Characters from The Prison in the comic series The Walking Dead:
At the end of Volume 2, Rick and his group make their way to the Meriwether County Correctional Facility after leaving Hershel's Farm. The prison, excluding the potential danger of the zombies living inside, is deemed safe and liveable for the time being. Only then do they realise that there is already a group of inmates living inside the prison.
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Axel
Axel
- Debut: Issue 13
Axel was imprisoned for armed robbery. He is the friendliest prisoner towards the survivors and becomes a trusted friend and ally.
- Badass Biker: He has the look and attitude of a biker.
- Boom, Headshot!: He is shot in the middle of his forehead during the assault on the prison.
- Deadpan Snarker: He makes a ton of snarky comments towards the others.
- Failed a Spot Check: He apparently missed the fact that the group had a pitched gunfight with Bruce at the Walmart.
- Hidden Depths: He spends a lot of time pondering about what the zombies are thinking and if they are aware.
- I'll Be in My Bunk: After leaving the showers and seeing Lori and Carol. He quickly returns to his cell "before I lose this mental image".
- Nice Guy: Although a bit perverted he's easily the nicest of the prisoners and one of the friendliest characters in the series.
- Odd Friendship: With Hershel, who disliked Axel at first due to his fellow prisoners actions. However, Axel's help with setting up the farm on the prison led them to getting to know each other better and becoming friends.
- Open Mouth, Insert Foot: Had a tendency to say things that really annoyed Herschel early on.
- The Peeping Tom: He peeks in on Lori and Carol while they are taking a shower.
- Sex Signals Death: Ends up being the first person killed during the Governor's attack on the prison after being found having sex with Patricia shortly before.
- Stout Strength: He's stout but very strong.
- Tattooed Crook: He has tattoos on his shoulders, arms and back, which are hidden most of the time by his shirt.
- Token Good Teammate: Of the prison survivors. He's the only one who doesn't betray or murder anyone and sides with Rick's group when Dexter tries to kick them out of the prison.
- Verbal Tic: "You follow me?" Which according to one letter-writer, actually is a piece of prison slang.
Dexter
Dexter
- Debut: Issue 13
Dexter was imprisoned for murdering his wife and her boyfriend. He is initially friendly towards Rick's group, but tensions within the prison soon drive a wedge between them.
- Ambiguously Gay: When we first meet him, he's in a relationship with Andrew, although he had a wife that he's in prison for killing. Andrew believes they're in love, but Axel believes he's just using him and will ditch him for one of the women in Rick's group. To his credit, he never betrayed Andrew during their coup. Whether their relationship was real or not never gets a chance to be explored, however.
- Boom, Headshot!: Rick shoots him in the head while he is distracted by walkers.
- Driven to Villainy: Was fairly friendly to Rick's group (the very first closeup of him is with a big friendly smile) before they locked him up after falsely accusing him of murdering Hershel's twins. This leads to the Get Out! moment below.
- Faux Affably Evil: The group sees him as this, as they are disturbed by the jovial behavior he exhibits despite being a self-proclaimed two-time murderer. The truth is that he's Affably Evil, but only as long as people play nice with him.
- Get Out!: The moment telling of his Face–Heel Turn. After being Driven to Villainy, he confronts the group with Andrew and Patricia and tells them to leave the prison immediately.Dexter: Get the fuck out of my house.
- Jerkass: Not so much at first, but after being accused of murder and treated badly by Rick's group even after being absolved, he turned against them really fast.
- Noble Demon: He is an unrepentant murderer who killed his wife and her boyfriend, but is completely honest to Rick and his group about this fact and happily welcomes the group to the prison... at least at first.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: His unfailing honesty to Rick's group ultimately leads to his downfall.
- Scary Black Man: Especially after turning against the group.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: He is a prison convict after all.
- Situational Sexuality: He's in a relationship with Andrew, but Axel insists that this is only because there are no women in the prison. He is certain that Dexter would leave Axel the minute he finds a girlfriend.
- Tattooed Crook: He has a small tattoo on the left side of his shaved head.
- Unfriendly Fire: From Rick. "He must've caught a stray bullet."
- Ungrateful Bastard: "Smart man woulda let it get me." Unfortunately for Dexter, Rick takes this to heart...
- Would Hurt a Child: He threatens Carl and Lori when Rick tries to convince him to listen to reason. If not for the hordes of that show up immediately after he might have actually gone through with it.
Thomas (Spoilers)
Thomas Richards
- Debut: Issue 13
Thomas claims that he was imprisoned for tax evasion, but it soon comes to light that he is actually a psychotic misogynistic killer who begins preying on the female members of Rick's group.
- Arc Villain: The main antagonist of Volume 3.
- Asshole Victim: When the group finds out that he was the one who killed Hershel's twin daughters, Rick beats him to a bloody pulp after he cuts Andrea's cheek. The following night, Maggie goes to his cell with a gun and shoots him six times, thus avenging her sisters' deaths.
- Ax-Crazy: A deranged Serial Killer who has Off with His Head! as his modus operandi.
- Bald of Evil: Is balding and also one of the most evil and unapologetic characters in the series.
- Beware the Quiet Ones: Isn't very talkative before his true colors are revealed. Turns out to be a serial killer who enjoys beheading women and even young girls.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Seemingly a nerdy and softspoken man, he is actually a deranged serial killer who beheads women and children.
- Boom, Headshot!: Maggie finishes him off in this way after unloading her entire clip of ammo into him.
- Butt-Monkey: Things go poorly for him from his attack on Andrea on. Being beaten, thrown in the prison's makeshift toilet which lacks ventilation, being scratched and kicked by Patricia and then brutally gunned down by Maggie.
- The Cameo: The police officer who escorts Lee Everett in A New Day mentions driving Thomas to the same prison a while back.
- Dirty Coward: He only targets women (his wife, Andrea) and children (the twins) likely knowing full-well that he'd be no match for a man like Rick or Tyreese. And according to a cop in the video game, he also faked ignorance and cried for his mommy during the whole ride over to prison.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Especially emphasized the scene where he reveals his true nature. His glasses shines in the light as he looms threateningly over Andrea.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Dexter never trusted him in the time they lived together, and neither he or the remaining two inmates care when Maggie shoots him dead.
- Hate Sink: Though a minor antagonist in the grand scheme of things, Thomas acted as a dark harbinger of what was to come by showing how much worse humans could be than zombies. He killed his own wife and two little girls, cut Andrea's cheek open, and tried to strangle Patricia after she set him free. Admit it, you cheered for Maggie when she avenged her sisters' deaths by unloading an entire pistol clip into his body.
- Implausible Deniability: In the intro of the game, the old officer remembers Thomas as one of the people he drove to the prison. He especially remember Thomas as "one of the worst" people he ever transported, as, in spite of being apprehended by the police as he was in the middle of cutting his wife's body to pieces, he spend the whole trip to the prison crying and snotting, insisting over and over again that he didn't do it.
- Karmic Death: He gets shot to death by Maggie, the sister of the girls he murdered.
- Knight of Cerebus: While the series was in no way light hearted to begin with, Thomas was the first example of how other humans could be even more of a threat than the zombies, setting into place the theme of the series that Humans Are the Real Monsters.
- Mask of Sanity: Comes across as a soft-spoken, polite man in prison for a minor crime until he tries to kill Andrea, whereupon the mask slips as he chases her through the yard with a knife while screaming a misogynistic Cluster F-Bomb at her.
- Multiple Gunshot Death: Courtesy of Maggie in retaliation for him murdering her younger sisters.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Rick beats the absolute living shit out of him upon seeing him attack Andrea and realizing that he killed Rachel and Susie. By the time he's eventually stopped Thomas's face is a bloody pulp, and it's made clear that Rick would have beaten him to death if he wasn't interrupted.
- Off with His Head!: His apparent modus operandi as a serial killer, though it doesn't happen to himself. He does this to Rachel and Susie, and attempts to do so to Andrea.
- Psychopathic Manchild: Most definitely psychopathic, and in his Villainous Breakdown on the way to prison, starts kicking the seats and crying for his mommy.
- Scary Shiny Glasses: They shine almost all of the time.
- Serial Killer: He killed his wife (and possibly others) before the start of the series, and murders Rachel and Susie before attempting to murder Andrea in the prison.
- Stupid Evil: He makes no attempt to control his bloodlust and chases Andrea out into the open, in broad daylight, surrounded by the rest of the group. Rick promptly smashes his face in before sending him back into a cell. He falls victim to this again when Patricia lets him out, as instead of capitalising on her pity to make her help him escape the prison he immediately tries to kill her.
- The Sociopath: Shows no remorse whatsoever for his actions and only shows emotion when it comes to getting retribution against those who do him ill, even going so far as to attempt to continue them when he's briefly set free by Patricia.
- There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Maggie literally empties her entire gun into him. To add insult to injury, his corpse is thrown to the walkers and ripped to pieces.
- Ungrateful Bastard: The first thing he does upon being freed from his cell after the group decides to hang him is attempt to strangle his savior with his bare hands. His very last words to her before getting riddled with bullets by Maggie is to call her a whore.
- Villainous Breakdown: The conversation Lee has with the police officer in the game heavily implies he suffered one of these on the way to prison. He even went so far as kicking the seats, crying and calling out to his momma that he was innocent despite the fact that he was caught red-handed butchering his wife when the police found him.
- Walking Spoiler: His folder doesn't come with a spoiler warning for nothing.
- What Are You in For?: When asked this, he says he's in for tax fraud. This is to hide the fact that he's really a Serial Killer.
- Would Hit a Girl: He was sent to prison for stabbing and dismembering his wife. He also tries to kill Andrea and Patricia in the prison.
- Would Hurt a Child: He murders Hershel's twin daughters.
Andrew
Andrew
- Debut: Issue 13
"My life was a wreck—all because a' my addiction. I couldn't function, y'know... I was here—again... I didn't know what else to do."
Andrew was a drug user and dealer who had been imprisoned multiple times. He was in a relationship with Dexter.
- And Then John Was a Zombie: Not actually shown in the comic itself, but he eventually dies and becomes a walker.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: A hopeless drug addict, he wished and prayed for anything that would force him to give up the habit. He got it.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: If he hadn't left the door open when he raided the armory him and Dexter likely would have succeeded in forcing Rick's group out of the prison. Instead, the horde of zombies that that are freed end up giving Rick a cover to kill Dexter covertly without anyone noticing.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: He flees the prison crying after Dexter is shot by Rick.
- Undying Loyalty: To Dexter, although Axel tries to make him understand that Dexter really doesn't give a crap about him and will abandon him the moment he finds a willing woman.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: He is never seen after leaving the prison. A bust of his zombiefied form was later released, and
Robert Kirkman said he died. He later appeared as a zombie in The Fall of the Governor, in which he was killed by Lily.
