How to Use reformatory in a Sentence

reformatory

noun
  • But in fact the bar is always coming up with these kinds of reformatory codes.
    — Michael Knox Beran, National Review, 6 Feb. 2020
  • There was that three-year stint in a reformatory, as a teen-ager, for armed robbery and auto theft.
    — David Remnick, The New Yorker, 18 Mar. 2017
  • Police quickly nabbed him, and he was packed off to a reformatory.
    — Mara Bovsun, New York Daily News, 16 June 2024
  • Berry served three years of a 10-year sentence at a reformatory.
    — Hillel Italie and Jim Suhr, Esquire, 18 Mar. 2017
  • That was followed by mass testing of all staff and inmates at the reformatory.
    — Deborah Yetter, The Courier-Journal, 3 Aug. 2020
  • Lucien turned himself in the next day and served two years for manslaughter in a reformatory.
    — Penelope Green, New York Times, 24 May 2024
  • But what was once a comfort to him after the loss of his mother has become a window to the truth of what happens at the reformatory.
    — Sarah Yang, Sunset Magazine, 22 Sep. 2023
  • Yet, many tourists make the hour or so drive to the reformatory when visiting Northeast Ohio.
    — Troy L. Smith, cleveland, 12 Oct. 2021
  • The tunnel and sewer pipe used in Andy’s escape were props used in the movie that are on display inside the reformatory.
    — Susan Glaser, cleveland.com, 21 July 2019
  • After leaving the reformatory, she was sent to live with a distant relative of her mother.
    — Petula Dvorak, Anchorage Daily News, 20 May 2020
  • Some of the actors from the film will be on hand for the festivities, and there will be tours of the reformatory, which is reputed to harbor ghosts.
    — Phil Marty, chicagotribune.com, 19 July 2019
  • On the cusp of college, he’s instead sentenced to time at a notorious reformatory.
    — Patrick Hipes, Deadline, 2 Jan. 2025
  • But police said the place was not licensed to run any reformatory or educational program.
    — Sam Olukoya, San Diego Union-Tribune, 27 Sep. 2019
  • During this time, the singer also had several brushes with the law, staying at various jails and reformatories.
    — Edward Segarra, USA Today, 25 June 2026
  • Designed to be self-supporting — by using prison labor — the complex housed a farm, reformatory and penitentiary.
    — Alison Lake, Washington Post, 27 May 2018
  • The state took its $76 million reformatory to Grafton, in Lorain County, where its men’s prison remains.
    — Kaitlin Durbin, cleveland, 4 Apr. 2022
  • Her behavior became so outrageous and uncontrollable that her family arranged to send her to a girls’ reformatory.
    — Mara Bovsun, New York Daily News, 9 Feb. 2025
  • For his transgression, he was forced to spend a year in a reformatory and was banned from returning to Southern California for an additional year.
    — New York Times, 11 Feb. 2021
  • In the Jim Crow Florida of the early 1960s, two boys land in a juvenile reformatory and fight to have a future.
    — John Timpane, https://www.inquirer.com, 5 June 2019
  • Only this second chance runs through youth reformatories and eventually the California State Prison – outside life is but a pipe dream.
    — Zach Dennis, Charlotte Observer, 15 May 2026
  • The two-and-a-half-hour film follows two Black teenagers who become wards of a barbaric juvenile reformatory in Jim Crow-era Florida.
    — Anna Tingley, Variety, 28 Sep. 2024
  • The story follows two Black teenagers who become wards of a barbaric juvenile reformatory in Jim Crow-era Florida.
    — Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 22 July 2024
  • Ross’ novel approach tells Whitehead’s tale, based on true events, about two young Black men stuck in a wretched juvenile Florida reformatory school, the site of relentless and sometimes fatal abuse.
    — Randy Myers, The Mercury News, 31 Dec. 2024
  • Coe, born in Akron, Ohio, spent time in reformatories as a youngster, and served time in an Ohio prison from 1963 to 1967 for possession of burglary tools.
    — CBS News, 30 Apr. 2026
  • Coe, born in Akron, Ohio, spent time in reformatories as a youngster, and served time in an Ohio prison from 1963 to 1967 for possession of burglary tools.
    — ABC News, 29 Apr. 2026
  • Archeologists estimate that nearly 100 kids died from violence and neglect over the juvenile reformatory’s century in use.
    — Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 20 Dec. 2024
  • And its productions also traveled to prisons, reformatories, settlement houses and psychiatric hospitals.
    — Adam Hochschild, Smithsonian Magazine, 26 Oct. 2023
  • Born September 6, 1939, in Akron, Ohio, Coe did time in reformatories during his youth and, from 1963 to 1967 was imprisoned in Ohio for possession of burglary tools.
    — Greg Evans, Deadline, 30 Apr. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'reformatory.' 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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