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A stock line whenever a prison is involved, often with I Always Wanted to Say That thrown in for good measure. Either one of the main characters will ask this to somebody else, or one of the 'locals' will ask the main cast. If the question is posed to the main cast, we often won't hear the reply, since we already know what went before, and it's probably far too bizarre to explain, anyway.
A Dead Horse Trope more often Lampshaded and Subverted than played straight.
Someone's crime will likely have involved pulling the tag off of a mattress or pillow. Bonus points if he's treated as the worst or scariest of the lot.
In Real Life (at least in UK prisons) they often already know - they read the daily courtcase roundup in the local paper so already know who's been sentenced for what and how long. In countries where this is not the case (Russia, for example), they still either already know or will soon be able to verify your words, using the rumor telegraph and illegaly smuggling notes and letters from facility to facility.
Examples:
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Advertising
Comic Books
Film
- Ferris Bueller's Day Off:
Boy in Police Station: Drugs?
Jeannie: No thank you, I'm straight.
Boy: I mean, are you here for drugs?
Jeannie: Why are you here?
Boy: Drugs.
- The live-action Transformers movie had this on a helicopter:
Maggie: What'd they get you for?
Sam: Bought a car. Turned out to be an alien robot. Who knew?
- In Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Asneeze informs Robin that he was in for "Jaywalking". In 12th century Jerusalem. It's a Mel Brooks movie.
- Happens in The Last Castle when Irwin asks the doctor why he is in prison. The doctor says he was busted for marijuana possession. Irwin points out that marijuana possession will get you discharged from the military but not normally earn you a stint in a maximum security military prison. The doctor agrees and starts to explain, but they are interrupted and the audience never does get to hear the full story.
- In Killer Klowns from Outer Space, one of the Klowns allows himself to be locked up in the town jail. A nebbish human prisoner then invokes this trope.
- Played with in The Shawshank Redemption: Andy Dufresne maintains his innocence, making everyone else laugh: "everyone's innocent in here" and "[I'm in because] a lawyer fucked me" become Running Gags among Andy's friends, while Red wryly refers to himself as "The only guilty man in Shawshank." ( Andy's telling the truth, though)
- In the remake of Attack Of The Fifty Foot Woman, the main character's cheating husband found himself in a spaceship with two other guys and one of them asked, "What are you in for?"
- Played somewhat straight in Down By Law: the arguably tough looking Tom Waits and John Lurie are sent to prison on separate frame-up jobs. Their cellmate, the tiny, meek and bumbling Roberto Benigni reveals in the What Are You In For scene that he's in for a pool hall murder.
- American History X has a scene in which the main character is talking to a black prisoner why they are in prison. The scene is played straight, however.
- In Undisputed, there's a code among the prisoners to not to ask such questions casually, as it is seen disrespectful.
- In the first Police Academy Mahoney (detained for property damage) asks Jones what is he in for. Jones convincingly imitates the sound of machine gun creating panic in the police station. Mahoney decides to take him to the academy too.
Literature
- In Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore, the protagonist, Tommy, is in jail. He asks his cell mate what he's in for, and the man replies 'copyright infringement', which he admits isn't really the sort of offense they put you in jail for. Ripping a lawyer's arms out of their sockets, however, is.
- Winston muses that a question like this is essentially moot in 1984. There is only one crime the Party cares about, so the answer is always thoughtcrime.
- In Help I Am Being Held Prisoner by Donald Westlake, the protagonist played a silly prank that ended in a traffic accident. Because said accident resulted in the exposure of a politician's unsavory sexual habits, said politician pulls strings so the protagonist will get punished as hard as possible. Because of this his sentence and the description of his crime, while ambigously vague, make him sound like a hardened, inhuman murderer - so the toughest gang in prison recruit him to their schemes...
- In the second part of The Stranger, when Meursault is first put into prison, a few people ask him what he's in for. "Killing an Arab." Guess what kind of people are mostly in that prison.
Live Action TV
Music
- A variation appears in Arlo Guthrie's song/monologue "Alice's Restaurant":
And the meanest, ugliest, nastiest one, the meanest father raper of them all, was coming over to me and he was mean 'n' ugly 'n' nasty 'n' horrible and all kind of things and he sat down next to me and said, "Kid, whad'ya get?" I said, "I didn't get nothing, I had to pay $50 and pick up the garbage." He said, "What were you arrested for, kid?" And I said, "Littering." And they all moved away from me on the bench there...
- Then he adds "And 'Creating a Nuisance'," and all the criminals move back and become friends with him.
Newspaper Comics
- As alluded to in the explanatory section, Wade from U.S. Acres steps on a rake, sending him into a musical number, followed by a short trial sentencing him to 9999 years in prison. Once there, two inmates brag about their crimes. When Wade sheepishly admits his, the other two pull on the bars, terrified of sharing a cell with such a psychopath.
- Similar to this, in a comic strip, two criminals are bragging about their crimes, when their third cellmate says that he's in for beating up Santa, causing the other two to cower in a corner.
- In an older Dilbert story, Dilbert was sent to jail after killing one of the company executives with an ear of corn. Mere seconds after he shares this with his cellmate...
Dilbert: Hey, look! Corn for lunch. Can you believe that?
- In another strip, the Pointy-Haired Boss decides to rent to firm's unused cubicles to the state - as cells for prisoners. Cue the criminal asking Dilbert what he's in for.
- In yet another, Dogbert converts the house to an upscale prison. Dilbert bitterly explains this to the asking prisoner, who concludes that he's the wrong guy to talk to during happy hour.
- In one Bloom County strip, Opus ends up in jail, and learns that his new cellmate is in for "strangling Oakland." And no, it's not a colorful sports metaphor. It means he strangled each and every single person in Oakland.
Stand Up Comedy
Theater
- Madea Goes To Jail. Well the titular character's cellmate already knows why she's there.
- A Gulag Mouse. Prushka the Mouse reveals she's serving ten years for telling an "anecdot" - anti-government joke.
- In the second Bottom Live stage show:
Eddie: That's Geoffrey Nasty, the Psychopathic Penis-Remover.
Richie: Oh! What's he in for?
Eddie:(exasperated) Removing penises!
Video Games
- In Mask of the Betrayer, the Wychlaran of Mulsantir allows you to take one of the local prisoners to fight with you against the giant bear spirits waiting outside the gaits. Naturally, you get to ask what they're in for: Groznek killed some men who taunted him; Joeb's in for pickpocketing; and Gannayev is there because, well...
- In Skyrim you can be thrown in the Markath prison mine. An Ork in there answers the question with
Webcomics
- In this
 Dominic Deegan strip.
- Freefall has Florence (the sentient wolf) in the dog pound, asking this question to the pooch in the next cage.
- In Girl Genius, Phil Foglio is in prison for including the Prince as a character in his story. And when Agatha enters Castle Heterodyne, she is asked if she can cook, and says yes. Then, when asked what she's in for, she says she poisoned thirty-seven people because they complained about her cooking.
- In The Lydian Option, played straight with the prisoners revealing offenses ranging from the major (murder) to the minor (a bar fight), all with the same punishment.
- The title character of Rosa sardonically asks her dead skeleton cellmate, Ol' Gil, this question.
Western Animation
- The Simpsons:
Homer: What are you in for?
Harmonica-playing Con: Atmosphere.
- In the episode Spongebob Meets The Strangler;
Tattletale Strangler: (in prison) Well, at least I'm safe from that yellow idiot.
Patrick: (in the same cell as him) Hey, mac. (The Strangler faces him) What're you in for?
(Episode ends)
- In Garfield and Friends, Wade, after ripping the a tag off the bottom of a couch and learning that it's against the law, imagines himself in a prison cell with two dangerous-looking criminals:
First criminal: I've robbed 50 banks and 60 gas stations.
Second criminal: Well, I robbed 70 banks, see, and 90 gas stations. And I stole the Klopman Diamond. What are you in for?
Wade: Uh, I tore a tag off a pillow.
(the criminals run for the bars and scream for help)
- Animaniacs: Rita asks Runt this when they first meet in the city pound. Runt's answer is "peeing on the floor".
- An episode of Men In Black: The Series features an alien race that's downright obsessive about law and order, complete with an ultra-brutal gulag for housing the many, many lawbreakers they round up. How strict are they? When Jay finds himself in the prison, he asks a fellow inmate what he's in for, and, well, it turns out they take their mattress tags very seriously.
- In the made-for-tv Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends movie "Good Wilt Hunting", Wilt ends up in prison. His cellmates are explaining what they're in for, before they get to Wilt. Wilt just says "I broke a little boy's heart."
- One episode of Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated has the gang trying to get help from one of the people they've put away. Shaggy and Scooby, in their usual fashion, slink away to the cafeteria. One inmate asks them what they're in for, and Shaggy responds "The food!"
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