History Main / TheAlcatraz

** To highlight just how bad this prison is, one need only look at the two successful attempts to escape it. The only self-escapee had to ''cut off his feet'' and use his rare power of flight to escape. Luffy's break-''in'' and escape with 241 other prisoners was only possible because of the assistance and chaos of the entire populations of Levels 5, 5.5, and 6, Buggy, Mr. 3, and the timely intervention of the Blackbeard Pirates, one of the strongest crews in the world.

** ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' has the Kyln, which is difficult to escape from by virtue of the fact that it's a space station, requiring a carefully laid plan to get a ship in order to escape. Of course Rocket, being something of an escape artist, comes up with a plan to bust out pretty quickly.
** ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'' introduces the Raft, an underwater prison apparently built for the sole purpose of containing the Avengers if they go rogue (or, really, any superpowered individuals, but we only ever see it used for that purpose). [[spoiler:Following the airport fight, it's used to contain Hawkeye, Ant-Man, Falcon, and Scarlet Witch, although Steve and Bucky break them out after defeating Iron Man at the Hydra Facility in Siberia.]] It's essentially the MCU's version of Prison 42 from the original ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' storyline, which was an extra-''dimensional'' prison used by Iron Man and his allies to hold non-registered superheroes before their trial.

* Inverted with Stalag 13 from ''Series/HogansHeroes''. It's the only German POW camp with a perfect record, but specifically because the prisoners keep it that way. If anyone escaped their kommandant would be replaced with someone who was actually competent and they wouldn't be able to run their underground organization from inside it.

* The ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' has Revel's End, the prison where the [[TheAlliance Lord's Alliance]] keeps any prisoners that would be inconvenient to keep in their own prisons. Strangely, despire the High Magic nature of the Forgotten Realms setting, it's one of the most normal prisons on this list. The warden is a mage with the ghost of an old companion in her head, and it is located at the nothernmost end of the Sword Coast, but other than that, it's simply a normal prison where they keep prisoners for a few years until they have served their sentence, then they are shipped back to civilization.

What? Who says we're TemptingFate? What - oh, ''all right'', there was ''one'' guy years ago, but he became a LivingLegend for escaping, and we've ''tripled'' the security since. ''You'' ain't half the man he was, and on top of that, no one ever saw that guy again. All he ''[[PhyrricVictory escaped]]'' into was Hell! ''(EvilLaugh)''

What? Who says we're TemptingFate? What, huh? Well, I was wrong, kinda, there was one guy who actually escaped here many years ago, but he became a LivingLegend for being the only person tough enough to do it, and we reinforced the security even more, you are much weaker and have no chance of repeating his feat, plus, not really "Living" because no one ever saw that guy again, we believe he just escaped the island, but never managed to reach the shore and died, so that's not really escaping, can you prove he is still alive somewhere?

* In the ''WesternAnimation/DungeonsAndDragons'' cartoon, [[BigBad Venger's]] "[[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace Prison of Agony"]] is an enormous prison suspended over a lava lake in a volcano by four enormous chains. One of the biggest reasons it was escape-proof was because the winch to operate the drawbridge that was the only way in or out was so heavy, only the giant who guarded it could turn it. The giant actually [[MinionWithAnFInEvil wasn't a bad guy]]; Venger was blackmailing him by threatening to destroy his homeworld. (Apparently, he was [[TrappedInAnotherWorld in the same situation as the heroes]].) Naturally, when Venger sent the heroes to this awful place, the giant proved a valuable ally when they launched a mass-jailbreak and destroyed the whole facility.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%B4n_%C4%90%E1%BA%A3o_Prison Côn Đảo prison]], which was nicknamed the Indochina’s version of Devil’s Island where the French colonial government (and later US-backed South Vietnam) jailed those considered especially dangerous, and subjected them to hard labor, torture, and inhumane living conditions. Hundreds of escape attempts were staged continuously although escape was very hard due to the island being surrounded by sharks and being protected rocky cliffs and very powerful tides. It was closed after the end of UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar and is open as a tourist attraction today.

* The prison cells in the Eyrie in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' are actually ridiculously easy to leave: this is because they are lacking an outside wall, meaning that prisoners can just step outside. Since the Eyrie is several miles up, however, doing this would result in a gruesome death. To make matters worse, the wind howls day and night and the floor is in a slight downwards incline, meaning that prisoners often can't sleep due to the noise and the fear that they will roll off the edge. Unsurprisingly, most of them go mad and end up jumping off.
-->''Gods save me, the blue is calling.''

** An episode from ''Anime/LupinIIIRedJacket'' featured an unusual prison that would send killer "Iron Lizards" (basically bombs with wheels) after anyone who tried to escape. The "Lizards" are [[TheDeterminator practically unstoppable]], so even the fastest runner will tire eventually and be blown up by them.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%B4n_%C4%90%E1%BA%A3o_Prison Côn Đảo prison]], which was nicknamed the Indochina’s version of Devil’s Island where the French colonial government (and later US-backed South Vietnam) jailed those considered especially dangerous, and subjected them to hard labor, torture, and inhumane living conditions. Hundreds of escape attempts were staged continuously although escape was very hard due to the island being surrounded by sharks, very powerful waves and rocky cliffs. It was closed after the end of UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar and is open as a tourist attraction today.

* Tarrafal (aka Chão Bom in the Sixties and Seventies) in UsefulNotes/CapeVerde was a combination of this and PenalColony for [[UsefulNotes/AntonioDeOliveiraSalazar New State]] opponents and colonial independence fighters. Located 350 miles of the West African coast, escape was virtually impossible. It was also infamous for the overall bad conditions of the place, as well as the ''frigideira'' ("frying pan"), an isolation unit made entirely of zink in which - due to being completely closed as well as the climate being tropical - many prisoners died of insolation.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%B4n_%C4%90%E1%BA%A3o_Prison Côn Đảo prison]], which was nicknamed the Indochina’s version of Devil’s Island where the French colonial government (and later US-backed South Vietnam) jailed those considered especially dangerous, and subjected them to hard labor, torture, and inhumane living conditions. Hundreds of escape attempts were staged continuously although escape was very hard due to the island being surrounded sharks, very powerful waves and rocky cliffs. It was closed after the end of UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar and is open as a tourist attraction today.

* Tarrafal (aka Chão Bom in the Sixties and Seventies) in UsefulNotes/CapeVerde was a combination of this and PenalColony for [[UsefulNotes/AntonioDeOliveiraSalazar New State]] opponents and colonial independence fighters. Located 350 miles of the West African coast in the Atlantic, escape was virtually impossible. It was also infamous for the overall bad conditions of the place, as well as the ''frigideira'' ("frying pan"), an isolation unit made entirely of zink in which - due to being completely closed as well as the climate being tropical - many prisoners died of insolation.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%B4n_%C4%90%E1%BA%A3o_Prison Côn Đảo prison]], where the French colonial government (and later US-backed South Vietnam) jailed those considered especially dangerous, and subjected them to hard labor, torture, and inhumane living conditions. Hundreds of escape attempts were staged continuously. It was closed after the end of UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar and is open as a tourist attraction today.

* Tarrafal (aka Chão Bom in the Sixties and Seventies) in UsefulNotes/CapeVerde was a combination of this and PenalColony for [[UsefulNotes/AntonioDeOliveiraSalazar New State]] opponents and colonial independence fighters. It was infamous for the overall bad conditions of the place, as well as the ''frigideira'' ("frying pan"), an isolation unit made entirely of zink in which - due to being completely closed as well as the climate being tropical - many prisoners died of insolation.

* Australia was a penal (prison) colony for Britain for the greater part of the 19th century, and well beyond swimming distance to someplace better, and certainty prohibitively far from England, which was the point. In turn, Tasmania was the penal colony for Australia--that is, if after being transported to Australia from Britain and committed another serious offence, you'd go to Tasmania. The same, generally speaking, was true of Queensland; Brisbane is sufficiently far from the rest of Australian civilization to tell you why. And for those the British government was ''really'' angry at, there was Norfolk Island: After a failed rebellion there, some of the rebels were sentenced to hang, but had to have the sentences confirmed in Sydney. When some of the condemned found out that they would be spared, they wept and cursed their fate, while those who were to die rejoiced that at least they would not be on Norfolk Island any longer.

* Nova Prospekt in ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' Before the Seven Hour War, Eastern European prison. Once The Combine took over it became a much worse place.

** Level 5, the "[[EvilIsDeathlyCold Hell of Freezing Cold]]", is the [[JustForPun polar]] opposite of previous level, with below freezing temperatures and wolves that are so vicious, they actually preyed upon Level 2's beasts when they were initially introduced there, forcing their relocation. The prisoners kept here have given up on escape and rebellion completely, as they all stay locked in their freezing cells waiting to die.

** Level 1 is mostly a normal floor, though the highlight of Level 1 is the "Crimson Hell," a forest within the prison made up entirely of bladed "saber trees" and "needle grass." Prisoners are forced into it, being cut up at every turn and every step, giving the forest its trademark red color, all the while being chased by poisonous insects and AxeCrazy prison guards. To add to the sadism the only way out is a pit located within the Crimson Hell, which leads to ''Level 2''. This was where Buggy was kept until the mass-escape, and it wasn't so bad for him, because he simply couldn't be hurt by the hazards here due to his Devil's Fruit power; for some reason, the guards never noticed that.

** The one truly escapee from La Gorgona Daniel Camargo Barbosa, a psychotic serial murderer and rapist managed to escape on September 24, 1984. During his time as a fugitive in Ecuador, he raped and murdered between 72 and 180 young girls [[WouldHurtAChild with his last victim being a 9 year old girl.]] He was eventually captured by the Ecuadorian government and sentenced to 16 years in prison, [[LaserGuidedKarma where he was murdered in 1994 by a nephew of one his victims.]]

** The one truly escapee from La Gorgona Daniel Camargo Barbosa, a psychotic serial murderer and rapist managed to escape on September 24, 1984. During his time as a fugitive in Ecuador, he raped and murdered between 72 and 180 women [[WouldHurtAChild with his last victim being a 9 year old girl.]] He was eventually captured by the Ecuadorian government and sentenced to 16 years in prison, [[LaserGuidedKarma where he was murdered in 1994 by a nephew of one his victims.]]

** The one truly escapee from La Gorgona Daniel Camargo Barbosa, a psychotic serial murderer and rapist managed to escape on September 24, 1984. During his time as a fugitive in Ecuador, he raped and murdered between 72 and 180 women [[WouldHurtAChild with his last victim being a 9 year old girl.]] He [[LaserGuidedKarma
was eventually captured by the Ecuadorian government and sentenced to 16 years in prison where he was murdered in 1994 by a nephew of one his victims.]]
* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%B4n_%C4%90%E1%BA%A3o_Prison Côn Đảo prison]], where the French colonial government (and later US-backed South Vietnam) jailed those considered especially dangerous, and subjected them to hard labor, torture, and inhumane living conditions. Hundreds of escape attempts were staged continuously. It was closed after the end of UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar and is open as a tourist attraction today.

** The one truly escapee from La Gorgona Daniel Camargo Barbosa, a psychotic serial murderer and rapist managed to escape on September 24, 1984. During his time as a fugitive in Ecuador, he raped and murdered between 72 and 180 women [[WouldHurtAChild with his last victim being a 9 year old girl.]] [[He LaserGuidedKarma

** The one truly escapee from La Gorgona Daniel Camargo Barbosa, a psychotic serial murderer and rapist managed to escape on September 24, 1984. During his time as a fugitive in Ecuador, he raped and murdered between 72 and 180 women [[WouldHurtAChild with his last victim being a 9 year old girl.]] [[LaserGuidedKarma
He was eventually captured by the Ecuadorian government and sentenced to 16 years in prison where he was murdered in 1994 by a nephew of one his victims.]]

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%B4n_%C4%90%E1%BA%A3o_Prison Côn Đảo prison]], where the French colonial government (and later US-backed South Vietnam) jailed those considered especially dangerous, and subjected them to hard labor, torture, and inhumane living conditions. Hundreds of escape attempts were staged continuously. It was closed after the end of UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar and is open as a tourist attraction today.