Words and phrases can have different meanings inside a prison or jail, to those commonly assumed outside the prison walls. For those who have a friend or relative in prison or jail, the term "lockdown" is one you are likely to hear. You may have some idea about what a lockdown is through watching films or television shows, but often these exaggerate many aspects for entertainment value and do not always give to realistic portrayal of what happens. Different prison and jail systems may do things in slightly different ways, but a lockdown has the same basic effect in any institution: it restricts all movement by inmates.

In a typical prison facility, inmates may have some warning that a lockdown is imminent. Often those who work in the kitchens will witness supplies arriving to be used in the cold meal bags (commonly known as "Johnny sacks") that inmates are given during a lockdown. A large delivery of prunes, raisins or bologna is a good indication that a lockdown is likely. Many prisons will have an annual or twice-yearly lockdown where all areas, inmates and property is searched, as well as many shorter periods of lockdown.

If a lockdown is for a full search of the facility, this will often begin at the start of the officer's shift, or at the end of a meal service worker's shift. Inmates will either be sent back to their cells, or will be escorted to a neutral area such as a day room or a gymnasium, and be body-searched while their housing block is also searched. In large units this can take several days. The lockdown conditions prevents most inmates from moving around the facility for work, recreation, education and often visitation, and decreases the ability to move contraband around the facility ahead of the searching. While an individual cell may take 2 hours to be searched, it is not uncommon for prisons to be on lockdown for a week or more.

Lockdowns are also triggered by violent behaviour in prisons, either inmate on inmate or by assaults on corrections staff. Confining inmates to their cells is a punitive but usually effective way of segregating inmates. It can be used to give a cooling off period when tension is high within a facility. Periodic lockdowns are often used to facilitate movement of certain groups in and out of a recreation yard, or can be put into action if an outbreak of illness occurs. With many prison systems working at full capacity, there are rarely spare beds that can be used as isolation cells if an outbreak of a contagious disease or food poisoning happens. In those instances, placing a part of the prison on lockdown is the only option available to try to prevent the spread of the contamination.

Some inmates may be placed on semi-lockdown because of their behaviour or their type of sentence. Those in close custody, Administrative Segregation (Ad Seg), Secure Housing Units (SHU), or on death row are normally contained in their cells for 23 hours each day. Operating a prison or part of a prison on almost continual lockdown is highly labour intensive and few Wardens or Administrators would choose this option if there were any other available to them.

Lockdowns may or may not effect visitation, or the inmate's ability to make telephone calls. Generally, periods of lockdown are the safest times for inmates, and friends and relatives should not be overly concerned at their regularity.

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