday from the Montgomery County Detention Center in Maryland, a spokesperson for the Montgomery Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation confirmed to The Times.

From Los Angeles Times

The detention center has also come under heavy scrutiny for its reportedly “inhumane” conditions for the detainees, including food contamination and extreme temperatures.

From Salon

Meanwhile, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration is preparing a second detention center, dubbed “Deportation Depot,” at a state prison in north Florida.

From Salon

Florida taxpayers could lose nearly all of the $218 million the state poured into its controversial Everglades detention center after a federal judge upheld her order shutting it down.

From Salon