History Main / PenalColony

** The "Whom Gods Destroy" episode of the Original Series centres around a penal colony for the criminally insane, the Elba II asylum.

* ''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 InTheBlood.

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}} way back in the 19th century.

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

** Gellix, a minor ice world in 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.

* Gellix, a minor ice world in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', 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.

* UsefulNotes/{{Australia}} was famously used as a penal colony by the British for eighty years (1788-1868), after losing access to their North American penal colonies due to American independence. Notably Brisbane was actually founded as a double-plus penal colony, for transported convicts who committed crimes ''again'' while in Australia. This forms the basis of the SentencedToDownUnder trope.

* ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} Space: Space Atlas 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.

* UsefulNotes/{{Angola}} was this for UsefulNotes/{{Portugal}}. A place of incurable diseases, with Portugal only controlling a couple of forts and whose only important activity until its abolition was slave capture and export (although later came some others, like diamonds), this all changed during TheFifties when finally the diseases were curable and in came non-prisoners attracted by new-found fertile lands for agriculture, especially coffee, cocoa and sisal. Later, oil was struck during TheSeventies (although, it must be noted, prisoners still went to Angola 'till the end). By then Angola won its independence however.

* In ''Literature/BraveNewWorld'', many dissidents are sent to various islands (they are imprisoned there though, just exiled).

** 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.

* Captain Dylan Hunt and ''Series/{{Andromeda}}'' had to escape from one in the episode "A Rose in the Ashes".
** The planet was specifically chosen for the abundance of alkali metals in its soil, preventing the inmates from farming, forcing them to rely on the guards for food. Fortunately, alkali metals are perfect for recharging Rommie's batteries.

* One episode of ''Series/BattlestarGalactica1978'' featured an asteroid penal colony that had gotten lost in the shuffle of the Thousand-Yahren War some generations before the start of the series. The prisoners are the descendants of the original convicts sent there, ditto for the guards. The locks on the cells haven't worked in ages; People stay where they are because of being stuck in a rut. The guards, lacking real training and conviction, would not be able to stop a prisoner from escaping if one really tried. By chance, Starbuck ends up in a cell there, and the mold is broken; he escapes easily and manages to summon the fleet to his location, and with the arrival of Commander Adama the colony is closed and the prisoners' sentences commuted.

* UsefulNotes/{{Australia}} was famously used as a penal colony by the British for eighty years (1788-1868), after losing access to their North American penal colonies due to American independence. Notably Brisbane was actually founded as a double-plus-penal colony, for transported convicts who committed crimes ''again'' while in Australia. This forms the basis of the SentencedToDownUnder trope.

The Penal Colony can be a rich source of story ideas; if you're recruiting for a RagtagBunchOfMisfits, you might do it here. If a RebelLeader]] is captured by TheEmpire and sent here they may have to fight their way to the top of the prison hierarchy, then arrange an escape. Need a source of [[AssholeVictim people you can dispose of without anyone caring]]? [[Film/Alien3 Have your Xenomorph invade the Penal Colony]]. Is the place too loosely supervised? If so, it may become a base of operations for a crime lord.

* On ''Series/{{Colony}}'', anyone found guilty of crimes against the occupation are shipped off to "The Factory", which is eventually revealed to be a forced labor camp [[spoiler: on the Moon]].

* In Australian Westerns ''Film/NedKelly'', ''Film/MadDogMorgan'', ''Film/TheOutlawMichaelHowe'', ''Film/CaptainThunderbolt'', and ''Film/VanDiemensLand'' the convicts all spend time as slave laborers.

The Penal Colony can be a rich source of story ideas; if you're recruiting for a RagtagBunchOfMisfits, you might do it here. [[LaResistance Revolutionary leader]] captured by TheEmpire and sent here? They may have to fight their way to the top of the prison hierarchy, then arrange an escape. Need a source of [[AssholeVictim people you can dispose of without anyone caring]]? [[Film/Alien3 Have your Xenomorph invade the Penal Colony]]. Is the place too loosely supervised? If so, it may become a base of operations for a crime lord.

* The penal colony in which the game ''VideoGame/{{Gothic}}'' is set, in which the prisoners were supposed to mine magic ore for the king's armies. Rather than geography, it is separated from the rest of the world by a magical force field that lets people in, but kills anyone who tries to leave. It doesn't work out exactly as planned, as the mages who create the barrier accidentally make it larger than planned, trapping themselves inside and causing the prisoners to revolt, kill the guards and take over the mines. By the time of the game they've split into three factions, the strongest of which managed to reach a deal with the outside world: they continue to mine ore, and trade it for resources (such as food and [[SexSlave women]].

* The penal colony in which the game ''VideoGame/{{Gothic}}'' is set. It is separated from the rest of the world by a magical barrier.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mazaruni.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Convicts going to bathe, Mazaruni, ''Illustrated London News'', 1888]]

** Varos in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS22E1VengeanceOnVaros "Vengeance on Varos"]] is a former penal colony, which goes a long way to explaining why it is such a WretchedHive in the present.

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