'Prison house' definitions:

Definition of 'prison house'

noun

A prisonlike situation; a place of seeming confinement [syn: prison, prison house]

noun

A correctional institution where persons are confined while on trial or for punishment [syn: prison, prison house]

From: GCIDE

Prison \Pris"on\ (?; 277), n. [F., fr. L. prehensio, prensio, a seizing, arresting, fr. prehendre, prendere, to lay hold of, to seize. See Prehensile, and cf. Prize, n., Misprision.]
1. A place where persons are confined, or restrained of personal liberty; hence, a place or state o? confinement, restraint, or safe custody. [1913 Webster]
Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name. --Ps. cxlii. 7. [1913 Webster]
The tyrant Aeolus, . . . With power imperial, curbs the struggling winds, And sounding tempests in dark prisons binds. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
2. Specifically, a building for the safe custody or confinement of criminals and others committed by lawful authority. [1913 Webster]
Prison bars, or Prison base. See Base, n., 24.
Prison breach. (Law) See Note under 3d Escape, n., 4.
Prison house, a prison. --Shak.
Prison ship (Naut.), a ship fitted up for the confinement of prisoners.
Prison van, a carriage in which prisoners are conveyed to and from prison. [1913 Webster]