page_title: Detention (imprisonment)
section_title: Definition
hierarchical_section_title: Detention (imprisonment) / Definition
caption_attribution_description: homem sendo preso
context_page_description: Detention is the process whereby a state or private citizen lawfully holds a person by removing their freedom or liberty at that time. This can be due to criminal charges preferred against the individual pursuant to a prosecution or to protect a person or property. Being detained does not always result in being taken to a particular area, either for interrogation or as punishment for a crime.
  The term can also be used in reference to the holding of property for the same reasons. The process of detainment may or may not have been preceded or followed with an arrest.
  Detainee is a term used by certain governments and their armed forces to refer to individuals held in custody, such as those it does not classify and treat as either prisoners of war or suspects in criminal cases. It is used to refer to "any person captured or otherwise detained by an armed force." More generally, it means "someone held in custody." The prisoners in Guantánamo Bay are referred to as "detainees".
  Article 9 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides that "[n]o one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile."
context_section_description: Any form of imprisonment where a person's freedom of liberty is removed can be classed as detention, although the term is often associated with persons who are being held without warrant or charge before any have been raised. Being detained for the purposes of a drugs search is tantamount to a temporary arrest, as it is not yet known whether charges can be brought against an individual, pending the outcome of the search. The term 'detained' often refers to the immediacy when someone has their liberty deprived, often before an arrest or pre-arrest procedure has yet been followed. For example, a shoplifter being pursued and restrained, but not yet informed they are under arrest or read their rights would be classed as 'detained'.
caption: Man in a baseball cap and sunglasses with his hands bound behind his back, detained in Brasília.
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