up the river
slang

- in or into prison

(American Heritage Dictionary)

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The expression "up the river" alludes to New York's famous Sing Sing prison. A colorful history has helped to make Sing Sing one of the most famous prisons in the world. Located just 30 miles north of New York City, its construction by its own prisoners brought it instant fame.

American movie-goers learned the colorful prison slang spoken by James Cagney on Sing Sing's cell blocks, and a local reference to being "sent up the river" would become code everywhere for a prison sentence. The name "Sing Sing," was derived from the name of a Native American tribe, "Sinck Sinck" (or "Sint Sinck"), from whom the land was "purchased" in 1685.

The prison was built on an abandoned mining site on the banks of the Hudson River. The site offered a rich stone quarry, providing materials for the construction of the prison and sales. The river provided transport to New York City markets. So successful was the quarry operation that Sing Sing became a profit generator for the state of New York.

Interestingly enough, the opposite of up the river - down the river, as in sold down the river - is another idiom with a somewhat grim origin. Slang for "betrayed or cheated," to sell someone down the river alludes to the slave trading period in the U.S. As legend has it, the expression originated in the southern state of Mississippi and derived from the practice of selling unwanted slaves in the north to plantations located in the lower Mississippi where the conditions were much harsher.

(sources: The Phrase Finder, prisontalk.com)

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SYNONYMS

(prison)
pen, slammer, can, jail, lockup, house of correction, reformatory, lockup


SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation

"He was sent up the river for bribing government officials in Africa."