History Main / PrisonShip

* The Prison Transport: this modestly-sized vessel is either designed or modified to transport prisoners between facilities, not hold them permanently. The transport spaceship in ''Film/PitchBlack'' is not an example as it had only one prisoner strapped in; the rest of the occupants were paying passengers. Conversely the prison transport in the ''Series/{{Lexx}}'' miniseries would count because his divine shadow is just that thorough. In fiction, there are often depictions of criminal gangs [[InescapableAmbush ambushing]] or hijacking the prison transport to free their comrades,

* The Jail Ship: often a setting in and of itself this large vessel is usually purpose built to hold prisoners permanently, often for unscrupulous deeds committed outside of the jurisdiction. It needs to be large enough for cells (or stasis pods with life-support equipment if the prisoners are in HumanPopsicle mode), guard quarters, guard stations, food preparation facilities, recreational areas, an infirmary, and so on. As well, it needs some self-defense capacities to protect the Prison Ship from attackers who hope to free their comrades.

* The Prison Transport: this modestly-sized vessel is either designed or modified to transport prisoners between facilities, not hold them permanently. The transport spaceship l in ''Film/PitchBlack'' is not an example as it had only one prisoner strapped in; the rest of the occupants were paying passengers. Conversely the prison transport in the ''Series/{{Lexx}}'' miniseries would count because his divine shadow is just that thorough. In fiction, there are often depictions of criminal gangs [[InescapableAmbush ambushing]] or hijacking the prison transport to free their comrades,

* The Jail: often a setting in and of itself this large vessel is usually purpose built to hold prisoners permanently (often for unscrupulous deeds outside of jurisdiction) needs guard stations, plumbing, a cafeteria, life-support, or stasis pods to function.

* The Prison Transport: often hijacked, this humble vessel is either designed or modified to transport prisoners, not hold them permanently. The transport in ''Film/PitchBlack'' is not an example as it had only one prisoner strapped in; the rest of the occupants were paying passengers. Conversely the prison transport in the ''Series/{{Lexx}}'' miniseries would count because his divine shadow is just that thorough.
* The Jail: often a setting in and of itself this vessel is usually purpose built to hold prisoners permanently (often for unscrupulous deeds outside of jurisdiction) needs things like guard stations, plumbing, cafeteria, life-support, or stasis pods to function.

* ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' has a sequence set on the prison ship ''[[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace Purgatory]]'', a privately-run jail holding the type of prisoners planetary governments don't want in ''their'' prisons. The warden also makes some extra cash by threatening to release the inmates in the systems it passes through unless the locals cough up free supplies. [[SarcasmMode Real nice guys, the Blue Suns.]] Unfortunately for them, their leader makes the decision to try and capture Shepard[[labelnote:*]]You know, the same Commander Shepard who shot their way across the galaxy, shot a Reaper in the face, was spaced and killed before burning up in orbit, ''woke up angry'' and proceeded to shoot their way out of the lab they woke up in, and were in the process of shooting their way across the Terminus systems to the Collectors[[/labelnote]] and hold them for ransom...which results in Shepard shooting their way to the prison ship's resident TykeBomb...which results in said Tyke Bomb being release from cryo and going on a Biotics-and-rage-fueled rampage through the ship in a series of bad decisions and unfortunate events that ultimately ends with said prison ship being destroyed.

* An alternate Cave Johnson in the ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}'' Perpetual Testing Initiative is captain of one of these.

* ''Franchise/TheDCU'':
** ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': In Gotham, Blackgate Prison (located on an island in the harbour) has used a modified barge as overflow housing for less dangerous prisoners. Cluemaster once planned a [[GreatEscape mass breakout]] that involved cutting the barge loose and having it picked up by [[APirate400YearsTooLate modern-day pirate Cap'n Fear]].
** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': The Sangtee Empire has large vessels dedicated to the transport of prisoners, specifically non kreel and non-natives caught within the borders of their Empire who are then enslaved and shipped off to prison planets to mine. They're called slave ships by both the Empire and the rebels.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* ''Film/VonRyansExpress'' is set on a train being used to transport allied [=POWs=] from Italy to Germany. The prisoners escape and hijack the train.
* In ''Film/XMenTheLastStand'', the government imprisons Mystique in a special mobile prison built on a semi-trailer that is constantly moving; thereby making it harder for the Brotherhood to locate her and stage a rescue.
* The eponymous ''Film/{{Amistad}}'' is a slaver ship.

* In ''Film/ManOfSteel'', General Zod and co. are stored in a prison ship in another dimension.

* ''Film/Fortress2ReEntry'': The new prison is revealed to be a satellite orbiting the Earth.

* In Creator/JohnWCampbell's short story ''Literature/WhoGoesThere'', the characters speculated that the crashed alien vessel was a Prison Ship.
* The Literature/SherlockHolmes story ''The Adventure of the Gloria Scott'' concerns a prison ship to Australia.
* Over the first few books in the Literature/XWingSeries we hear talk of Lusankya, the Empire's secret prison and brainwashing facility, but only later is it revealed to be the ''Lusankya'', a Super Star Destroyer. Even after the pounding it takes in ''The Bacta War'' there's enough left to salvage, and the New Republic captures and makes use of it until the Literature/NewJediOrder, where it goes out in a proper blaze of glory for [[RammingAlwaysWorks Operation Emperor's Spear]].

* The Literature/MatthewHawkwood novel ''Rapscallion'' is set, in part, on the British prison hulks being used to hold [=POWs=] during the Napoleonic Wars.

* The ''Literature/DredChronicles'' are set on a prison ship called Perdition, in permanent orbit in an isolated system. It's where the Conglomerate dump people who they judge beyond any attempt at rehabilitation, and it's largely lawless — there are no cells and no human guards. There are deadly robotic sentries which keep prisoners from getting too close to anything deemed too sensitive, but they don't interfere in gang warfare or non-lethal degradation of conditions.
* ''Literature/DocSavage'': ''The Fortress of Solitude'' opens on a Soviet prison ship transporting prisoners to TheGulag. EvilGenius Jon Sunlight orchestrates a mutiny among the prisoners and they hijack the ship. This does not go so well, as none of the prisoners kmow how to operate a ship and they wind up running aground in the Arctic circle.

* The sci-fi horror RPG ''Abandon All Hope'' takes place completely inside the ''[[MeaningfulName Gehenna]]'', a gigantic ship that was made by a super-fascist Earth to put in everybody they deemed undesirable (criminals, political prisoners, people they deemed "useless" because of a useless skillset for the new world government [[KillThePoor and the like]]) and sent away... whereupon it flew inside of a NegativeSpaceWedgie that is best described as Hell by way of ''Film/EventHorizon''. The Player Characters are prisoners within the ''Gehenna'' trying to survive the subsequent demonic invasion.

* ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankGoingCommando'' has one the Flying Lab on Planet Aranos, which later gets used as a prison ship for the heroes.
* ''VideoGame/Rayman2TheGreatEscape'': There's also The Buccaneer, the robot pirates' mobile headquarters and prison ship.
* ''VideoGame/{{Unreal}}'' has you start out on a crashed prison transport named the "Vortex Rikers".
* In ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarOnline'', an incarnation of Dark Force Faiz was locked away in a giant Prison Ship in the center of Ragol.
* ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' has a sequence set on the prison ship ''[[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace Purgatory]]'', a privately-run jail holding the type of prisoners planetary governments don't want in ''their'' prisons. The warden also makes some extra cash by threatening to release the inmates in the systems it passes through unless the locals cough up free supplies. [[SarcasmMode Real nice guys, the Blue Suns.]] Unfortunately for them, their leader makes the decision to try and capture Shepard[[labelnote:*]]You know, the same Commander Shepard who shot their way across the galaxy, shot a Reaper in the face, was spaced and killed before burning up in orbit, ''woke up angry'' and proceeded to shoot their way out of the lab they woke up in, and were in the process of shooting their way across the Terminus systems to the Collectors[[/labelnote]] and hold them for ransom...which results in Shepard shooting their way to the prison ship's resident TykeBomb...which results in said Tyke Bomb being release from cryo and going on a Biotics-and-rage-fueled rampage through the ship in a series of bad decisions and unfortunate events that ultimately ends with said prison ship being destroyed.
* An alternate Cave Johnson in the ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}'' Perpetual Testing Initiative is captain of one of these.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Freelancer}}'', [[LawEnforcementInc Liberty Police, Inc.]] have prison ships in the Texas system above Planet Houston, the LPI ''Huntsville'' and the LPI ''Sugarland.'' These are type II prison ships: while called ships in the game, they hold prisoners rather than merely transporting them, act more like space stations in function, and resemble [[VideoGame/{{Portal}} Weighted Storage Cubes]] in appearance.

* Iron Heights, a prison that traditionally holds Franchise/TheFlash's enemies appears in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'', reimagined as an airship that crashes into the waters outside of Gotham and had captured Killer Croc [[spoiler:for the purpose of experimenting on him and other inmates.]]
* In ''VideoGame/FTLFasterThanLight'', you can come across a [[SpacePirate slaver ship]] whose crew will either gladly sell you one of their slaves or attack you if you don't hand them over one of ''your'' crewmembers. Put enought dents in their hull and they may decide to give you a slave for free instead. Smugglers hiding in SpaceClouds and the Rebel transport ships may also turn out to be a prisoner transport, as do several other ships if you kill their crew without destroying the hull.

* ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' episode "Black Dog Serenade". One such ship gets hijacked by prisoners.

** ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'': In Gotham, Blackgate Prison (located on an island in the harbour) has used a modified barge as overflow housing for less dangerous prisoners. Cluemaster once planned a [[GreatEscape mass breakout]] that involved cutting the barge loose and having it picked up by [[APirate400YearsTooLate modern-day pirate Cap'n Fear]].

* The heroes of ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' truly get to know one another aboard Kyln, a prison space station where they're sent after getting into trouble on Xandar.

* The ''WesternAnimation/XMen'' animated series featured a two-part episode with a "Spirit-drinker" that Lady Deathstrike accidentally released from an alien Prison Ship.
%%* ''WesternAnimation/SherlockHolmesInTheTwentySecondCentury''

* In [[Machinima/RedVsBlueTheChorusTrilogy the season 13 premiere]] of ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'', Locus and his partner [[spoiler:Felix]] hijack a UNSC prison ship to recruit followers.

* ''Franchise/DocSavage'': ''The Fortress of Solitude'' opens on a Soviet prison ship transporting prisoners to TheGulag. EvilGenius Jon Sunlight orchestrates a mutiny among the prisoners and they hijack the ship. This does not go so well, as none of the prisoners kmow how to operate a ship and they wind up running aground in the Arctic circle.

* ''Film/Fortress2''. In ''Film/Fortress1992'', TheAlcatraz was built inside a mine in the desert. In the sequel, it's revealed to be a satellite orbiting the Earth.

* During [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII WWII]], Allied [=POWs=]' were crammed into "Hell Ships," to be transported across Japan's new dominions to be held in [[HellHolePrison hellish prison camps,]] or as [[MadeASlave manual labor]]. Being unmarked, Allied naval forces would often attack and sink these "Hell Ships," thinking they were filled with supplies or combat troops.

* ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' has a sequence set on the prison ship ''[[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace Purgatory]]'', a privately-run jail holding the type of prisoners planetary governments don't want in ''their'' prisons. The warden also makes some extra cash by threatening to release the inmates in the systems it passes through unless the locals cough up free supplies. [[SarcasmMode Real nice guys, the Blue Suns.]] Unfortunately for them, their leader makes the [[WhatAnIdiot boneheaded]] decision to try and capture Shepard[[labelnote:*]]You know, the same Commander Shepard who shot their way across the galaxy, shot a Reaper in the face, was spaced and killed before burning up in orbit, ''woke up angry'' and proceeded to shoot their way out of the lab they woke up in, and were in the process of shooting their way across the Terminus systems to the Collectors[[/labelnote]] and hold them for ransom...which results in Shepard shooting their way to the prison ship's resident TykeBomb...which results in said Tyke Bomb being release from cryo and going on a Biotics-and-rage-fueled rampage through the ship in a series of bad decisions and unfortunate events that ultimately ends with said prison ship being destroyed.

* ''Fortress 2''. In ''Film/Fortress1992'', TheAlcatraz was built inside a mine in the desert. In the sequel, it's revealed to be a satellite orbiting the Earth.

* The Marvel UK version of ''Franchise/{{Zoids}}'' followed the story of the survivors of a human Prison Ship which crashed on what they think is an uninhabited planet but is in fact Zoidstar, former capital of the Zoidaryan Empire.
* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' had a "dungeon ship" which Luke found himself in in ''ComicBook/DarkEmpire'', specially designed to hold Jedi.
* Francois Bourgeon's series ''Les Passagers du vent'' contains both types at the time of the American War of Independence - a French slaver and a British prison hulk.
* In [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Gotham City]], Blackgate Prison (located on an island in the harbour) has used a modified barge as overflow housing for less dangerous prisoners. Cluemaster once planned a [[GreatEscape mass breakout]] that involved cutting the barge loose and having it picked up by [[APirate400YearsTooLate modern-day pirate Cap'n Fear]].
* In the ComicBook/RatchetAndClankComic Ratchet gets sent to one of these in Issue #2 "Friends with Benefits" after being captured by Artemis Zogg.
* ''ComicBook/StarWarsDoctorAphra'': During the "Catastrophe Con" arc, Aphra is imprisoned by the Imperials on [[PenalColony Accresker Prison]], which is a unique spin on this trope. It's actually the hulks of several ships magnetically strapped together and tugged around by a Star Destroyer, whose prisoners are press-ganged to act as expendable boarding parties whenever the Imperials raid a new ship.
* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': The Sangtee Empire has large vessels dedicated to the transport of prisoners, specifically non kreel and non-natives caught within the borders of their Empire who are then enslaved and shipped off to prison planets to mine. They're called slave ships by both the Empire and the rebels.

* One episode of ''Series/TheMandalorian'' has the main character take a job with other mercenaries to free an ally from a Republic prison transport.

* The SherlockHolmes story ''The Adventure of the Gloria Scott'' concerns a prison ship to Australia.

* ''Series/{{Arrow}}''. In the Season 2 flashbacks, a lot of the action takes place on the ''Amazo'', used to hold [[TestedOnHumans subjects]] for the MadScience experiments of Dr. Anthony Ivo. He uses a ship because he's simultaneously searching islands in the North China Sea for a lost World War 2 submarine carrying the only known pure sample of the SuperSerum he's researching. After being captured on the island of Lian Yu, Oliver Queen meets his future ally Anatoli Knyazev in one of the cells.

* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''. In "Repentence", Voyager is briefly converted into a prison ship when they rescue the crew and inmates of another prison ship conveying the inmates to their execution. This leads to the inevitable {{Anvilicious}} Debate Of The Week on the ethics of capital punishment and racial profiling and the equally inevitable Crisis of the Week when the {{Force Field Door}}s fail when the power goes out during a prison breakout.

* An episode of ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' had the ''Voyager'' itself briefly converted into a Prison Ship. Using {{Force Field Door}}s, [[IdiotBall of course]]...

* The original cast of ''Series/BlakesSeven'' (with one exception, introduced later) were all prisoners on a Prison Ship.

* ''VideoGame/{{Rayman 2}}'': There's also The Buccaneer, the robot pirates' mobile headquarters and prison ship.