You've probably covered it before and I have missed it, but in your judgments and admonishments are you using Texas Department of Crimnal Justice, Institutional Division or Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice or something else? And does it matter?

The topic was raised a while back. See Judgment Forms. No definitive answer was provided.

I'm going with "prison." Does anyone really think they won't know where to put them?

JB, do you actually use the term "prison" or are you pulling our legs? If it will work for you, it will work for me -- and look at all the space you save.

Or big house, calaboose, pokey, or tank.

House of the Rising Sun?

I had a judge who frequently told probationers that if they screwed up, they were going to The Ranch. He also said they would be wearing orange and not going to a UT football game.

I know TDC does a fair bit of ranching, but I think they actually do more farming, so maybe The Farm?

The lockup, the stir, the clink, the can, and the joint.

It's the "big time out" and some people get the "big flu shot" while there . . .

How about "the naughty place"? Or simply, "the room"? And I've even referred to a defendant getting a very stiff sentence as getting "spanked". But who hasn't?

Conversely, I've been known to tell my kids "Anyone loses his spoon spends a night in the box." (Of course, I usually just say that to get my wife to laugh.)

[This message was edited by David Newell on 08-07-08 at .]

Also the brig, or my current favorite, gaol (the old English spelling).

The Greybar Hilton, the hole, the cooler....

Many convicts say they have been "on vacation" to explain their absence when addressing each other back in the free world....

We had an old (and I mean ancient!) cowboy in our hometown who had done prison time in his youth for running moonshine whiskey. He referred to his stint in the joint as his time "raising turkeys for the Governor".

Does that answer your question, DJC?

What about the hooscow? How do you spell that anyway?

hoosegow is the correct Anglicized version of jusgado. I thought you meant who's cow.

My favorite is the Penitentiary.

My old boss, Wiley L. Cheatham, a long-time Texas prosecutor, preferred to let 'em know they were going to see "Uncle Bud".