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* ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'': [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]]. When Zim is taken back to Foodcourtia by Sizz-Lorr, the security systems will made Zim explode if he tries to escape, until best customer Eric the Blob mentions how the prison he worked at removed the security systems upon learning that prisoners could easily avoid having their bio-data scanned by hiding in objects like trash cans. Zim uses this by frying himself into food for Eric, and busting himself out once Eric steps out the door.

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* ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'': [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]]. When Zim is taken back to Foodcourtia by Sizz-Lorr, the security systems will made Zim explode if he tries to escape, until best customer Eric the Blob mentions how the prison he worked at removed the security systems upon learning that prisoners could easily avoid having their bio-data scanned by hiding in objects like trash cans. Zim uses this by frying himself into food for Eric, and busting himself out once Eric steps out the door.
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** ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'': [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]]. When Zim is taken back to Foodcourtia by Sizz-Lorr, the security systems will made Zim explode if he tries to escape, until best customer Eric the Blob mentions how the prison he worked at removed the security systems upon learning that prisoners could easily avoid having their bio-data scanned by hiding in objects like trash cans. Zim uses this by frying himself into food for Eric, and busting himself out once Eric steps out the door.

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** * ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'': [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]]. When Zim is taken back to Foodcourtia by Sizz-Lorr, the security systems will made Zim explode if he tries to escape, until best customer Eric the Blob mentions how the prison he worked at removed the security systems upon learning that prisoners could easily avoid having their bio-data scanned by hiding in objects like trash cans. Zim uses this by frying himself into food for Eric, and busting himself out once Eric steps out the door.
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** ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'': [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]]. When Zim is taken back to Foodcourtia by Sizz-Lorr, the security systems will made Zim explode if he tries to escape, until best customer Eric the Blob mentions how the prison he worked at removed the security systems upon learning that prisoners could easily avoid having their bio-data scanned by hiding in objects like trash cans. Zim uses this by frying himself into food for Eric, and busting himself out once Eric steps out the door.
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* In VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic, if the PlayerCharacter takes the SchmuckBait during a certain sidequest, he'll get trapped inside the [[WhiteVoidRoom Rakatan Prison]]. Here he meets an ancient alien who has been trapped there for [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld tens of thousands of years]], but thankfully, he knows a technique which can allow the PC to escape back to the real world in an instant. Sort of Justified by the fact that the escape requires two people to make it work, and all the other people who went in between the PC and the ancient prisoner chose to instead wander off into the void [[GoMadFromTheIsolation and be driven insane.]] Also, it's possible for the PC to screw it up, enabling the original prisoner to escape instead of him, [[AndIMustScream while he's just stuck there for all eternity]] (which functions as a NonStandardGameOver, gameplay-wise).

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* In VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic, ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'', if the PlayerCharacter takes the SchmuckBait during a certain sidequest, he'll get trapped inside the [[WhiteVoidRoom Rakatan Prison]]. Here he meets an ancient alien who has been trapped there for [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld tens of thousands of years]], but thankfully, he knows a technique which can allow the PC to escape back to the real world in an instant. Sort of Justified by the fact that the escape requires two people to make it work, and all the other people who went in between the PC and the ancient prisoner chose to instead wander off into the void [[GoMadFromTheIsolation and be driven insane.]] Also, it's possible for the PC to screw it up, enabling the original prisoner to escape instead of him, [[AndIMustScream while he's just stuck there for all eternity]] (which functions as a NonStandardGameOver, gameplay-wise).
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* In ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises''', after Batman finds himself on the wrong end of a CurbStompBattle, [[BigBad Bane]] throws a crippled Bruce Wayne into a deep, well-like prison [[WhereTheHellIsSpringfield somewhere in the middle east]], on the other side of the ''world'' from Gotham City. It is repeatedly pointed out by just about everyone that escape is virtually impossible. The prisoners have all been there for years, if not decades, with a grand total of ''one'' escape in its known history, which is implied to have taken years of planning, and was undertaken by a fit and nimble young child [[spoiler: with the assistance of a big, burly bodyguard to protect her the whole time]]. Meanwhile, Bruce is trusted by no-one and has been injured so badly that he can't even walk, let alone climb the unclimbable hole. So of course, being Batman, not only does he recover near-instantly and escape in a matter of weeks, he manages to make it back to Gotham in time to stop Bane's plot.

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* In ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises''', ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'', after Batman finds himself on the wrong end of a CurbStompBattle, [[BigBad Bane]] throws a crippled Bruce Wayne into a deep, well-like prison [[WhereTheHellIsSpringfield somewhere in the middle east]], on the other side of the ''world'' from Gotham City. It is repeatedly pointed out by just about everyone that escape is virtually impossible. The prisoners have all been there for years, if not decades, with a grand total of ''one'' escape in its known history, which is implied to have taken years of planning, and was undertaken by a fit and nimble young child [[spoiler: with the assistance of a big, burly bodyguard to protect her the whole time]]. Meanwhile, Bruce is trusted by no-one and has been injured so badly that he can't even walk, let alone climb the unclimbable hole. So of course, being Batman, not only does he recover near-instantly and escape in a matter of weeks, he manages to make it back to Gotham in time to stop Bane's plot.

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* ''Film/SherlockHolmes1932'': After being sentenced to hang, Moriarty escapes from his cell on death row and out of the prison almost immediately.



In ''SiberianLight'' a Yeltsin-era Siberia features a supposed American oil company which is actually investigating the area for its suitability for a private prison. The first ordinary convict they ship in from America escapes fairly easily despite the Siberian prison camp's forbidding reputation.[[/folder]]

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* In ''SiberianLight'' ''Literature/SiberianLight'' a Yeltsin-era Siberia features a supposed American oil company which is actually investigating the area for its suitability for a private prison. The first ordinary convict they ship in from America escapes fairly easily despite the Siberian prison camp's forbidding reputation.reputation.
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In ''SiberianLight'' a Yeltsin-era Siberia features a supposed American oil company which is actually investigating the area for its suitability for a private prison. The first ordinary convict they ship in from America escapes fairly easily despite the Siberian prison camp's forbidding reputation.[[/folder]]
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* In the ''ComicBook/XWingSeries'' novel ''The Krytos Trap'', Corran Horn is imprisoned in Ysanne Isard's prison-slash-ManchurianAgent factory Lusankya, which is reputedly inescapable: Tycho Celchu only broke loose when he was being transferred to another prison, and at least one prisoner, Jan Dodonna, has been there since the Empire sacked the Rebel base on Yavin IV after ''Film/ANewHope''. Due to a fluke during a prison riot, Corran realizes that A) Isard is using ArtificialGravity to flip the prisoners upside-down and B) the supposed hard-labor punishment of breaking rocks is just busy-work, and is able to escape the prison by climbing through the ore processors. [[spoiler:The Lusankya prison turns out to be part of super star destroyer buried underneath [[CityPlanet Coruscant's planetary metropolis]].]]

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* In the ''ComicBook/XWingSeries'' ''Literature/XWingSeries'' novel ''The Krytos Trap'', Corran Horn is imprisoned in Ysanne Isard's prison-slash-ManchurianAgent factory Lusankya, which is reputedly inescapable: Tycho Celchu only broke loose when he was being transferred to another prison, and at least one prisoner, Jan Dodonna, has been there since the Empire sacked the Rebel base on Yavin IV after ''Film/ANewHope''. Due to a fluke during a prison riot, Corran realizes that A) Isard is using ArtificialGravity to flip the prisoners upside-down and B) the supposed hard-labor punishment of breaking rocks is just busy-work, and is able to escape the prison by climbing through the ore processors. [[spoiler:The Lusankya prison turns out to be part of super star destroyer buried underneath [[CityPlanet Coruscant's planetary metropolis]].]]
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'''This trope only applies if the escape is done very easily and/or quickly AND if the prison is designed to be impervious to breaching. If the prison break takes a ton of planning and is as difficult as it realistically should be, then that's a GreatEscape. If the prison is easy to escape from, but isn't necessarily played up as inescapable, then it's just a CardboardPrison'''

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'''This trope only applies if the escape is done very easily and/or quickly AND if the prison is designed to be impervious to breaching. If the prison break takes a ton of planning and is as difficult as it realistically should be, then that's a GreatEscape. If the prison is easy to escape from, but isn't necessarily played up as inescapable, then it's just a CardboardPrison'''
CardboardPrison.'''
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Alice gets unfairly sentenced to a lifetime in prison or some equally bleak fate. In this prison are others who have been trapped there for years, decades, or even centuries. In all those years they never found a way to escape, and they tell her that it's impossible. But Alice being the protagonist and all, she'll inevitably find a way to escape. And she'll do it within minutes. Something others have attempted and failed at for centuries, and Alice can do it in under 22 minutes. Because she's TheHero, that's why.

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Alice gets unfairly sentenced to a lifetime in prison or some equally bleak fate. In this prison are others who have been trapped there for years, decades, or even centuries. In all those years they never found a way to escape, and they tell her that it's impossible. But Alice being the protagonist and all, she'll inevitably find a way to escape. [[CardboardPrison And she'll do it within minutes. minutes.]] Something others have attempted and failed at for centuries, and Alice can do it in under 22 minutes. Because she's TheHero, that's why.



'''This trope only applies if the escape is done very easily and/or quickly. If the prison break takes a ton of planning and is as difficult as it realistically should be, then that's a GreatEscape.'''

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'''This trope only applies if the escape is done very easily and/or quickly.quickly AND if the prison is designed to be impervious to breaching. If the prison break takes a ton of planning and is as difficult as it realistically should be, then that's a GreatEscape.'''
If the prison is easy to escape from, but isn't necessarily played up as inescapable, then it's just a CardboardPrison'''
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** [[FireForgedFriends Taking said fellow convict with him]], [[spoiler:tag-teaming every obstacle between them and the yard, starting a PrisonRiot, and riding off on a motorcycle. Rank: '''Convict Allies'''.]]

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** [[FireForgedFriends Taking said fellow convict with him]], [[spoiler:tag-teaming every obstacle between them and the yard, starting a PrisonRiot, and riding off on a motorcycle. Rank: '''Convict Allies'''.]]]]. The page quote is from this route.
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Alice gets unfairly sentenced to a lifetime in prison, or some equally bleak fate. In this prison are others who have been trapped there for years, decades, or even centuries. In all those years they never found a way to escape, and they tell her that it's impossible. But Alice being the protagonist and all, she'll inevitably find a way to escape. And she'll do it within minutes. Something others have attempted and failed at for centuries, and Alice can do it in under 22 minutes. Because she's TheHero, that's why.

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Alice gets unfairly sentenced to a lifetime in prison, prison or some equally bleak fate. In this prison are others who have been trapped there for years, decades, or even centuries. In all those years they never found a way to escape, and they tell her that it's impossible. But Alice being the protagonist and all, she'll inevitably find a way to escape. And she'll do it within minutes. Something others have attempted and failed at for centuries, and Alice can do it in under 22 minutes. Because she's TheHero, that's why.



'''This trope only applies if the escape is done very easily and/or quickly. If the prison break takes a ton of planning, and is as difficult as it realistically should be, then that's a GreatEscape.'''

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'''This trope only applies if the escape is done very easily and/or quickly. If the prison break takes a ton of planning, planning and is as difficult as it realistically should be, then that's a GreatEscape.'''



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* In ''Anime/YokaiWatch'' Manjimutt and several other prisoners decide to plan a prison escape. It's apparently a high security prison however they get over the wall easily. They end up failing at the last minute when Manjimutt ends up alerting the guards, by [[FurryReminder howling at the moon]].

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* In ''Anime/YokaiWatch'' Manjimutt and several other prisoners decide to plan a prison escape. It's apparently a high security high-security prison however they get over the wall easily. They end up failing at the last minute when Manjimutt ends up alerting the guards, by [[FurryReminder howling at the moon]].
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** P'li (a firebender) was kept chained up in a polar prison (extreme cold prevents firebending) at the bottom of a crevasse with a metal forehead cover to prevent her from combustionbending. Ming-Hua used her waterbending to shatter the cell door and climb out of the crevasse.

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** P'li (a firebender) was kept chained up in a polar prison (extreme cold prevents firebending) at the bottom of a crevasse with a metal forehead cover to prevent her from combustionbending. Ming-Hua used her waterbending to shatter the cell door and P'li's chains, and then climb out of the crevasse.crevasse with her.
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** P'li (a firebender) was kept chained up in a polar prison (extreme cold prevents firebending) at the bottom of a crevasse with a metal forehead cover to prevent her combustionbending. Ming-Hua used her waterbending to shatter the cell door and climb out of the crevasse.

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** P'li (a firebender) was kept chained up in a polar prison (extreme cold prevents firebending) at the bottom of a crevasse with a metal forehead cover to prevent her from combustionbending. Ming-Hua used her waterbending to shatter the cell door and climb out of the crevasse.
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** Ghazan (an earthbender) is kept on a wooden platform out at sea. Then it turns out he's a ''lavabender'', and all it took for him to escape was for Zaheer showing up to throw some stones in his cage for him to create a lava shuriken and bust out.

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** Ghazan (an earthbender) is kept on a wooden platform out at sea. Then it turns out he's a ''lavabender'', and all it took for him to escape was for Zaheer showing up (disguised as a guard) to throw some stones in his cage for him to create a lava shuriken and bust out.
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** Ming-Hua was kept in a volcano to ensure she couldn't use the atmospheric humidity to waterbend. Zaheer and Ghazan managed to get her enough water to form CombatTentacles to break out of her cell.
** P'li was kept chained up in a polar prison (extreme cold prevents firebending) at the bottom of a crevasse with a metal forehead cover to prevent her combustionbending. Ming-Hua used her waterbending to shatter the cell door and climb out of the crevasse.

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** Ming-Hua (a waterbender) was kept in a volcano to ensure she couldn't use the atmospheric humidity to waterbend. Zaheer and Ghazan managed to get her enough water to form CombatTentacles to break out of her cell.
** P'li (a firebender) was kept chained up in a polar prison (extreme cold prevents firebending) at the bottom of a crevasse with a metal forehead cover to prevent her combustionbending. Ming-Hua used her waterbending to shatter the cell door and climb out of the crevasse.
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* {{Parodied}} in ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' when Gob gets arrested in Iraq for (accidentally) instigating an anti-Bush rally. Not only is his prison easily escapable, but the soldiers "detaining" him keep arranging easy escapes for him; the only reason he doesn't escape is that he suddenly goes LawfulStupid and sabotages himself.

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->''"There has not been an incident here in fifty years, and the ''day'' you show up, this happens!"''
-->'''Warden Dimitri Johannes Petrov''', ''[[VideoGame/HenryStickminSeries Fleeing the Complex]]''




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* The Wall of ''[[VideoGame/HenryStickminSeries Fleeing the Complex]]'' is a prison complex built into a cliff face in some wintry region. It hasn't had a single successful escape attempt, and the past fifty years have gone entirely without incident. Then they capture the infamous [[VillainProtagonist Henry Stickmin]], with the promise that he's "[[TemptingFate going to be here for a long time]]". His [[MultipleEndings possible escape routes]] include:
** [[LeeroyJenkins Charge tackling the brute standing at the door]], [[spoiler:stealing a truck, get stuck on the edge of a cliff, and letting them push over the car thinking he went down with it. Rank: '''Presumed Dead'''.]]
** [[PlayAlongPrisoner Waiting to be transferred to a cell]], [[spoiler:breaking down to the next level, and calling in a government buddy to pick him up. Rank: '''International Rescue Operative'''.[[note]]Calling in a criminal gang for the pickup [[DownerEnding ends less-than-well]].[[/note]]]]
** [[TheGuardsMustBeCrazy Subtly asking his fellow convict for a boost up]], [[spoiler:sneaking his way through the complex unseen, and taking off in a dinghy. Rank: '''Ghost Inmate'''.]]
** [[FireForgedFriends Taking said fellow convict with him]], [[spoiler:tag-teaming every obstacle between them and the yard, starting a PrisonRiot, and riding off on a motorcycle. Rank: '''Convict Allies'''.]]
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* ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise''. In "Judgement", Captain Archer is sentenced to the Klingon prison planet of Rura Penthe. [[StatusQuoIsGod So the series can continue]], his crew just bribe the guards at the end of the episode to get him released.

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* {{Thorgal}}: In The Blue Plague, Thorgal and his family are kept prisoner in a vally formed by sand dunes. He attempts escape like many others did, but finds that the walls are unclimbable. There is a waterway that may lead to freedom, but none have tried and returned, as it's mostly underwater. Being in better shape than most, Thorgal makes it and returns by threatening the king who put him there in the first place.

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* {{Thorgal}}: {{Film/Thorgal}}: In The "The Blue Plague, Plague", Thorgal and his family are kept prisoner in a vally valley formed by sand dunes. He attempts escape like many others did, but finds that the walls are unclimbable. There is a waterway that may lead to freedom, but none have tried and returned, as it's mostly underwater. Being in better shape than most, Thorgal makes it and returns by threatening the king who put him there in the first place.



* One of the reasons ''Film/TheLastAirbender'' was disliked by fans in that where the cartoon's Earthbender prison was a huge platform out at sea that's only escaped because Katara (thought to be an earthbender by the Fire Nation) managed to smuggle in some bending material, in the movie they're kept in a ''[[LockingMacGyverInTheStoreCupboard quarry]]''.




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* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'': The Red Lotus were each kept inside a separate TailorMadePrison that prevented their powers from manifesting, and even then they were guarded around the clock. Nevertheless, all four of them broke out over a single episode.
** Zaheer was kept on a remote mountaintop and had the least precautions (a metal bridge that was deployed via bending), as he wasn't a bender. Admittedly, no one (including Zaheer) was expecting for airbending to spontaneously manifest in people across the world, so he was able to escape easily enough once he'd mastered his new talent (it helped that he was a massive airbender fanboy, having studied their philosophies for so long).
** Ghazan (an earthbender) is kept on a wooden platform out at sea. Then it turns out he's a ''lavabender'', and all it took for him to escape was for Zaheer showing up to throw some stones in his cage for him to create a lava shuriken and bust out.
** Ming-Hua was kept in a volcano to ensure she couldn't use the atmospheric humidity to waterbend. Zaheer and Ghazan managed to get her enough water to form CombatTentacles to break out of her cell.
** P'li was kept chained up in a polar prison (extreme cold prevents firebending) at the bottom of a crevasse with a metal forehead cover to prevent her combustionbending. Ming-Hua used her waterbending to shatter the cell door and climb out of the crevasse.

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* In Film/TheDarkKnightRises, after Batman finds himself on the wrong end of a CurbStompBattle, [[BigBad Bane]] throws a crippled Bruce Wayne into a deep, well-like prison [[WhereTheHellIsSpringfield somewhere in the middle east]], on the other side of the ''world'' from Gotham City. It is repeatedly pointed out by just about everyone that escape is virtually impossible. The prisoners have all been there for years, if not decades, with a grand total of ''one'' escape in its known history, which is implied to have taken years of planning, and was undertaken by a fit and nimble young child [[spoiler: with the assistance of a big, burly bodyguard to protect her the whole time]]. Meanwhile, Bruce is trusted by no-one and has been injured so badly that he can't even walk, let alone climb the unclimbable hole. So of course, being Batman, not only does he recover near-instantly and escape in a matter of weeks, he manages to make it back to Gotham in time to stop Bane's plot.

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\n* In Film/TheDarkKnightRises, ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises''', after Batman finds himself on the wrong end of a CurbStompBattle, [[BigBad Bane]] throws a crippled Bruce Wayne into a deep, well-like prison [[WhereTheHellIsSpringfield somewhere in the middle east]], on the other side of the ''world'' from Gotham City. It is repeatedly pointed out by just about everyone that escape is virtually impossible. The prisoners have all been there for years, if not decades, with a grand total of ''one'' escape in its known history, which is implied to have taken years of planning, and was undertaken by a fit and nimble young child [[spoiler: with the assistance of a big, burly bodyguard to protect her the whole time]]. Meanwhile, Bruce is trusted by no-one and has been injured so badly that he can't even walk, let alone climb the unclimbable hole. So of course, being Batman, not only does he recover near-instantly and escape in a matter of weeks, he manages to make it back to Gotham in time to stop Bane's plot.
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* In ''Film/HaroldAndKumarEscapeFromGuantanamoBay'' the title characters run through a cell door that some distracted guards leave open, climb over the dead body of a terrorist who had shorted out the electric fence, then just seconds later find a boat full of Cuban refugees who offer them a lift to the USA. They are in Guantanamo for barely 5 minutes.
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* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''. Averted in "The Chute". Harry Kim and Tom Paris are falsely imprisoned and thrown into a prison on a SpaceStation. All the expected tricks of a Starfleet hero fail to work, and they have to be rescued from the outside by Captain Janeway. It's made clear that if she hadn't tracked them down, they would have died in there.
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Removing One Piece because it is not an example. Aside from already being on the Great Escape page, it's portrayed as legitimately difficult, someone else already had a plan, and they barely pull it off.



* Impel Down from ''Manga/OnePiece'' is the World Government's most secure prison, from which only one inmate has ever escaped in its entire existence--and that only by chopping of his own legs. However, when protagonist of the manga, Monkey D. Luffy, hears that his brother has been imprisoned there, he not only breaks into Impel Down, he leads the first ever mass breakout from it without breaking his stride.

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* Downplayed in the last chapter of the ''Literature/LabyrinthsOfEcho'' series, where Max winds up in the Quiet City--the one place in the multiverse from which supposedly no one has ever escaped--and escapes it within about a year. Justified, however, in that Max already knows that escape is at least theoretically possible, since a bit earlier, he has met the first person to have ever pulled it off ([[spoiler:King Mönin]]) and furthermore, Max is an Arbiter, meaning that his wishes (including his desire to escape) are so reality-warping, that not even the Quiet City can defy them.

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* Downplayed in the last chapter of the ''Literature/LabyrinthsOfEcho'' series, where Max winds up in the Quiet City--the one place in the multiverse from which supposedly no one has ever escaped--and escapes it within about a year. Justified, however, in that Max already knows that escape is at least theoretically possible, since a bit earlier, he has met the first person to have ever pulled it off ([[spoiler:King Mönin]]) M�¶nin]]) and furthermore, Max is an Arbiter, meaning that his wishes (including his desire to escape) are so reality-warping, that not even the Quiet City can defy them.



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* In ''Literature/VoidDomain'', the prison within hell is specifically designed for holding demons. [[spoiler: Humans are another matter entirely.]]
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* In ''Anime/YokaiWatch'' Manjimutt and several other prisoners decide to plan a prison escape. It's apparently a high security prison however they get over the wall easily. They end up failing at the last minute when Manjimutt ends up alerting the guards, by [[FurryReminder howling at the moon]].
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* ''Series/TheGoodies'': In "Goodies in the Nick", the Goodies are sentenced to a long stretch in prison. Once they bother taking the blankets off their heads (which, admittedly does take several years) they almost immediately discover a means of escape, via a toilet that dumps them out through the wall.
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[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/inpreaes.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"There's no way out. Not that I've seen." "What about that mine cart?"]]
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Alice gets unfairly sentenced to a lifetime in prison, or some equally bleak fate. In this prison are others who have been trapped there for years, decades, or even centuries. In all those years they never found a way to escape, and they tell her that it's impossible. But Alice being the protagonist and all, she'll inevitably find a way to escape. And she'll do it within minutes. Something others have attempted and failed at for centuries, and Alice can do it in under 22 minutes. Because she's TheHero, that's why.

If the main character is trapped somewhere said to be [[TemptingFate "inescapable,"]] they are, invariably, going to be able to find a way to escape. This will frequently be achieved so easily you'll be left to marvel at how no one was able to think of it before.

Usually attributed to StatusQuoIsGod, and because spending an entire season sitting around in prison can get a bit boring for the viewer.

Bonus points if it's a KidHero.

'''This trope only applies if the escape is done very easily and/or quickly. If the prison break takes a ton of planning, and is as difficult as it realistically should be, then that's a GreatEscape.'''

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!Examples:

[[AC:AnimeAndManga]]
* Impel Down from ''Manga/OnePiece'' is the World Government's most secure prison, from which only one inmate has ever escaped in its entire existence--and that only by chopping of his own legs. However, when protagonist of the manga, Monkey D. Luffy, hears that his brother has been imprisoned there, he not only breaks into Impel Down, he leads the first ever mass breakout from it without breaking his stride.

[[AC:ComicBooks]]
* {{Thorgal}}: In The Blue Plague, Thorgal and his family are kept prisoner in a vally formed by sand dunes. He attempts escape like many others did, but finds that the walls are unclimbable. There is a waterway that may lead to freedom, but none have tried and returned, as it's mostly underwater. Being in better shape than most, Thorgal makes it and returns by threatening the king who put him there in the first place.

[[AC:Film]]
* In Film/TheDarkKnightRises, after Batman finds himself on the wrong end of a CurbStompBattle, [[BigBad Bane]] throws a crippled Bruce Wayne into a deep, well-like prison [[WhereTheHellIsSpringfield somewhere in the middle east]], on the other side of the ''world'' from Gotham City. It is repeatedly pointed out by just about everyone that escape is virtually impossible. The prisoners have all been there for years, if not decades, with a grand total of ''one'' escape in its known history, which is implied to have taken years of planning, and was undertaken by a fit and nimble young child [[spoiler: with the assistance of a big, burly bodyguard to protect her the whole time]]. Meanwhile, Bruce is trusted by no-one and has been injured so badly that he can't even walk, let alone climb the unclimbable hole. So of course, being Batman, not only does he recover near-instantly and escape in a matter of weeks, he manages to make it back to Gotham in time to stop Bane's plot.

[[AC:Literature]]
* Downplayed in the last chapter of the ''Literature/LabyrinthsOfEcho'' series, where Max winds up in the Quiet City--the one place in the multiverse from which supposedly no one has ever escaped--and escapes it within about a year. Justified, however, in that Max already knows that escape is at least theoretically possible, since a bit earlier, he has met the first person to have ever pulled it off ([[spoiler:King Mönin]]) and furthermore, Max is an Arbiter, meaning that his wishes (including his desire to escape) are so reality-warping, that not even the Quiet City can defy them.
* In the ''ComicBook/XWingSeries'' novel ''The Krytos Trap'', Corran Horn is imprisoned in Ysanne Isard's prison-slash-ManchurianAgent factory Lusankya, which is reputedly inescapable: Tycho Celchu only broke loose when he was being transferred to another prison, and at least one prisoner, Jan Dodonna, has been there since the Empire sacked the Rebel base on Yavin IV after ''Film/ANewHope''. Due to a fluke during a prison riot, Corran realizes that A) Isard is using ArtificialGravity to flip the prisoners upside-down and B) the supposed hard-labor punishment of breaking rocks is just busy-work, and is able to escape the prison by climbing through the ore processors. [[spoiler:The Lusankya prison turns out to be part of super star destroyer buried underneath [[CityPlanet Coruscant's planetary metropolis]].]]

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* In the ''Series/StargateSG1'' episode "[[Recap/StargateSG1S2E3Prisoners Prisoners]]", SG-1 is imprisoned by an offworld civilization for aiding and abetting a fugitive. The prison consists of a cavern where the only way in or out is by a stargate whose dialing device has been removed, theoretically making escape impossible. [[JustifiedTrope Since SG-1 knows considerably more about the workings of the stargate than other prisoners]], they're able to re-power the gate with help from another prisoner and dial out manually.

[[AC:VideoGames]]
* In VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic, if the PlayerCharacter takes the SchmuckBait during a certain sidequest, he'll get trapped inside the [[WhiteVoidRoom Rakatan Prison]]. Here he meets an ancient alien who has been trapped there for [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld tens of thousands of years]], but thankfully, he knows a technique which can allow the PC to escape back to the real world in an instant. Sort of Justified by the fact that the escape requires two people to make it work, and all the other people who went in between the PC and the ancient prisoner chose to instead wander off into the void [[GoMadFromTheIsolation and be driven insane.]] Also, it's possible for the PC to screw it up, enabling the original prisoner to escape instead of him, [[AndIMustScream while he's just stuck there for all eternity]] (which functions as a NonStandardGameOver, gameplay-wise).
* In ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'', angering the Lady of Pain who rules the city of Sigil will result in being stuck in a maze which is designed specifically for the individual. The trick of the mazes is that they have exits that are supposed to be nearly impossible to find, and most who have been Mazed have never escaped. However, if the protagonist is Mazed, the player is faced with a relatively simple OneOfTheseDoorsIsNotLikeTheOther ploy to get out.

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
* In the episode "[[Recap/StarVsTheForcesOfEvilS1E12Pixtopia Pixtopia]]" in ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'', Star and her friends are sentenced to work in the mines possibly for the rest of their lives. There are other people in the mines who look like they must have been there for years who tell them that there's no way to escape. Seconds later, they find the exit and escape through it.
* In the episode "[[Recap/AdventureTimeS1E11Wizard Wizard]]" from the first season of ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'', Finn gets tricked into keeping a meteor at bay for eternity. The two other people that are trapped there have been there for ''at least'' decades and had never figured out how to get out. Within minutes Finn devises a plan to free them, and it works.
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