Basic Trope: A nigh-inescapable prison.
- Straight: Blackstone Prison is situated on an island ten miles from land surrounded by riptides and sharks.
- Exaggerated:
- Blackstone is on top of a mountain, in the middle of a jungle, on an island, in the middle of a lake, on another island ten miles from land surrounded by riptides and sharks.
- Blackstone Prison is so inaccessible that guards must stay there full time in at least five year increments.
- Downplayed: Blackstone is on the mainland, but still in the middle of nowhere.
- Justified:
- Blackstone is meant to house the worst prisoners imaginable in a place they have little chance of escaping from.
- In an attempt to house the world's most dangerous criminals, Blackstone is built to be as secure as possible.
- Inverted:
- Whitecloud Rehabilitation Center is a minimum-security facility located in a middle class suburb. You're technically not allowed to leave, but it's pretty easy to get out if you want to.
- Cardboard Prison
- Subverted:
- Blackstone is remote, but old, in need of repairs, and staffed by incompetents. The gaps in its security allow prisoners more than enough opportunities to escape, and they do.
- Blackstone is remote...but they tend to release prisoners for good behavior a lot, almost like they are going out of their way to do so.
- Blackstone Prisons's inescapable status is an outright lie. They simply Un-person the escapee and claim they were never there.
- Blackstone hasn't been a prison in ages, and most of its features that made it inescapable are illegal nowadays.
- Double Subverted: The warden fires the guards, and forces anyone applying to be a guard in the prison to go through Training from Hell to make sure that they really know what they are doing. He also begins repairs on the prison so that it won't look its age.
- Parodied:
- Blackstone is so inescapable that even the prisoners' ghosts aren't allowed to leave.
- The warden strictly prohibits being released for good behavior, specifically to combat this.
- Blackstone maintains its perfect record by making it illegal to keep anybody in there.
- Zig Zagged:
- Before its reconstruction and the tightening of prison standards, Blackstone was far less formidable, and even somewhat lenient. The new warden attempts to reinstate some of the older rules, but after a few altercations it becomes even more oppressive.
- Blackstone is a virtual reality warehouse which keeps the bodies of the prisoners maintained (experienced conditions for the prisoner vary by simulation). The systems are isolated enough that even the best hacker would be unable to escape on their own. However the heavy automation means that it is staffed far less than a conventional prison making it easier for either a professional infiltrator, a large riot, or a small trained squad to force or sneak their way in.
- Averted: Blackstone is no more secure than any other prison, possessing a slightly below average escape record.
- Enforced: Narrative-wise, this place is practically made for the location version of The Worf Effect, and it's the go-to place for any mastermind to construct the Great Escape.
- Lampshaded: "You know anyone who's made it out of here?" "Who?" "Exactly."
- Invoked: The wardens of Blackstone play up the prison's image to deter their charges from escape attempts.
- Exploited: Political prisoners are sent to Blackstone in the knowledge they'll most likely remain incarcerated there for life.
- Defied: Like every other prison out there, Blackstone is escapable if you play the right angles.
- Discussed: Warden Blackley makes it his mission to point out the impossibility of any escape attempt, citing Blackstone's properties as he does so.
- Conversed: The prisoners talk in secret about what they need to do to get out of Blackstone.
- Implied: Blackstone has no walls and no guard towers. The wardens are confident enough that the wilderness will take care of any potential escapees.
- Deconstructed: The logistics of transportation to and upkeep for Blackstone makes it too expensive to run.
- Reconstructed: Through the magic of cheap prison labor, Blackstone becomes profitable again.
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