A building or other facility used for holding individuals in judicial confinement. Accused persons were often imprisoned either while their cases were being investigated or to assure their appearance for trial (Gen 39:19-41:14; 1Kgs 22:26-27; Num 15:34; Acts 4:3; Acts 12:3-4; Acts 16:23-24; Acts 23:35; Phil 1:7-26). Debtors unable to pay their creditors were also imprisoned, sometimes in special debtors’ prisons, until their debts were paid. Despite various efforts to promote reforms, conditions in ancient prisons were often harsh. Most prisoners wore chains; their feet might be shackled, their hands manacled or even attached to their neck by another chain, and their movements further restricted by a chain fastened to a post. Some prisoners were also kept in wooden stocks, devices to restrain the feet, hands, or even the neck of an individual (Acts 16:24). Prisons often were very dark (Isa 42:7); the inner area of the prison mentioned in (Acts 16:24) was probably without windows. Although solitary confinement was known, prisoners generally were kept grouped together, accused and condemned, men and women alike. Overcrowding was not infrequent (Isa 24:22). Numerous early Christians encountered prison at first hand, and NT passages such as (Matt 25:36 and Heb 13:3) exhort believers to visit those in prison.
