So - what would be the difference in terms of conditions, security, etc? - sorry to keep asking q's only we don;t have the same distinctions. In the UK, 'jail' - or 'gaol' to spell it the UK way, is just the lock-up at the police station. Whether convicted or remanded for trial, the prisoner would then be held in a prison, which is the big, state run institution. I'm really looking for what a US jail is like as a place to be living in, in contrast to a prison.