penitentiary
/ˌpɛnɪˈtɛnʃ(ə)ri
/noun (plural penitentiaries)
1North American A prison for people convicted of serious crimes.Only about 20 of the more than 1,000 prisoners at the federal penitentiary have been convicted of crimes; many have spent years awaiting trial....
- 14 Federal inmates were held at state and local prison facilities until the penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas, was established in 1895.
- Indeed, this promise gave the prisons or penitentiaries, as they were now often called, enormous legitimacy, making them the pride, not the shame, of the new republic.
2(In the Roman Catholic Church) a priest appointed to administer penance.
2.1An office in the papal court forming a tribunal for deciding on questions relating to penance, dispensations, and absolution.
Origin
Late Middle English (as a term in ecclesiastical law): from medieval Latin paenitentiarius, from Latin paenitentia 'repentance'. The North American usage dates from the early 19th century.