What is the difference between Jail and Detention Center?

Jails are institutions set up for the confinement of individuals held in lawful custody due to some minor offenses they have been charged with. A detention center, on the other hand, is a general term because it is high in scope and coverage. A detention center can be a concentration camp, a jail, an internment camp, a prison, etc. It is simply a facility in which people are detained or confined.

Though detention centers are meant for the confinement of people, they are established to serve different purposes. An individual that has been charged with something might be kept in a detention center before he or she is convicted or acquitted. This usually for people that are yet to be granted bail, maybe because they are threats to other people, or they might try to flee. Detention centers are of different types i.e., minimum, medium, and maximum detention centers. Maximum detention centers are for violent and hardened criminals, usually, those that have been sentenced for life imprisonment.

Detention centers are more extensive facilities that harbor those who have not yet been convicted of a crime, but they are charged with something. This population includes people who cannot make bail. The purpose of the detention center is to protect the public from a potential criminal who may attempt to flee and run from justice. In the United States, detention centers can be jail, prison, concentration camp, many other places where one or a group of people are kept.

Maximum security is where many violent criminals are imprisoned. There are many types of detention centers, which could include specialty facilities such as juvenile military and immigration detention centers. A jail is a type of detention center. Jail is a local facility for local short-timers, and it usually lasts for twelve months, and it is often a smaller place of confinement.