penitentiary

Etymology

From Middle English penitentiary, from Medieval Latin pēnitentiārius (“place of penitence”), from Latin paenitentia (“penitence”), term used by the Quakers in Pennsylvania during the 1790s, describing a place for penitents to dwell upon their sins.

noun

1. (chiefly US) A state or federal prison for convicted felons; (broadly) a prison.
   For quotations using this term, see Citations:penitentiary.
2. A priest in the Roman Catholic Church who administers the sacrament of penance.
3. (obsolete) One who prescribes the rules and measures of penance.
4. (obsolete) One who does penance.
5. (obsolete) A small building in a monastery, or a part of a church, where penitents confessed.
   Topics which a priest may not treat , and which bishops declare are unfit for sacramental confession even in penitentiaries, become , with either public or private approval , the subject - matter of platform speeches 1875, Orby Shipley, A Theory about Sin
6. (obsolete) An office of the papal court which examines cases of conscience, confession, absolution from vows, etc., and delivers decisions, dispensations, etc.; run by a cardinal called the Grand Penitentiary who is appointed by the pope.
7. (obsolete) An officer in some dioceses since 1215, vested with power from the bishop to absolve in cases reserved to him.

adj

1. Of or relating to penance; penitential.
   A penitentiary tax. 1654, John Bramhall, A Just Vindication of the Church of England from the Unjust Aspersion of Criminal Schism
2. Of or relating to the punishment of criminals.