[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/death_warrant_poster_8945.jpg]]

''Death Warrant'' is a 1990 action movie starring Creator/JeanClaudeVanDamme.

In the Harrison State Prison in California, prisoners are mysteriously dying in increasing numbers. Detective Burke (Van Damme) is called in on a state task force to investigate the deaths, going undercover as a new inmate pretending to be an old friend of one of the recently deceased. He soon discovers that a massive organ harvesting operation is taking place under the warden's eye and after repeated attempts to kill Burke and cover it up fail, Burke's old nemesis, a SerialKiller known as "the Sandman" (Creator/PatrickKilpatrick), is also transferred to the prison to take out Burke.

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!!This film provides examples of:

* AmoralAttorney: [[spoiler:The organ harvesting operation in the prison was masterminded by California's Attorney General Tom Vogler.]]
* AssholeVictim: The mastermind behind the organ harvesting operation notes that the prisoners are targeted specifically on the basis that "no one will miss them".
* AxCrazy:
** The Sandman is a psychotic serial killer who murdered people for fun. Near the climax, he releases all the prisoners from their cells to watch them cause mayhem.
** The two cons who worked together with the warden to kill prisoners and silence anyone who might expose it seem to be in it more out of sadism than any profit.
* BondVillainStupidity: Almost immediately after the Sandman arrives in the prison, he has his admirers gang up on Burke in a surprise attack to string him up and kill him. Then the Sandman suddenly decides to let Burke go so he "won't know when it's coming", despite having just achieved exactly that.
* CopKiller: The Sandman has a fondness for killing cops. This drives Burke to hunt him down in the opening for killing his partner, and the other convicts to [[VillainCred admire him]].
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: [[spoiler:The guy behind it all, Tom Vogler, killed people for their organs to save his dying wife.]]
* EvilIsNotAToy: The prison officials, on the orders of their mastermind, bring the AxCrazy killer the Sandman to their prison to kill Burke. The Sandman uses the opportunity to release all the prisoners and start a riot for his own amusement.
* FanDisservice: Burke is shown naked, but the context makes it unappealing, as he's been confined to solitary under suspicion of having killed his cellmate. Amanda is also shown getting undressed at one point, but it’s for a forced strip search by prison guards and is presented as the unpleasant encounter that it is.
* HiddenVillain: It's clear that the Warden and his buddies are evil, but they're backed by a mysterious agent. [[spoiler:It turns out to be one of the men who assigned Burke on the task force to begin with, Amanda's boss Tom Vogler.]]
* InfernalRetaliation: [[spoiler:In the climax, Burke kicks the Sandman into a furnace. The fight initially seems to be over, but the Sandman then jumps out in flames, still trying to kill him.]]
* ImplacableMan: The Sandman seems to be superhumanly durable. He is shot once but keeps trying to kill Burke. Multiple gunshot wounds are just a temporary inconvenience. He even survives being set on fire.
* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler:The corrupt doctor who harvested the prisoners' organs is captured by the prisoners and implied to be killed by vivisection.]]
* MuggingTheMonster: In the opening, a couple of gangbangers try to rob the hero cop Louis Burke; he hasn't got time for them, being in the neighborhood solely to avenge his dead partner by catching his killer, so he quickly dispatches them and gets on with his mission.
* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: Van Damme's Belgian accent is passed off as Quebecois. This would not be the [[Film/SuddenDeath only film]] where filmmakers attempted this.
* OrganTheft: Corrupt prison officials have prisoners killed to sell their organs for profit.
* PervyPatdown: Amanda is subjected to this at one point by two male prison guards. When she demands a female guard do it she’s denied, [[FromBadToWorse and then she’s subjected to a strip search]].
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: The Warden and the rest of his guards are blatantly racist: at one point he hunts down one of Burke's allies to kill him, claiming that he "can smell niggers".
* PrisonRape: When Burke first enters his own cell, his bunkmate threatens to rape him. The muscular Burke, unimpressed, quickly shows him who's boss by beating him up. [[EasilyForgiven They become buddies afterwards]].
* PrisonRiot: The Sandman releases all the prisoners to watch them sow mayhem and clash with the authorities.
* SerialKiller: The Sandman killed several people before he was tracked down and shot by Burke, including Burke's partner; in prison, he happily goes on another rampage.
* SexForSolace: [[spoiler: Burke and Amanda engage in this after Burke is beaten and tortured by the prison guards, and Amanda is subjected to an unnecessary strip search by these same guards.]]
* UnexplainedRecovery: Burke shot the Sandman multiple times in the chest from close range in the past, and he seemed to be dead. Somehow, the Sandman not only survived but Burke had never heard he'd done this until they met again two years (very unlikely, and if he did Burke's likely to have been at least the star witness in his trial, so he'd know). Not only did he survive, but apparently he's in perfect health given his very athletic battles with Burke in prison, while such injuries would probably disable a person permanently even if they'd survived. However, it also seems he's MadeOfIron, as [[spoiler:seen later when he didn't go down after getting caught on fire and had to get his head impaled on a spike to kill him]].
* VillainCred: The Sandman is a renowned figure in the prison due to his love for killing cops; when he's first brought to the prison, the other cons give him a huge ovation. He has no problem finding allies among them who are willing to follow his orders.
* VillainousBreakdown: The man behind the plot to harvest prisoner organs, moments after intending to [[HeKnowsTooMuch dispose of the person who discovered his role in this]], is turned into a whimpering mess when he is interrupted by [[spoiler:his wife]], whom he now has to tell just how he bought her a few more years of life.
* WardensAreEvil: The Warden agrees with corrupt state officials to kill his prisoners to harvest their organs. Unlike the mastermind behind this scheme, his own motive is just profit. He's also a [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain violent racist]] and a [[{{Jerkass}} sadistic bully]].
* WellIntentionedExtremist: The mastermind behind the plot, [[spoiler:State Attorney Tom Vogler]], killed violent prisoners (whom he claims no one will miss anyway) because of the desperate shortage of organ transplants on the market. He also did it to [[spoiler:save his beloved wife.]]
* WelcomeToHell: During the climactic fight scene in the industrial sections of the prison, the psycho killer the Sandman is trouncing Burke in front of the spectating prisoners. He then opens one of the furnaces, and proudly declares "Welcome to HELL!"
* WouldHurtAChild: The Sandman is implied to have been a child murderer, with Burke finding a baby doll in his lair covered in blood.

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