Origin of “can” in the sense of ‘jail’
Solution 1:
OED to the rescue!
The entry for can meaning jail mentions that it is slang, originally and chiefly from the United States. Its earliest citation is from 1912.
1912 D. Lowrie My Life in Prison xi. 125, I was in th' can ag'in, up against it f'r robbery.
As it appeared in print in 1912, it would presumably have been in spoken slang usage before then.
Solution 2:
According to the Dictionary of Contemporary Slang by Tony Thorne the slang meaning of can for jail is mainly an Australian and American usage and dates back to the late 19th century:
- The can: a jail, a prison. In this sense from the late 19th century the word is more common in Australia and the United States than in Britain.
Solution 3:
The Dictionary of American Slang, Fourth Edition by Barbara Ann Kipfer, PhD. and Robert L. Chapman, Ph.D.
Also tells us that 'can' since 1910 means 'A jail or prison; cell' in slang.
This very source is mentioned here:
- http://www.dictionary.com/browse/canned