Or just a really, really, big, really really tough animal! :)

Joyce

Speaking of imprisoned animal lovers, has anyone watched the "Prison
Dogs" series on Animal Planet?  Really interesting, what lving with a
dog and training it can do for "hard case" inmates.  (And, since they
train the dogs as assistants to the handicapped, it has a good effect
for the dogs, too.)

Wondering about the difference between jail and prison too, as my
brick-sized English dictionary as well as my English-Finnish one have
(practically) the same definition for both words?? Maybe it's a legal
lingo thingy...

Each county has its own "jail"...a holding area of sorts during trials, and a
place where short-term sentences are carried out. Usually for stuff like, hot
checks, drunk driving, minor drug deals. It's pretty informal compared to
prison. Usually the sentences are 30 days to less than 1 year. Then there's
minimum-security prison, for not-so-violent offenders. Like tax evasion,
embezzling, etc. Then there's The Big House, the penitentiary, where the really
really hard-core, or repeat offenders end up, also where they carry out death
sentences.  I think there is only one or two prisons in this state, not
counting the minimum-security prisons.

Sherry

Jail is "lockup" and is temporary.  Means you haven't been sentenced to
anything yet.

I live about 3 miles from three prisons - isn't that a comforting thought?
One is County, one State, one Federal.  The difference really is in the
crime and the time.  Also depends on where you were arrested.  But everyone
in Shelby County, TN who is arrested gets to spend time down at 201
Poplar... used to be known as the "Glamour Slammer" about 20 years ago.  It
was a state of the art building with the general courts on the main and
second floor, superior courts upstairs.  The downstairs levels housed the
arrestees who had cable TV and private cells.

Not so anymore.  Lately the entire thing is subject to investigation for
abuse by the guards, etc.

Anyway, County is for minor offenders, like pot possession or for selling or
receiving stolen goods.  These offenses, in and of themselves, don't "hurt"
anyone.  Also the weekend time for first offense DUI's and things like that.

State is for more hardened criminals like repeat burglary, rape, assault.
(The murderers usually get sent to Brushy Mountain.)  It has extra barbed
wire across the top of the fence.  Those people scare me.

Federal... hmmm, I haven't figured that one out yet and hope I never will.
I can assure you, there are no golf courses or tennis courts at this Federal
prison.  It may be filled with accountants and lawyers, but it's no walk in
the park.  They have barbed wire, too.  But I suspect they eat better than
at the other two prisons.

Prison is - well, prison.  You're in a uniform - in my part of the States
that would be grey with big letters stenciled on the back in yellow stating
SCCS - Shelby County Correction System; i.e. you are a PRISONER.  I see
these folks picking up trash or doing cleanup along the road side
occasionally.  Sometimes even out there cutting the grass in the nearby
public parks.  Always with an escort, mind you.

Shelby Farms, in Memphis, TN used to be a literal working Penal Farm.  The
prisoners grew and raised their own vegetables.  They ate what they reaped,
reaped what they sowed.  They raised chickens and had fresh eggs (not to
mention fresh chicken).  It was a self-sustaining institution.

About 30 years ago some bleeding heart decided it was a bad thing to make
the prisoners go out in the hot Memphis sun in the fields and grow crops, or
to milk cows, or to gather eggs or slaughter the chickens.  The
self-sustaining "farm" was shut down.  Now, what the prisoners get to eat
comes from those huge institutional sized cans.  Dyed red hot dogs with
canned "baked" beans.  Salt & pepper are a 'commodity' which is traded and
sold like it was gold.  It's just plain stupid.  But that is the way it is.

Jill

  Yes, here the jail is to hold persons awaiting bail or trial, or
sentenced to short terms for misdemeanors.  Prison is for violent
offenders such as murderers, rapists, armed burglars, etc.  Now animal
cruelty is treated as a felony, not a misdemeanor, and the scumbag can
get in with the *big* jerks!

  Jeanne