penal

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Just over a year later, he died in the Polar Wolf penal colony above the Arctic Circle.

From BBC • Feb. 16, 2026

Before Saturday's announcement, Navalny's wife Yulia Navalnaya had consistently argued that her husband was killed by poisoning while serving a prison sentence in an Arctic penal colony in 2024.

From BBC • Feb. 14, 2026

Despite the many Aboriginal communities, the British deemed the place terra nullius—no one’s land—and established a penal colony, bringing diseases that drastically reduced the indigenous population.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 28, 2026

Schmidt and the company are accused of violating the California Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act, and a section of the state penal code that prohibits wiretapping.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 20, 2025

One in 9 black men between the ages of twenty and thirty-five was behind bars in 2006, and far more were under some form of penal control—such as probation or parole.

From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander