How to Use behind bars in a Sentence

behind bars

phrase
  • Buyer and Marquez said it’s designed to keep the billions of shares behind bars from flooding the market all at once.
    — Amanda Gerut, Fortune, 3 July 2026
  • His girlfriend, Syanna Ruiz, held their child in court, demanding the defendants remain behind bars.
    — Madisen Keavy, CBS News, 2 July 2026
  • As a result of the agreement, prosecutors are seeking to keep Watson behind bars for a little under 2 years, followed by seven years of probation.
    — Grethel Aguila, Miami Herald, 2 July 2026
  • The Hillsborough County state attorney’s office had argued for Arnold to remain behind bars until trial.
    — Chuck Schilken, Los Angeles Times, 29 June 2026
  • Thomas is currently behind bars at High desert State Prison and has a pending parole hearing in May 2035, per inmate records.
    — Caroline Blair, PEOPLE, 2 July 2026
  • Seven more protesters sentenced to prison in Fort Worth for a July 4 shooting outside Prairieland immigration detention center, adding to a growing roster facing decades behind bars.
    — Jamie Stengle, Los Angeles Times, 1 July 2026
  • Cameras have continued to document their lives over the years, including Teresa Giudice and Joe Giudice's prior legal battle over charges for financial crimes that ultimately landed them behind bars.
    — Liza Esquibias, USA Today, 29 June 2026
  • There is very little Keanu Reeves can’t do, but even the best efforts and intentions of the John Wick superstar couldn’t save his 47 Ronin director from serving time behind bars for scamming Netflix out of millions.
    — Dominic Patten, Deadline, 29 June 2026
  • With guidelines offering literally decades behind bars as an option, the still Jay Clayton-run SDNY had wanted to see Rinsch get a minimum of 60 months, or just over five years, for his crimes.
    — Dominic Patten, Deadline, 29 June 2026
  • Shirley is behind bars at Madison Correctional Facility and has an earliest possible release date of September 2036, according to inmate records.
    — Caroline Blair, PEOPLE, 2 July 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'behind bars.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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