The four types of prisons are federal, state, municipal, and military. A federal prison is operated and managed by the government. Federal prisons normally house inmates who have been convicted of a crime in violation of a federal statue as opposed to a state or local laws. A municipal prison is a high security prison. A military prison is a prison operated by the military.

Military prisons are used to house prisoners of war, enemy combatants, those whose freedom is deemed a national security risk by the military or national authority and member of the military found guilty of a serious crime. A state prison is a facility operated by a state and used to house and rehabilitate criminals. There is both minimum and maximum security prisons which are divided based on the nature of the crime committed by inmates at the institution.

A total institution is an enclosed facility separated from society and physically where the inhabitants share all aspects of their daily lives. Total institutions are small societies and evolve their own distinctive values and styles of life and pressure residents to fulfill rigidly prescribed behavioral roles. Some of these places include prisons, concentrated camps, mental hospital, seminaries, and other facilities in which individuals are cut off from society forcibly or willingly.

Jails play an important role in the criminal justice system because it keeps offenders that committed a crime off the streets. Jails also help our community to be safe and there would be less violence. Jails are used as a form of punishment either short-term or long-term depending on how severe of the crime. Without jails in the criminal justice system crimes will be overrated and individuals that break the law will receive no punishments and will keep committing the crimes over and over again.