History Main / HadToComeToPrisonToBeACrook

* JohnDillinger mugged a bar when he was 19. Not much of a crime, but then he got sentenced to ten years in jail. There he met such criminals as Carl Mackey, who taught him the "Lamb Method" of bank robbery. Thus he began to become a legend.

* Arguably happens to Jean Valjean at the beginning of ''LesMiserables''. After being released from a ''very'' long prison term for stealing a loaf of bread (Which wasn't too long until he got it quadrupled for repeated escape attempts), he is unable to find work (Because nobody was willing to hire a thief - at least not at a wage he could live on) and is forced to resort to stealing more valuable goods to survive. An [[ItWasAGift unexpected act of mercy]] from the first person he robs after starting down this path leads to him undergoing a HeelFaceTurn.

* [[http://www.cracked.com/article_19455_5-common-crime-fighting-tactics-statistics-say-dont-work_p2.html This]] article from {{Cracked}} discusses how this trope plays out in RealLife. It claims that sentencing minor criminals to prison instead of, say, community service "puts you in a criminal mindset, as if spending all day and all night living with and talking to other criminals, completely immersed in their lifestyle and morals and way of thinking, makes you start to act like them."

* In ''TheDarkKnightRises,'' [[spoiler:it's implied that growing up in a HellholePrison is part of why Miranda Tate and Bane alike turned out the way they did.]]

This is the idea that throwing people in jail makes them into worse criminals than they were before. Thrown in for petty crimes? Perhaps they may learn how to get away with serious crimes. Falsely convicted of crimes? Perhaps once absolved, they may get away with actual crimes [[CryingWolf partly because of the impression left by the false conviction]]... or may [[ThenLetMeBeEvil be "broken" into the criminals people think they are]]. Not to mention what they might have to do simply to ''survive'' such a brutal environment (kind of like HeWhoFightsMonsters, but more like He Who ''Survives'' Monsters).

This is for the idea that throwing people in jail makes them into worse criminals than they were before. Thrown in for petty crimes? Perhaps they may learn how to get away with serious crimes. Falsely convicted of crimes? Perhaps once absolved, they may get away with actual crimes [[CryingWolf partly because of the impression left by the false conviction]]... or may [[ThenLetMeBeEvil be "broken" into the criminals people think they are]]. Not to mention what they might have to do simply to ''survive'' such a brutal environment (kind of like HeWhoFightsMonsters, but more like He Who ''Survives'' Monsters).

This trope often implies the FamilyUnfriendlyAesop that going to jail ''never'' helps anyone reform or even abstain from committing more crimes.

May double as a form of "NiceJobBreakingItHero" when there were good intentions behind sending someone to prison.

According to most research, this is TruthInTelevision.

* Arguably happens to Jean Verjean at the beginning of ''LesMiserables''. After being released from a ''very'' long prison term for stealing a loaf of bread (Which wasn't too long until he got it quadrupled for repeated escape attempts), he is unable to find work (Because nobody was willing to hire a thief - at least not at a wage he could live on) and is forced to resort to stealing more valuable goods to survive. An [[ItWasAGift unexpected act of mercy]] from the first person he robs after starting down this path leads to him undergoing a HeelFaceTurn.

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* The idea of learning to commit more serious crimes is parodied in ''{{Discworld}}'', where the Ankh-Morpork Thieves' Guild, an entirely legal organisation, runs official classes in the city's main prison, the Tanty.

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* StacyKeach is an [[InvertedTrope inversion]]. He was caught smuggling drugs in [[TheEighties the eighties]] and thrown in prison. The warden there wound up being such a positive influence on his life that he's been on the straight and narrow since and based the character of Warden Pope in PrisonBreak off that warden.

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* [[{{Batman}} Bane]] was born and raised in an island prison with a less-than-sympathetic warden. Guess how he turned out...

* In ''{{Spider-Man The Animated Series}}'', this is how The Kingpin came to be — originally sent to prison for larcency, after one of his dad's scams went south and his bulk prevented him from following his father up a fire escape. Once he comes out, [[spoiler:he's got 'connections', and uses what he's learned to begin building his criminal empire]].

* JohnDillenger mugged a bar when he was 19. Not much of a crime, but then he got sentenced to ten years in jail. There he met such criminals as Carl Mackey, who taught him the "Lamb Method" of bank robbery. Thus he began to become a legend.

* Wasp, from ''TransformersAnimated'', gets falsely arrested as a Decepticon spy in the backstory (shown in a flashback episode). By the time he escapes over half a decade later, he's almost [[LordOfTheRings Gollum-like]] in his insanity.

* ''DeadmanWonderland'' has [[spoiler:Senji, AKA Crow]]. Inside prison: BloodKnight, HeroicSociopath, Type IV AntiHero at best. Outside prison: [[spoiler:[[TheLastDj The last honest cop on the force.]]]]

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* Warren Whi