刑務所

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 刑務所(けいむしょ) refers to a prison, a facility where people serve sentences.
• Basic usage: It appears in accounts of leaving after completing a sentence or discussing an old prison's history.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• A period and a place
  • 刑期 is the period of a sentence, while 刑務所 is the facility.
  • 刑期を終える focuses on completing that period; 刑務所から出る focuses on leaving the facility.