History Main / PenalColony

* ''Series/{{Banished}}'' is all about the original British penal colony in Australia.

* ''LightNovel/CrestOfTheStars'': One of these crops up in ''Banner of the Stars II''. A single continent on a planet has been terraformed and divided in three roughly equal sections for prisoners to reside with a smaller section for the guards. What to do with the place when the Abh conquer becomes a rather complicated issue and female lead Lafiel is rather unhappy to have the whole mess dumped in her lap.

* One of these exists at the beginning of the FillerArc in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}''. [[spoiler:The corrupt teacher from waaaay back at the start of the series is there, and he's been experimenting with spells that could best be described as the wizarding-ninja equivalent of steroids. He gets out, and Naruto and the other Leaf Ninja have to stop him.]]

* One of these exists at the beginning of the Filler Arc in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' [[spoiler: The corrupt teacher from waaaay back at the start of the series is there, and he's been experimenting with spells that could best be described as the wizarding-ninja equivalent of steroids. He gets out, and Naruto and the other Leaf Ninja have to stop him.]]

** Kirk made Ceti Alpha V into a prison planet for Khan in ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E22SpaceSeed Space Seed]]". That episode become the basis for ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan''.
** A penal colony in New Zealand was shown in the pilot ''[[Series/StarTrekVoyager Voyager]]'' episode, where Tom Paris was put after being captured while working for [[TheResistance the Maquis]].
** The "Whom Gods Destroy" episode of the Original Series centres around a penal colony for the criminally insane, the Elba II asylum. It had the distinction of having a poisonous atmosphere, so the only way to escape was by starship.
*** The episode "Dagger of the Mind" featured the Tantalus Penal Colony, which also served as an asylum for the criminally insane. It differed from the Elba II asylum in that the inmates had been deemed curable, whereas the Elba II inmates were considered beyond hope.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' has Penal Colonies, most of which have a toxic atmosphere. Some are used for mining, others are just used to hold the people. They are also used for recruitment into Penal Legions which are sent on missions too dangerous for normal troopers or ones which need the people who did it to be executed afterwards.

[[folder:Film]]

* Wraeclast in ''VideoGame/PathOfExile'' is the main setting of the game. Criminals from the island nation of Oriath are exiled to this continent for crimes big or small and are expected to fend off its deadly creatures, undead, and other exiles gone insane.

What to do with criminals is a problem for societies real and fictional. One common solution in times past and perhaps [[RecycledInSpace future]] is the Penal Colony. This is a self-contained society consisting mostly of prisoners and those who guard them, usually separated from the civilized world by natural barriers in addition to (or instead of) prison walls; this can often be a remote island far out in the ocean, or some piece of land in the middle of nowhere, but in science fiction it may be a whole [[UpToEleven Prison Planet]] whose [[PlanetOfHats Hat]] is an orange jumpsuit.

* Fiorina "Fury" 161 from ''Film/Alien3'', a distant planet home to a remote prison facility full of hardened convicts, such as murderers and rapists. [[TheHero Ellen Ripley]] crash-lands here after the events of the [[{{Film/Aliens}} previous movie]], and has no choice but to cooperate for survival with the local guards and inmates, while yet another Xenomorph runs rampant through the place.

* Hecatonchires in ''Manga/OutlawStar''

* The ''Manga/ExcelSaga'' manga had one that Excel and Elgala were shipped off to. An island for women prisoners where they'd lose out to their feral instincts in a savage world with no hope of escape, and probably some sexual harassment. Excel and Elgala escaped during the boat ride there, although they got attacked by sharks and whirlpools in the process.
* In ''Anime/GunXSword'', Endless Illusion was originally a prison world. [[spoiler: The Original Seven were used by the heads of security, and the Claw was once one of those in charge. He's also the last person who remembers the details.]]
* Chimera in ''Manga/JyuOhSei'' is a prison planet, [[spoiler: or at least that's what the powers that be want people to believe. In actuality, it's a testing ground for breeding a new variety of humans hardy enough to survive in that star system.]]

* ''Anime/GuyDoubleTarget'' has Heel as the warden of the Prison Planet Geo in which women are used as sex slaves for male prisoners as a reward.
* The eponymous ''Manga/DeadmanWonderland'' is a combination penal colony and amusement park where prisoners work off their sentences by maintaining the park and entertaining visitors.
* In ''Anime/CrossAnge'', people who cannot use mana, [[AntiMagic Norma]], are sent to Arzenal, a penal military base, where they are forced to fight [=DRAGONs=] invading from a different dimension.

* The PhantomZone from ''Comicbook/{{Superman}}'' is another prison dimension.
* The Mines of Titan and the various Cursed Earth work farms in ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'' that are used for various offenders.

* ''Comicbook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'' has the Devil's Gulag, a prison built on top of a mountain top. However, two breakouts have led to the prison being abandoned.

* Alphatraz is a prison planet in ''ComicBook/PlanetTerry'' where nobody escapes...because the prisoners are in charge of it and have turned it into a luxury prison.

* In ''ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures'', the Evronian Empire maintains one on the artificial planetoid the prisoners have nicknamed "The Well", as anyone sent there cannot escape but could be pulled out if the Evronians decide they have some job for them, with the reason the Evronians don't just kill said prisoners is exactly that they think they may find them useful some day. Most of the inmates are just left around, as the only way out is the heavily fortified spaceport (and any attempt to try and infiltrate it, or to capture one of the vehicles moving between the spaceport and the other installations, is met with overwhelming strength), but a few are kept in [[TailorMadePrison high-security cells made specifically for them]]. Notable inmates include Klangor, an Evronian cyborg who has more than enough firepower to overwhelm the garrison by himself if the guards didn't have his ''[[BoringYetPractical remote control]]'', and [[NamesToRunAwayReallyFast Trauma]], [[SuperSoldier a rogue artificially-mutated Evronian general with immense psychic powers]] [[ProperlyParanoid that have increased ever since he was put in a psychic-suppressing cell made for someone much stronger than him]].

* ''Fanfic/TheConversionBureauTheOtherSideOfTheSpectrum'' reveals that the TCB!Crystal Empire was converted into one of these. It's an utter HellholePrison, and the Crystal Ponies and any other (suspected or otherwise) political dissidents dumped off there are forced to mine for crystals and other raw materials all day, all the while they're kept under complete media blackout to keep them more scared of humanity than of [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Queen Celestia]]. Much of the ''Shades of the Unsung'' side story takes place there, and it's revealed there are also some very disturbing experiments going on, and the [[WardensAreEvil Warden]] has it in for the main characters (which is not completely unjustified, as they're planning a GreatEscape).

* New York and Los Angeles from ''Film/EscapeFromNewYork'' and ''Film/EscapeFromLA''
* Fiorina "Fury" 161 from ''Film/Alien3'', a distant planet home to a remote prison facility full of hardened convicts, such as murderers and rapists. [[TheHero Ellen Ripley]] crash-lands here after the events of the [[{{Film/Aliens}} previous movie]], and has no choice but to cooperate for survival with the local guards and inmates, while yet another Xenomorph runs rampant through the place.
* ''Film/JudgeDredd''. Mega City 1's criminals were sent to Aspen Penal Colony to serve out their sentences.

* In Australian Westerns ''[[Film/NedKelly1970 Ned Kelly]]'' (1970), ''Film/MadDogMorgan'', ''Film/TheOutlawMichaelHowe'', ''Film/CaptainThunderbolt'', and ''Film/VanDiemensLand'' the convicts all spend time as slave laborers.
* ''Film/{{Descendants}}'', a [[Creator/DisneyChannel Disney Channel Original Movie]], features the Isle of the Lost, an island prison away from the nation of Auradon that houses the Disney Villains and other unnamed criminals. The main theme of the movies is regarding the children of said criminals, who are trapped on the island with poor human rights, and are shunned by the residents of Auradon, who have a BlackAndWhiteMorality and AllCrimesAreEqual mentality, and believe that evil is [[VillainousLineage hereditary]].
* In ''Film/NoEscape1994'', prisoners who prove too troublesome for the futuristic maximum security prison get dropped off on a small island to scratch out a living. While there are occasional supply drops of food, for the most part prisoners are left to their own devices to survive.
* ''Film/TheGirlFromMonday'': It's mentioned that dissidents have been sent to the moon, where tourist resorts exist now which they must work for. [[spoiler:Cecile]] is sent there near the end.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' has Penal Colonies, most of which have a toxic atmosphere. Some are used for mining, others are just used to hold the people. They are also used for recruitment into Penal Legions which are sent on missions too dangerous for normal troopers or ones which need the people who did it to be executed afterwards.
** Of particular note is Deliverance, the penal colony moon of the planet Kiavahr where the Raven Guard Primarch Corax landed in his stasis pod. Corax organised the prisoners to overthrow their harsh and uncaring warders and take over the colony, before conquering Kiavahr itself and founding his own small empire. Eventually the facility was converted into his Space Marine chapter's headquarters, the Ravenspire.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Alternity}}'''s ''TabletopGame/StarDrive'' setting. The prison planet of Lucullus, in the Verge. A former Union of Sol penal colony, it overthrew the remnant of the colonial government during the Second Galactic War.
* ''It Came from the Late, Late Show II'' adventure "Bjorn on the Bayou, or Escape from Alkatrazz XII". Alkatrazz XII is a prison planet with a population of 10,000, which is mostly made up of the prisoners and their robot guards. Warden Skrank is sadistic and corrupt, and his bodyguard Jorj is strong but stupid.
* ''TabletopGame/GURPSSpaceAtlas 4''. Cenotaph is a prison planet owned by the Phoenix Domain. The prisoners live underground and are forced to mine heavy metals if they want to have air, power, food and water.

* The Isle of Despair in ''VideoGame/ArcanumOfSteamworksAndMagickObscura''.
* In ''VideoGame/MystV'', one of the ages you go to is a prison age. Back in old D'ni society, hardened criminals were shipped off to prison ages; one-way linking books to harsher worlds. There was no way out without help from the outside. The D'ni criminals were left to their own devices on prison ages; they formed their own societies.
* ''VideoGame/StarCraft'':
** ''VideoGame/StarCraftI'''s backstory states that the entire human presence in the Koprulu Sector started out as a penal colony, with a large number of criminals and undesirables simply shipped off of Earth into unknown space. The modern Terran Confederacy and Dominion are their descendants. Earth forces do show up in ''Brood War'' to take control, and eventually get stomped flat by the continuous conflict in the region.
** New Folsom in ''VideoGame/StarCraftIIWingsOfLiberty'' is a volcanic world where the Dominion keeps everyone from political prisoners to psychotic psychic operatives. If you choose to side with Tosh he and Raynor's Raiders bust it open in an afternoon. Granted they have access to tactical nukes.
* ''VideoGame/MassEffect3''
** Gellix, a minor ice world was used as a penal colony by the Systems Alliance from 2161, but was shut down in 2179 after racking up the worst prison safety record ever.
** The Asari colony of Lesuss can also be considered a type of penal colony, as it holds an Ardat-Yakshi Monastery where asari who suffer from the Ardat-Yakshi genetic disorder are forced to live, usually against their will. The planetary description even mentions how strange is it for the asari to continue to maintain a small colony there, despite Lesuss being on the lower scale of habitability. It also notes that the colony only has a couple thousad inhabitants in a few remote locations and how everything about the colony is classified to the rest of asari society.
* In ''VideoGame/InfiniteSpace'', Skantzoura in the SMC and Lari and Belgirate in the LMC are planets or asteroids used as large prisons, specializing in dangerous or political prisoners.
* In ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'', the titular city run by Hugo Strange is this, with all of Gotham's criminals, insane or not, tossed in to die with minimal support from the outside. Naturally it devolves into a WretchedHive[=/=]HellHolePrison mix almost instantly.
* Wraeclast in ''VideoGame/PathOfExile'' is the main setting of the game. Criminals from the island nation of Oriath are exiled to this continent for crimes big or small and are expected to fend off its deadly creatures, undead, and other exiles gone insane.
* The Outcasts from ''VideoGame/MiddleEarthShadowOfMordor'' are a variation. They are descended from [[PrisonersWork prisoners used to construct the Black Gate]], once the gate was finished the prisoners made a break for it into {{Mordor}} with the guards not stopping them as it just meant they were out of their hair. The prisoners eventually made a life for themselves and became their own culture.
* Ceti Alpha Stadium, home of the all-alien Galaxy Chaos team in ''VideoGame/MutantFootballLeague'', is an asteroid penal colony the players are all prisoners of.

* The Abh wind up conquering one of these in ''[[Litwrature/CrestOfTheStars Banner of the Stars II]]''. Lafiel is put in charge of figuring out what to so with the inhabitants, much to her displeasure, specifically the guards and some of the female prisoners who want ''off''.

* In the 1994 movie ''No Escape'', prisoners who prove too troublesome for the futuristic maximum security prison get dropped off on a small island to scratch out a living. While there are occasional supply drops of food, for the most part prisoners are left to their own devices to survive.

** The [[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace marvelously named]] planet Despayre in ''Literature/DeathStar'', the original construction site for the Death Star (and the first casualty of the Death Star superlaser). There are also others that tend to end up in this kind of role, such as the spice mines of Kessel.

Typically the prisoners will be required to do some sort of hard and dangerous labor; [[WeWillUseManualLaborInTheFuture mining is a favorite]] in science fiction. If the colony is isolated, loosely controlled, or has no guards at all, it will resemble a WretchedHive, with the prisoners more or less running the place.

These jails are often a type of HellholePrison. Compare WretchedHive and DeathWorld (which may be what separates the Penal Colony from civilization). Particularly inescapable ones can overlap with TheAlcatraz or PhantomZone. Often related to SettlingTheFrontier. See also ReassignedToAntarctica. The SuperTrope to SentencedToDownUnder, which is specifically the old British practice of sending their convicts to UsefulNotes/{{Australia}} between the late eighteenth and mid-nineteenth centuries.

* The Abh wind up conquering one of these in ''[[LightNovel/CrestOfTheStars Banner of the Stars II]]''. Lafiel is put in charge of figuring out what to so with the inhabitants, much to her displeasure, specifically the guards and some of the female prisoners who want ''off''.

* In ''ComicBook/SerenityLeavesOnTheWind'' Zoe is sent to a prison camp on a desert planet where the {{terraform}}ing didn't take. The camp doesn't need walls--anybody who runs away will die in the desert--and the guards are purely symbolic and don't bother intervening in inmate brawls.

* ''Comicbook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'' has the Devil's Gulag, a prison built on top of a mountain top. However, two breakouts have lead to the prison being abandoned.

* [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Devil's Island]] in French Guiana. Modernly famous for the memoir ''Literature/{{Papillon}}'' written by inmate Henri Charrière (later a Steve [=McQueen=] film of the same name), though his account is full of unlikely elements.

** The aforementioned Kessel is featured in ''VideoGame/RogueSquadron''.

** UsefulNotes/EastTimor was another, during the Constitutional Monarchy, 1st Republic and early [[UsefulNotes/AntonioDeOliveiraSalazar New State]] periods, but for Anarchists znd (during the Monarchy) Republicans. The Carrascalão family, prominent in East Timor politics, are the descendents of an Anarchist who was deported there and later got rich with a coffee plantation, even becoming Mayor of Dili (the country's capital).

** The Asari colony of Lesuss can also be considered a type of penal colony, as it holds an Ardat-Yakshi Monastery where Asari who suffer from the Ardat-Yakshi genetic disorder are forced to live, usually against their will.