diff --git a/share/man/man9/prison_check.9 b/share/man/man9/prison_check.9
--- a/share/man/man9/prison_check.9
+++ b/share/man/man9/prison_check.9
@@ -27,22 +27,23 @@
 .\"
 .\" $FreeBSD$
 .\"
-.Dd December 11, 2003
+.Dd June 16, 2023
 .Dt PRISON_CHECK 9
 .Os
 .Sh NAME
 .Nm prison_check
-.Nd determine if two credentials belong to the same jail
+.Nd can a jailed subject see another entity?
 .Sh SYNOPSIS
 .In sys/jail.h
 .Ft int
 .Fn prison_check "struct ucred *cred1" "struct ucred *cred2"
 .Sh DESCRIPTION
-This function can be used to determine if the two credentials
+This function determines if a subject with credentials
 .Fa cred1
-and
+is not denied access to subjects or objects with credentials
 .Fa cred2
-belong to the same jail.
+according to the policy that access is permitted to subjects or objects in the
+same jail or in some sub-jail.
 .Sh RETURN VALUES
 The
 .Fn prison_check
@@ -50,12 +51,9 @@
 returns
 .Er ESRCH
 if
-.Fa cred1
-has been jailed, and
-.Fa cred1
-and
 .Fa cred2
-do not belong to the same jail.
+is not in the same jail or a sub-jail of that of
+.Fa cred1 .
 In all other cases,
 .Fn prison_check
 returns zero.