Been on tours of a couple of prisons, and have seen some of the conditions due to a uni investigation (well for law extension), although I have never actually been arrested or spent any real time in them. Not sure I get the difference between jail and prison, but then here in Australia there isn't much difference. There are prisons where a convicted person goes, and can hold people who have been refused bail, the police cells which hold people for a short time, juvenile prisons and I think thats it. None look really pleasant, but then I guess they aren't really meant to...