History Main / WardensAreEvil

* ''Film/RikiOhTheStoryOfRicky'' has a Warden as the BigBad.

* Maiev Shadowsong from ''WarcraftIII'' is a downplayed version- when you control her, she's chasing after Illidan, who was her prisoner for ten millenia, but there's no evidence that she mistreated him (and given that in the previous game, you freed him by killing her troops, her anger is understandable). She turns into a KnightTemplar over the course of the campaign, willing to sacrifice her own allies in order to motivate the others to hunt him down.

* Film/RikiOhTheStoryOfRicky has a Warden as the BigBad.

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* Subverted in ''AceAttorneyInvestigations'': procecutor's path. The warden is quite nice and is the hugging type. [[spoiler: It is such a pity that her paranoia about Dogen is driving her mad. Mad enough to kill.]]
** [[spoiler: DoubleSubverted perhaps?]]

* In NBC's ''{{Hannibal}}'', Dr. Frederick Chilton oversees the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, and has shown himself to be an evil, conniving man. In season 1, Chilton brainwashes Abel Gideon into believing he's the Chesapeake Ripper. In season 2, he secretly records nearly all of his inmate's conversations, and [[spoiler:secretly shares Will's conversations with Hannibal without Will's consent. He hires Matthew Brown as an orderly despite Brown's history of mental illness.]]

* In NBC's ''{{Hannibal}}'', Dr. Frederick Chilton oversees the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, and has shown himself to be an evil, conniving man. In season 1, Chilton brainwashes Abel Gideon into believing he's the Chesapeake Ripper. In season 2, he secretly records nearly all of his inmate's conversations, and [[spoiler:secretly shares Will's conversations with Hannibal without Will's consent. He hires Matthew Brown as an orderly despite Brown's history of mental illness. Finally, he arranges for two orderlies to brutalize Gideon, and then arranges for Hannibal to mutilate and kidnap Gideon from the hospital.]]

* Edwin James, the warden of ''Series/{{Alcatraz}}''. He has been shown to resort to psychological torture in order to learn crucial information about prisoners, such as manipulating Ernest Cobb's attempts to be placed in solitary confinement or threatening to leave Kit Nelson in a small dark room until Nelson admits the truth about his first crime. His deputy Tiller is corrupt and more open in his cruelty towards the inmates.

* Subverted in ''Series/PrisonBreak'', where the warden Henry Pope is more of a reasonable authority figure. A straighter example would be the captain of the guards, Brad Bellick.

* Subverted in ''SeriesPrisonBreak'', where the warden Henry Pope is more of a reasonable authority figure. A straighter example would be the captain of the guards, Brad Bellick.

* Subverted in Prison Break, where the warden Henry Pope is more of a reasonable authority figure. A straighter example would be the captain of the guards, Brad Bellick.

* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' the prison ship ''Purgatory'' is run by Warden Kuril, a corrupt mercenary who extorts planetary governments to keep convicts off their worlds, sells convicts to people who want to mete out "personal justice" and, inevitably, [[TooDumbToLive tries to double-cross Shepherd]].

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''
** The warden in the episode "The Boiling Rock" would rather die (and have prisoners killed as well) than tarnish his prison's record of zero escapes. [[KickTheSonOfABitch Also, he tortures a prisoner into revealing escape plans]].

* In ''Film/EscapeFromAlcatraz'', the contrast between the unnamed Warden and the rest of his staff is quite obvious. The guards and the Deputy Warden are just people doing their job and don't resort to plain brutality at any point. The Warden on the other hand is a cold, vain bully. He drives an old prisoner to madness by taking his painting privileges away just because he didn't like a painting the man made of him. His mission to ensure that Frank Morris will remain in prison is also portrayed as more of a personal obsession than just fulfilling his duties as head of the prison.

* Edwin James, the warden of ''Series/{{Alcatraz}}''. He has been shown to resort to psychological torture in order to learn crucial information about prisoners, such as manipulating Ernest Cobb's attempts to be placed in solitary confinement or threatening to leave Kit Nelson in a small dark room until Nelson admits the truth about his first crime.

* Edwin James, the warden of ''Series/{{Alcatraz}}. He has been shown to resort to psychological torture in order to learn crucial information about prisoners, such as manipulating Ernest Cobb's attempts to be placed in solitary confinement or threatening to leave Kit Nelson in a small dark room until Nelson admits the truth about his first crime.

* Subverted in AceAttorneyInvestigations: procecutor's path. The warden is quite nice and is the hugging type. [[spoiler: It is such a pity that her paranoia about Dogen is driving her mad. Mad enough to kill.]]

* ''Batman and the Outsiders'' #4: Warden Brewster of Gotham State Prison deliberately denies a prisoner (codenamed "Meltdown") needed medical treatments and then lies that the Prison Board was responsible. He does this to trick the dangerously radioactive felon into escaping so he can be killed to save the public. Turns out the warden has decided rehabilitation doesn't work, so he's been finding ways to "legally" off prisoners.

* An interesting case in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}''. The Ankh-Morpork City Watch is generally portrayed as heroic, but the city prison, the Tanty, is apparently answerable to the Patrician rather than the Commander of the Watch. When the protagonist of ''Discworld/MakingMoney'' is springing a prisoner, he is pleased to find Bellyster, an evil cuss who doesn't even have the grace to turn his back when gobbing in a prisoner's food, on duty, because of the problems he's about to make for the man.

* ''Literature/{{Holes}}'': The warden at Camp Green Lake crosses the [[MoralEventHorizon Moral Event Horizon]] when [[spoiler:she]] [[spoiler:slashes Mr. Sir across the face with her rattlesnake-venom-polished nails.]] Later, it is revealed that [[spoiler:she established Camp Green Lake for the sole purpose of using inmate labor to find the relics of outlaw "Kissin' Kate" Barlow.]]

* ''Literature/{{Holes}}'': The warden at Camp Green Lake crosses the [[MoralEventHorizon Moral Event Horizon]] when [[spoiler:she slashes Mr. Sir across the face with her rattlesnake-venom-polished nails.]] Later, it is revealed that [[spoiler:she established Camp Green Lake for the sole purpose of using inmate labor to find the relics of outlaw "Kissin' Kate" Barlow.]]