Period ends this time in prison? (8)

I believe the answer is:

sentence

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This could be a double definition.

'period ends this' is the first definition.
(a period or full stop ends a sentence)

'time in prison?' is the second definition.
'sentence' can be an answer for 'time' ('time' can refer to a prison sentence). I am not sure about the 'in prison?' bit.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for sentence that I've seen before include "Written" , "Term of imprisonment" , "that may be penned?" , "Punishment handed down by a court" , "complete grammatical structure" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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