History Main / ExtranormalPrison

* Tartarus of ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' is a maximum security prison used to hold superpowered villains too tough to be contained in a regular jail, including [[spoiler:Stain]], [[spoiler:All for One]], and [[spoiler:Kurogiri]]. We've only seen one cell in detail, which admittedly belonged to the strongest villain of all time, but if we are to assume that that one cell is representative of the others, containment procedures in Tartarus include prisoners being strapped into wheelchairs and straitjackets at all times, fed by IV drip, and hooked up to a brain scanner that detects if the prisoner even thinks about using their quirk and then signals the multiple automated gun turrets set up around the room to open fire. [[spoiler: Additionally, following his capture, [[ThinkingUpPortals Kurogiri]] is apparently kept in a chemically induced coma at all times.]]
* ''Manga/OnePiece'': The great prison [[TheAlcatraz Impel Down]] is a notorious HellholePrison designed to hold the most notorious and dangerous criminals in the world. Like most Government and Marine prisons, Impel Down has cells made of Seastone, a unique mineral that nullifies the ability of Devil Fruit users, and each prisoner that is a Devil Fruit user is additionally restrained with shackles or handcuffs made of Seastone to make sure they can’t try anything. The facility is separated into five main levels designed to torture and kill prisoners in unique ways, with the final secret sixth level being reserved for the worst of the worst. Criminals who are placed in level six are so badass that they cannot be tortured and have been sentenced to either life or are on death row awaiting execution.

* The Citadel from ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' was a prison built by the Republic to contain Dark Jedi and other Force-using criminals. The Separatists found that it's perfectly capable of holding good Jedi.

* ''Manga/OnePiece's'' great prison Impel Down serves as this, as well as being a HellholePrison. It holds particularly notorious and dangerous criminals, with 5 different levels of hellish punishments. Meanwhile the secret level 6 qualifies more as a TailorMadePrison.

*** The Cube is a large prison built in the Nevada desert to house [[NuclearMutant gamma-mutated]] criminals such as the Abomination, the Leader, and even the Hulk. However, while the Cube is a prison, it’s true purpose according to Bruce Banner is to secretly find a way to control gamma monsters so that Shield and the military can use them as weapons.

* ''Film/SkyHigh'': The school has a detention room that is able to suppress any and all superpowers.

*** The Cube is a large prison built in the Nevada desert to house [[NuclearMutant gamma-mutated]] criminals such as the Abomination, the Leader, and even the Hulk. However, the facility is secretly trying to find a way to control gamma monsters for Shield and the military to use as weapons.

* ''Film/SkyHigh'' also has a power suppressing detention room.

* In ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum'', Arkham had special prisons for the super-powered individuals. Poison Ivy, for example, was kept in a reinforced greenhouse.

** There are four major prisons managed by Shield at the start of the series.

*** The Raft is a secret prison at the bottom of the East River built to house the most dangerous criminals such as Baron Zemo, the Wendigo, and Graviton. Not much is known about the exact layout of this prison as it doesn't appear until the end of the two-part episode "Breakout", when a mass breakout occurs in all four facilities at the same time.

* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'' features Belle Reve as a sort of prison for supervillains, where the inmates wear collars that inhibit their powers. The compound itself has extremely tight security, including walls not even Superman himself could break through.

** There are four to start with: the Big House, a prison with three layers of security consisting of: all robot guards (no hostages), {{Power Nullifier}}s ''and'' having the whole prison shrunk to 1/60th scale, so escapees are still small; the Cube, which specifically housed [[NuclearMutant gamma-mutated]] criminals (but is actually looking for a way to control them); the Vault, for tech-based villains, which has the least anti-power measures, relying on separating them from their gadgets; and the Raft, a secret prison at the bottom of the East River for the ''really'' dangerous ones. The opening two-parter has a break-out at all four simultaneously.

* There were several prisons for benders in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', built by the Fire Nation. They were built with precautions regarding the element the inmates were capable of bending: for example, a prison designed to hold earthbenders was built from iron over water, with nary a piece of earth in sight... [[TooDumbToLive except for the coal that fuels the place's smokestacks, that no one ever thought about beforehand.]]

** Later on, a new prison is built [[PrisonDimension in the Negative Zone]]. Here, escape means that you end up in the middle of (breathable) outer space.

** During ''ComicBook/CivilWar'', a group of heroes led by ComicBook/IronMan, [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Mister Fantastic]] and (a Skrull posing as) [[ComicBook/AntMan Yellowjacket]] created Prison 42, a massive prison [[PrisonDimension in the Negative Zone]] to house captured non-registering heroes as they waited for them to be tried.

* The Alliance in ''WesternAnimation/RoswellConspiraciesAliensMythsAndLegends'' has a prison facility for all the various alien they've arrested, many of whom have special abilities.

** It's not just mages who are sent there, either - anyone caught conspiring with [[BloodMagic blood mages]] or other maleficarum are sent there as well. At the end of the Magi origin in [[VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins} the first game]], [[spoiler: Lily, a Chantry sister-in-training, is willfully sent there as punishment for being in love with the player character's friend Jowan, who had been practicing blood magic without her knowledge]]. The prison is essentially used as a brutal test to weed out hostile mages among the Chantry's prisoners simply by waiting and seeing who doesn't get possessed.

* The ''TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness'' has the Lansing Facility, an "ultramax" prison the Vanguard Serial Crimes Unit uses to store [[SlasherMovie slashers]] who are too dangerous to be brought to trial.

* The Wiki/SCPFoundation has a lot of {{Tailor Made Prison}}s, but the foundation also has standard cells if the SCP doesn't require any special containment procedures yet risks breaking the {{Masquerade}} if it is discovered.

* ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'': The US has at least five 'ultramax' prisons for holding superhumans[[https://crystalhall.fandom.com/wiki/Paranormal_Detention_Facilities]]: Wheeling Federal Paranormal Detention Facility in West Virginia (AKA 'The Jug'), Thunder Mountain Federal Prison Complex in Colorado (AKA 'The Rat Trap'), Atascadero State Penitentiary (which is likely the one referred to at times as 'Mt. Prometheus') and Mt. Diablo State Prison in California, and Roxbury Federal Paranormal Detention Facility in Massachusetts ('The Pit', which gets nearly destroyed during a breakout attempt). Most major cities have smaller detention facilities for immediate use, as well. In addition, there is The Prison With No Name, which is a secretive Azkaban {{Expy}} run by sorcerers to detain magical threats (it is deliberately never given a TrueName to reduce the ability to gain power over it).

** There are four to start with: the Big House, a prison with three layers of security consisting of: all robot guards (no hostages), {{Power Nullifier}}s ''and'' having the whole prison shrunk to 1/60th scale, so escapees are still small; the Cube, which specifically housed [[ILoveNuclearPower gamma-mutated]] criminals (but is actually looking for a way to control them); the Vault, for tech-based villains, which has the least anti-power measures, relying on separating them from their gadgets; and the Raft, a secret prison at the bottom of the East River for the ''really'' dangerous ones. The opening two-parter has a break-out at all four simultaneously.

* In ''FanFic/ChildOfTheStorm'' and its sequels, SHIELD is building the Raft for superhuman criminals, described as being like Azkaban with "all the knobs turned up." Except for the soul-sucking demons floating around causing misery and despair, which Fury objects to on ethical grounds. But unfortunately, they come with the prison, so he can't do much about them... the [[BaitAndSwitch Congressional Oversight Committee]], that is.

* In ''Film/{{Goosebumps}}'', R.L. Stine imprisoned every monster he has ever created inside the original Goosebumps manuscripts, essentially turning his ''bookcase'' into a prison of sorts. Whenever a monster escaped, he was forced to capture it and move to a new town, much to the chagrin of his daughter Hannah.

* The Spellhold, a prison designed specifically to hold rogue mages, in ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms''. It is also featured prominently in ''VideoGame/BaldursGate II: Shadows of Amn''.

** It's not just mages who are sent there, either - anyone caught conspiring with [[BloodMagic blood mages]] or other maleficarum are sent there as well. At the end of the Magi origin in [[{{VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins}} the first game]], [[spoiler: Lily, a Chantry sister-in-training, is willfully sent there as punishment for being in love with the player character's friend Jowan, who had been practicing blood magic without her knowledge]]. The prison is essentially used as a brutal test to weed out hostile mages among the Chantry's prisoners simply by waiting and seeing who doesn't get possessed.

* ''WebComic/GrrlPower'' zigzags this trope. On one hand, Maxima points out that there is no such thing as power negators. On the other, ARCHON gets pretty creative when making up prisons for supers. The girl who can make portals is placed in a pressurized cell, where the depressurization would immediately kill her if she tried to make a portal, and the guy who feeds on violence is kept high as balls and provided with cutesy entertainment. However, unlike the situation in the page image there is no General Population area, as there is no way to stop everyone's powers at once, which Hench Wench is informed of when she has an imagine spot of getting in and working for said "feeds on violence" character to start a prison riot.

* In ''FanFic/ChildOfTheStorm'' and its sequels, SHIELD is building the Raft for superhuman criminals, described as being like Azkaban with "all the knobs turned UpToEleven." Except for the soul-sucking demons floating around causing misery and despair, which Fury objects to on ethical grounds. But unfortunately, they come with the prison, so he can't do much about them... the [[BaitAndSwitch Congressional Oversight Committee]], that is.

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]

* Franchise/TheDCU
** Belle Reve Penitentiary in Louisiana is used to hold metahuman criminals. It is also the headquarters of Task Force X (AKA the ComicBook/SuicideSquad), which allows prisoners to [[BoxedCrook perform dangerous missions in return for a reduction in their sentences]].
** ''Comicbook/LegionOfSuperheroes'': In the 30th century, Takron-Galtos is a prison planet used by the United Planets to hold high risk inmates, such as super criminals.

** In ''Comicbook/{{Superman}}'', Stryker's Island started as a regular prison, but has been redesigned by [[Comicbook/{{Steel}} John Henry Irons]] to contain the sort of villains Superman fights.
** Slabside Penetentiary in ''Comicbook/GreenLantern'' and ''Comicbook/JokersLastLaugh''. Nicknamed "the Slab", because that's the only way you leave.
** ''Comicbook/BatmanGrantMorrison'' introduced Basement 101, the UK's superhuman prison beneath the Tower of London.
* Franchise/MarvelUniverse:
** Project: Pegasus has been used to hold (and study) high powered super criminals. It was succeeded by The Vault, which unlike Pegasus (a research facility) was purpose-built as a prison.
** The Raft was a super-max prison for supervillains operated by ComicBook/SHIELD, near the mundane prison of Ryker's Island.
** The Prison 42. During the ComicBook/CivilWar, a group of heroes led by Iron Man, Mister Fantastic and Yellowjacket created a massive prison in the Negative Zone to house captured non-registering heroes as they waited for them to be tried.
** There was a prison introduced in ComicBook/SheHulk called the Big House, nicknamed the Ant Farm, where super criminals were shrunk by Pym Particles during their sentence. The guards used Ant Man helmets to have ants to control inmates, as the facility essentially ''was'' a large ant farm.
** Augustus Roman is a private businessman who owned a facility called The Cellar which was really a front for him to use technology to [[PowerParasite leech superpowers]] from villains before moving on to take all the superheroes' powers.
** One [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk]] arc introduced the God Complex. Created from salvaged alien technology and built five miles below the surface it was built to hold prisoners no other prison could, which was mostly giant sentient monsters. When the door was blown off at the end of the arc they were all too institutionalized to want to leave.

** ''Film/XMenApocalypse'' features Stryker's mutant prison, filled with holding cells that somehow dampen all mutant powers, making it the only reliable place to hold mutants prisoner. It also contains a TailorMadePrison cell for [[ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} Weapon X]].
** ''Film/Deadpool2'' has the "Ice Box," a secret prison built into a mountaintop that contains numerous supervillains fitted with [[PowerNullifier collars that cancel out their powers.]]

** In the crossover ''Series/{{Supergirl|2015}}'' episode, Barry helps the National City justice department do the same to their prison, allowing it to contain individuals with superpowers, as well as to be afforded the same rights of due process as everyone else.

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* ''WebComic/GRRLPower'' zigzags this trope. One one hand, Maxima points out that there is no such thing as power negators. On the other, ARCHON gets pretty creative when making up prisons for supers. The girl who can make portals is placed in a pressurized cell, where the depressurization would immediately kill her if she tried to make a portal, and the guy who feeds on violence is kept high as balls and provided with cutesy entertainment. However unlike the situation in the page image there is no General Population area, as there is no way to stop everyone's powers at once, which Hench Wench is informed of when she has an imagine spot of getting in and working for said "feeds on violence" character to start a prison riot.
* ''Webcomic/{{MonsterSoup}}'''s [[TheAlcatraz Oubliette Castle's]] facilities themselves have not yet shown any ability to keep the main cast -- a zombie, a ghost, a vampire, a werewolf, and a gypsy with magical capability -- from running. The [[OurGargoylesRock warden]], however, has declared himself up to the task.

** This cartoon has four to start with: The Big House, a prison with three layers of security consisting of: all robot guards (no hostages), {{Power Nullifier}}s ''and'' having the whole prison shrunk to 1/60th scale, so escapees are still small; The Cube, which specifically housed gamma mutated criminals (but is actually looking for a way to control them); The Vault, for tech-based villains, which has the least anti-power measures, relying on separating them from their gadgets; and The Raft, a secret prison at the bottom of the East River for the ''really'' dangerous ones. The opening two-parter has a break-out at all four simultaneously.
** Later on a new prison was built in the Negative Zone. Here, escape means you end up in the middle of (breathable) outer space.
** When Yellowjacket appeared he seemingly vaporized criminals before they could be brought in. In reality he was shrinking them into a subatomic facility of his creation, but the shrinking destabilized and everyone had to be evacuated before they were crushed as it shrunk out of existence.

* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' featured Belle Reve as a sort of prison for supervillains, where the inmates wear collars that inhibit their powers. The compound itself has extremely tight security, including walls not even Superman himself could break through.

** ''Comicbook/GrantMorrisonsBatman'' introduced Basement 101, the UK's superhuman prison beneath the Tower of London.

** The Raft was a super-max prison for supervillains operated by S.H.I.E.L.D., near the mundane prison of Ryker's Island.

** There was a prison introduced in She-Hulk called the Big House, nicknamed the Ant Farm, where super criminals were shrunk by Pym Particles during their sentence. The guards used Ant Man helmets to have ants to control inmates, as the facility essentially ''was'' a large ant farm.

** One ComicBook/IncredibleHulk arc introduced the God Complex. Created from salvaged alien technology and built five miles below the surface it was built to hold prisoners no other prison could, which was mostly giant sentient monsters. When the door was blown off at the end of the arc they were all too institutionalized to want to leave.

** This cartoon has four to start with: The Big House, a prison with three layers of security consisting of: all robot guards (no hostages), {{Power Nullifier}}s ''and'' having the whole prison shrunk to 1/60th scale, so escapees are still small; The Cube, which specifically housed gamma mutated criminals (but is actually looking for a way to control them); The Vault, for tech-based villains, which has the least anti-power measures, relying on seperating them from their gadgets; and The Raft, a secret prison at the bottom of the East River for the ''really'' dangerous ones. The opening two-parter has a break-out at all four simultaneously.

* Franchise/{{The DC U}}niverse:

* The Alliance in ''WesternAnimation/RoswellConspiracies'' has a prison facility for all the various alien they've arrested, many of whom have special abilities.

** In the 30th century, Takron-Galtos is a prison planet used by the United Planets to hold high risk inmates, such as super criminals.

* ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'': The US has at least five 'ultramax' prisons for holding superhumans[[https://crystalhall.fandom.com/wiki/Paranormal_Detention_Facilities]]: Wheeling Federal Paranormal Detention Facility in West Virginia (AKA 'The Jug'), Thunder Mountain Federal Prison Complex in Colorado (AKA 'The Rat Trap'), Atascadero State Penitentiary (which is likely the one referred to at times as 'Mt. Prometheus') and Mt. Diablo State Prison in California, and Roxbury State Penitentiary in Massachusetts (which gets nearly destroyed during a breakout attempt). Most major cities have smaller detention facilities for immediate use, as well. In addition, there is The Prison With No Name, which is a secretive Azkaban {{Expy}} run by sorcerers to detain magical threats (it is deliberately never given a TrueName to reduce the ability to gain power over it).

* ''WebComic/GRRLPower'' zigzags this trope. One one hand, Maxima points out that there is no such thing as power negators. On the other, ARCHON gets pretty creative when making up prisons for supers. The girl who can make portals is placed in a pressurized cell, where the depressurization would immediately kill her if she tried to make a portal, and the guy who feeds on violence is kept high as balls and provided with cutesy entertainment.