History Main / GirlsBehindBars

* ''[[http://www.devianthearts.com/viewstory.php?sid=1268&chapter=1 Voyager Chicks Behind Forcefields]]'' is this trope RecycledINSPACE using the intrepid crew of ''StarTrekVoyager''.

* ''Film/TankGirl''. Tank Girl and Jet Girl in Water and Power's prison.

* The first part of the Creator/PamGrier movie ''Film/BlackMamaWhiteMama'' takes place in a woman's prison. As is to be expected from an exploitation film the situation is played for FanService in almost every conceivable way.

* ''Film/BlackMamaWhiteMama'', as to be expected from an exploitation film

* The [[http://www.wowe.com/ WOW (Women of Wrestling)]] TagTeam Caged Heat, named after the film, Loca and [[PunnyName Delta Lotta Pain]], who were the first and only [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_of_Wrestling WOW World Tag Team Champions]] until they were defeated by The All American Girls one year after the company's revival, and Vendetta, who mostly just hung around and did not return with them. They were billed from [[PartsUnknown the Nevada State Correctional Facility]], wore orange jumpsuits and their [[SignatureMove signature moves]] had such names as "Hard Time" (BearHug with top rope clothesline) and "Capital Punishment" (better known as Wrestling/TheDudleyBoys' "Dudley Death Drop"/"3D," a combined flapjack and a [[Wrestling/DiamondDallasPage "cutter"]]). Their entrance video showed them in prison rapping their [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic theme song]][[note]]Theirs was the only one with lyrics[[/note]]. The absence of logic in the fact that they were supposedly driven to the arena from ''prison'', and then sent back after the match, was not even [[{{Handwave}} Handwaved]] away, as this promotion adhered to an old-school, straight-faced {{Kayfabe}} mentality, which is what would be expected from a promotion started by David [=McLane=], who had previously created Wrestling/{{GLOW}} in TheEighties. In 2000-2001, this was a decided contrast to Wrestling/{{WWE}}'s Wrestling/AttitudeEra, which was taking place at the same time. Despite the implications of their gimmick, they were VERY popular. The revival did come up with a reason for them their presence (and absence of Vendetta). A lawyer named Sophia Lopez had been fighting to prove their innocence and finally did in 2012, for ''two'' of them.

* The zombie movie ''[[Film/{{Grindhouse}} Planet Terror]]'' has the two heroines behind bars for a scene in the third act.
** Also, [[AC:[[Exactly What It Says On The Tin :WOMEN IN CAGES!]]]]

Needless to say, the above description is purely fantasy and '''NOT''' TruthInTelevision, except maybe for the shower scenes and the nudes searches, as can be seen in men's prisons. But the preponderance of the porn-friendly description is so deeply ingrained in pop-culture that realistic depictions of women's prison ''as a main setting'' that don't include these elements are exceptional.

[[AC:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]
* In one chapter of the ''Manga/ExcelSaga'' manga, Excel and Elgala are on a boat headed for an island women's prison. A guard mentions that "they will be subjected to tortures both savage and sensual!"
* The sixth story arc of ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' begins with protagonist Jolyne Kujo being framed for murder and sent to prison.
* ''Manga/BlackLagoon'' alludes to this when Revy threatens Janet to "show her her stuff" if she ever tried to have sex with Rock, tellingly hinting at how she would make every other inmate her bitch back in prison.
* ''Anime/SengokuCollection'' has an episode that is an homage to the famous Japanese women's prison film ''Film/JoshuuSasori'' (Female Prisoner Scorpion).

[[AC:ComicBooks]]

* ''ComicBook/GoldDigger'' #82 has Gina Diggers doing time in a women's prison. The comic includes a shower scene and a fight with the head bitch, who happens to be a ShoutOut of a certain female ''StarWars'' character.
* ''AdventureComics'' #394 features a [[TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] story with {{Supergirl}} in an alien women's prison. The story isn't really that good; however, and the comic is best remembered for [[http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ljhz6xBUsP1qbujox.jpg its cover]] with the laughter inducing tagline "Heartbreak Prison! Where Every Girl's A Lifer!"

* The "Lockdown" arc (#76-81) of ''ComicBook/GrimmFairyTales'' features Sela in a women's prison. Plenty of the standard tropes apply, including a ShowerScene, a fight with the ButchLesbian, etc.

[[AC:FanFics]]

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

** Also, [[AC:[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin :WOMEN IN CAGES!]]]]

* ''Under Lock and Key,'' a B-Movie with the classic undercover female cop plot.

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

* ''{{Lexx}}'' had an episode where Xev went to prison, complete with a shower scene.

* ''Series/RedDwarf'' series VIII was set in the eponymous spaceship's brig. In the episode "Krytie TV", Kryten is classified as a woman because of his lack of identifying male genitalia. Although his programming does not allow him to exploit that, Killcrazy and other prisoners kidnap him, reprogram him and make him secretly film and broadcast the women prisoners showering for the viewing of the male prisoners.
* ''{{Series/NCIS}}'' episode "Caged" plays this realistically. [=McGee=] is at a womens' prison interviewing a murder suspect when a riot breaks out over the murder of a guard-- and the female inmates prove very difficult to handle, one threatening to kill him repeatedly.

** Sex with her cellmate, who is very butch. Trope played absolutely [[JustForPun straight]].

* ''Series/{{Angel}}'' Shows [[spoiler: Faith]] in jail a few times. Mostly it's the visitor's room, complete with telephones and a window, but there is a prison fight between two inmates in the yard. There is no fetishizing of the prison, mostly it looks like depictions of male prisons but with the inmates having longer hair.
* ''The Late Show with DavidLetterman'': when Martha Stewart was in prison for insider trading Leterman made many jokes implying that Stewart was in this kind of prison.
* The entire premise of the {{dramedy}} series ''Series/OrangeIsTheNewBlack'', notable for being a weird mix of racial and sexual stereotypes with much more realistic elements about life in prison. But the violence element is notably absent.

[[AC:{{Music}}]]

[[AC: ProfessionalWrestling]]

[[AC:{{Theater}}]]

* Mo'Nique in her routine ''I Coulda Been You Cellmate'', that is set in a women's institution, playfully toys with this trope about its implausibility.

[[AC:VideoGames]]

[[AC:WebAnimation]]

[[AC:WebComics]]

* Averted in ''LastRes0rt'' -- There are plenty of female contestants, and yes, the show is in a prison, so while there ARE Girls Behind Bars, it's a relatively calm co-ed prison environment and the closest we get to a ShowerScene is one panel of Daisy from the shoulders up.

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

** In the episode "Dial Meg for Murder," Meg goes to prison and becomes a hardened criminal.

[[AC:RealLife]]

* ''Series/PrisonerCellBlockH'' was set in a women's prison.

* The entire premise of the {{dramedy}} series ''Series/OrangeIsTheNewBlack.''

But, let's face it, it's mostly because most of them assume women's prisons are a [[GirlOnGirlIsHot lesbian porn heaven]]. No matter what, in sharp contrast to men's prisons, women's prisons are always believed to be a FetishFuel station where women learn to be bisexuals thanks to this oh-so beautiful and chaste thing called lesbianism (which [[DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnFemale doesn't involve rape at all]], oh no), so they can serve [[AllMenArePerverts men's]] [[AThreesomeIsHot fantasies]] better once they get out. And of course, female guardians partake joyfully in it as well as the lucky male staff who live in this palace of pleasure! It also goes without saying that the women are [[LipstickLesbian beautifully feminine]] except perhaps for a few [[ButchLesbian tough dominant ones]] who [[AlphaBitch run the prison]] and [[NaiveNewcomer initiate newcomers]] into [[SituationalSexuality their new homosexual environment]]. Depending on how dirty-minded the audience is, and the [[{{Watershed}} time slot]], this may result in a sort of ChekhovsGun scenario as the audience expects... ''action''. In a movie or late-night cable TV show, there will be at least one ShowerScene or strip-search.

But, let's face it, it's mostly because most of them assume women's prisons are a [[GirlOnGirlIsHot lesbian porn heaven]]. No matter what, in sharp contrast to men's prisons, women's prisons are always believed to be a FetishFuel station where women learn to be bisexuals thanks to this oh-so beautiful and chaste thing called lesbianism (which [[DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnFemale doesn't involve rape at all]], oh no), so they can serve [[AllMenArePerverts men's]] [[AThreesomeIsHot fantasies]] better once they get out. And of course, female guardians partake joyfully in it as well as the lucky male staff who live in this palace of pleasure! It also goes without saying that the women are [[LipstickLesbian beautifully feminine]] except perhaps for a few [[ButchLesbian tough dominant ones]] who [[AlphaBitch run the prison]] and [[SituationalSexuality initiate newcomers]]. Depending on how dirty-minded the audience is, and the [[{{Watershed}} time slot]], this may result in a sort of ChekhovsGun scenario as the audience expects... ''action''. In a movie or late-night cable TV show, there will be at least one ShowerScene or strip-search.

* ''Film/BlackMamaWhiteMama''

* WOW's SpiritualSuccessor ''{{Wrestlicious}}'' featured a character called Felony (played by indie wrestler Rain) who was apparently allowed to wrestle on work release. She had to be led to the ring in handcuffs by her parole officer and a RunningGag would be her trying to escape from him whenever she got the chance.

* The [[http://www.wowe.com/ WOW (Women of Wrestling)]] TagTeam Caged Heat, named after the film, Loca and [[PunnyName Delta Lotta Pain]], who were the first, and, until last month, the only [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_of_Wrestling WOW World Tag Team Champions]]. They were billed from [[PartsUnknown the Nevada State Correctional Facility]], wore orange jumpsuits and their [[SignatureMove signature moves]] had such names as "Hard Time" (BearHug with top rope clothesline) and "Capital Punishment" (better known as Wrestling/TheDudleyBoys' "Dudley Death Drop"/"3D," a combined flapjack and a [[Wrestling/DiamondDallasPage "cutter"]]). Their entrance video showed them in prison rapping their [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic theme song]][[note]]Theirs was the only one with lyrics[[/note]]. The absence of logic in the fact that they were supposedly driven to the arena from ''prison'', and then sent back after the match, was not even [[{{Handwave}} Handwaved]] away, as this promotion adhered to an old-school, straight-faced {{Kayfabe}} mentality, which is what would be expected from a promotion started by David [=McLane=], who had previously created Wrestling/{{GLOW}} in TheEighties. In 2000-2001, this was a decided contrast to Wrestling/{{WWE}}'s Wrestling/AttitudeEra, which was taking place at the same time. Despite the implications of their gimmick, they were VERY popular.

Women's prison is a setting that stands out for how scarce its depictions are... outside of porn that is. At most, only expect a vague allusion but the instances where the lives of female inmates are featured are vanishingly rare in comparison to that of male inmates. And the only thing that most people recall about women's prison is its FetishFuel potential.

* The ''Series/PrisonBreak'' MadeForTVMovie revolved around breaking Sarah out of a women's prison.

* ''Pacific Blue'' had an episode that guest starred Wrestling/{{WWE}}'s Wrestling/{{Sable}}, with one of the (female) main characters going undercover into the prison and Sable playing the head bitch. Yes, there was a shower scene, and a couple different catfight scenes.

* ''Prisoner Cell Block H'' was set in a women's prison.

* Series/{{Angel}} Shows [[spoiler: Faith]] in jail a few times. Mostly it's the visitor's room, complete with telephones and a window, but there is a prison fight between two inmates in the yard. There is no fetishizing of the prison, mostly it looks like depictions of male prisons but with the inmates having longer hair.

* ''{{Gothika}}'' is a notable aversion, despite being an asylum for the criminally insane, featuring an all female prison with NO porn-like scene. The ShowerScene, for instance, features a bunch of inmates in which some are unattractive or old, like a RealLife women's prison would feature. Scenes in recreation rooms consist of those women often sobbing, staring blankly, or gabbling to themselves.
* Played with in ''{{Freeway}}''. On one side, you have the typical lesbian inmate Rhonda (Brittany Murphy) who hits on Vanessa (ReeseWitherspoon) and on the other hand, the dominant Mesquita (Alanna Ubach) who immediately provokes Vanessa to a physical fight over who's the baddest bitch, thus the one in command.

Compare PrisonRape.

* The entire premise of the comedy series ''Series/OrangeIsTheNewBlack.''

* O'Brien spends time in a women's prison during the ''{{Punisher}}'' arc where Frank is going after Nicky Cavella and his men for pissing on his family's remains. Being a ''{{Punisher}}'' story, O'Brien's arc is played for drama rather than titillation as she fights viciously to keep other convicts from raping her.

* ''{{Bound}}'' invokes this trope by depicting ButchLesbian Corky (GinaGershon) as a former inmate.

* Averted in ''Film/{{JackieBrown}}'', with a realistic view of women's prison.