History Main / PreferJailToTheProtagonist

* PlayedForHorror in ''Fanfic/MikesNewGhostlyFamily''; [[spoiler:William Afton stole younger Nightmares' essences, EscapedFromHell and tried to claim his revenge on Mike Schmidt for giving his ghost victims a happy and for giving demon lord Nightmare suggestions on how to worsen his tortures. He tried to possess Mike Schmidt to enter his mindscape and subject him to a ColdBloodedTorture, but Mike turned out to be a lucid dreamer, which made him a full-fledged RealityWarper inside his mindscape, using it to [[HoistByHisOwnPetard subject William himself]] to a ColdBloodedTorture instead. As he was tortured, William got so terrified of Mike that the murderer begged Nightmare to take him back to FireAndBrimstoneHell just to get away from Mike. In response, Nightmare [[CruelMercy decided to keep him with Mike for a longer time]], amused by how Afton sees being trapped with Mike to be a worse fate than Hell, and only after Mike's mother descended from Heaven to placate his rage was when Nightmare finally brought William back to Hell. And to add insult to injury, Nightmare decided to recreate Mike Schmidt's inner darker aspects for his VideoGame/UltimateCustomNight torture, just to have the protagonist in question, in an essence, continue making William suffer even inside his prison.]]

Can be the result of PityTheKidnapper, UnintentionallyNotoriousCrime, or MuggingTheMonster. Subtrope of {{Unishment}}. An interesting subversion is CruelMercy if the hero realizes that jail is too easy for the villain. Contrast TheMobBossIsScarier, where a criminal is so fearsome that no one will inform on them and will take jail time or other legal penalties rather than risk their wrath.

* A subversion occurs in the ''Series/{{iCarly}}'' episode, "iFind Lewbert's Lost Love". Even though Chuck Chambers was responsible for stealing all the TV remotes in the Bushwell Plaza, Lewbert tells the police that he stole the remotes in order to get away from Marta Trundel, his ex-girlfriend. Just to ensure he's away from her for a long time, he slaps one of the officers to extend his sentence.

* In ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable'', Akira Otoishi is in prison for robbery, though he committed worse crimes with his [[FightingSpirit Stand]], [[InvisibleToNormals that no non-Stand user would understand]]. He's perfectly fine with this since he's terrified of the alternative of Okuyasu and Jotaro dealing with him for his more serious crimes of the murder of Okuyasu's brother and the attempted murder of Josuke's father.

* In ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable'', Akira Otoishi is in prison for robbery, though he committed worse crimes with his [[FightingSpirit Stand]], [[InvisibleToNormals that no non-Stand user would understand]]. He's perfectly fine with this since he's terrified of the alternative of Okuyasu and Josuke dealing with him for his more serious crimes of the murder of Okuyasu's brother and the attempted murder of Josuke's father.

->'''Police officer''': Good work, [=SpongeBob=]. You put the Strangler behind bars!\\

* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable'' villain Akira Otoishi is in prison for robbery, though he committed worse crimes that cannot be revealed due to TheMasquerade. He's perfectly fine with this since he's terrified of the alternative of Okuyasu and Josuke dealing with him for his more serious crimes of murdering Okuyasu's brother and trying to kill Josuke's father.

* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable'' villain Akira Otoishi is in prison for robbery, though he committed worse crimes that cannot be revealed due to TheMasquerade. He's perfectly fine with this, since he's terrified of the alternative of Okuyasu and Josuke dealing with him for his more serious crimes of murdering Okuyasu's brother and trying to kill Josuke's father.

* In a comic book published by Creator/DellComics based on [[DanceSensation the Twist]], [[http://www.misterkitty.org/extras/stupidcovers/twist13.jpg a one page comic]] sees a man released from jail after 25 years. He returns to where he used to hang out, only to witness everyone doing the Twist. He promptly runs back to jail.

* Downplayed in ''Series/TheAddamsFamily'' episode "[[Recap/TheAddamsFamilyS1E7HalloweenWithTheAddamsFamily Halloween with the Addams]]". Crooks Marty and Claude finally race out of the house in panic after spending an evening hiding from the police. In their haste to escape, they get caught by the police.

* One episode of ''Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'', had a rising mob boss who used YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness or TheMobBossIsScarier liberally. In the end Goren manages to use this against him by making it look like one of his henchmen was plotting against him, meaning said henchman practically begged Goren to arrest him and cut a deal.

** In "The Getaway", a recently-escaped prisoner named Sticky Fins Whiting tricks [=SpongeBob=] into being his getaway driver. Anyone who is aware of what [=SpongeBob=]'s driving skills are like will realize just how horribly that must've went. Indeed, by the end of the episode, Sticky Fins begs the police to put himself in ''solitary confinement'' just to keep [=SpongeBob=] far away from him. In fact, Mrs. Puff decides to try and get in jail too, knowing she'll be subjected to teaching [=SpongeBob=] again.

* In ''The New WesternAnimation/WoodyWoodpecker Show'' episode, "Baby Buzzard", Buzz disguises himself as a baby so he can rob Woody's house when Woody starts his babysitting service. When Woody finds out that Buzz is robbing his house, he makes him take a nap with a live, ferocious badger, who mauls him while Woody calls the police. When the Policeman arrives, Buzz begs for him to arrest him. [[spoiler: Subverted at the end, in which [[Main/RuleOfFunny the badger also gets arrested and mauls Buzz while in the paddy wagon]]]].

** The Amoeba Boys avert this - they simply want to go to jail to prove they're as much of criminals as the other villains in Townsville.
** In the episode, "Sun Scream", two criminals are disgusted by the girls' sunburnt skin peeling and beg to be taken to jail. However, the girls decide to leave them stranded on an island with only a tube of sunscreen instead. The criminals get sunburned as a result of not using the sunscreen, claiming it's only for nerds.
* In the ''The New WesternAnimation/WoodyWoodpecker Show'' episode, "Baby Buzzard", Buzz disguises himself as a baby so he can rob Woody's house when Woody starts his babysitting service. When Woody finds out that Buzz is robbing his house, he makes him take a nap with a live, ferocious badger, who mauls him while Woody calls the police. When the Policeman arrives, Buzz begs for him to arrest him. [[spoiler: Subverted at the end, in which [[Main/RuleOfFunny the badger also gets arrested and mauls Buzz while in the paddy wagon]]]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueTheFlashpointParadox'', when Batman/Thomas Wayne fights a criminal named Yo-Yo, he tries to grill her for information on the Joker [[spoiler: who in this rendition is Martha Wayne turned insane from losing Bruce]]. When Yo-Yo refuses to divulge any information, Thomas throws her off the building they were fighting on. ComicBook/{{Cyborg}} arrives and quickly catches her, to which Yo-Yo is more then happy to surrender to him then deal with Thomas again.

* Many criminals let themselves be imprisoned so as to evade ComicBook/ThePunisher (and depending on their status, may end up in a LuxuryPrisonSuite). When that happens, Frank turns himself in, always getting sent to the same prison, and takes out the criminal (and the criminal's bodyguards, tough guys who want to show off, rival prison gangs, prisoners he runs into on the way, and his cellmate) before breaking out of the prison.

* Downplayed in ''Series/TheAddamsFamily'' episode "Halloween with the Addams". Crooks Marty and Claude finally race out of the house in panic after spending an evening hiding from the police. In their haste to escape, they get caught by the police.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/MuppetBabies'', Gonzo apprehends a train robber in a fantasy segment. Once he's tied up, Gonzo says, "So what'll it be: 20 years in jail, or [[SuckinessIsPainful 20 jokes from Fozzie?"]] The train robber chooses jail.

** In "Spongebob Meets the Strangler", the Tattletale Strangler disguises himself as a bodyguard to get close enough to [=SpongeBob=] to strangle him for turning him in. However, [=SpongeBob=]'s frequent delays, culminating in ''two'' surprise parties, drive the Strangler so insane he throws himself into prison in order to get away from him. [[spoiler: A BrickJoke from after the second party results in the Strangler sharing a cell with ''Patrick'', implying he's still not out of the woods on that front.]]

** In "The Getaway", a recently-escaped prisoner named Sticky Fins Whiting tricks [=SpongeBob=] into being his getaway driver. Now, anyone who is aware of what [=SpongeBob=]'s driving skills are like will realize just how horribly that must've went. Indeed, by the end of the episode, Sticky Fins begs the police to put himself in ''Maximum Security'' just to keep [=SpongeBob=] far away from him. In fact, Mrs. Puff decides to try and get in jail too, knowing she'll be subjected to teaching [=SpongeBob=] again.

** In "The Getaway", a recently-escaped prisoner named Sticky Fins Whiting tricks [=SpongeBob=] into being his getaway driver. Now, anyone who is aware of what [=SpongeBob=]'s driving skills are like will realize just how horribly that must've went. Indeed, by the end of the episode, Sticky Fins begs the police to put him in ''Maximum Security'' just to get away from him. In fact, Mrs. Puff decides to try and get in jail too, knowing she'll be subjected to teaching [=SpongeBob=] again.

** An AccidentalHero example: In the 1936 WesternAnimation/PorkyPig short ''The Blow Out'', Porky, here a young child, is trying to earn spending money by returning objects that grown-ups have dropped. He thus innocently chases a MadBomber around, repeatedly handing his activated TimeBomb back to him. The increasingly frazzled bomber finally runs voluntarily into an open police wagon, only for [[TheDeterminator Porky]] to [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption toss the bomb in after him]].

** In another episode, [=SpongeBob=] mistakes an escaped convict for his replacement driving instructor and the guy in turn mistakes [=SpongeBob=] for his getaway driver. [=SpongeBob=]'s reckless driving eventually causes the convict to want to go back to prison.

Can be the result of PityTheKidnapper, UnintentionallyNotoriousCrime, or MuggingTheMonster. An interesting subversion is CruelMercy if the hero realizes that jail is too easy for the villain. Contrast TheMobBossIsScarier, where a criminal is so fearsome that no one will inform on them and will take jail time or other legal penalties rather than risk their wrath.

** Mrs. Puff gets sent to jail in [[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS3E5MermaidManAndBarnacleBoyIVDoingTime "Doing Time"]]. She ''loves'' it in there, simply because she doesn't have to deal with [=SpongeBob=] anymore. Well, at least until Spongebob and Patrick visit and attempt to help bust her out of prison, much to her dismay.

!Examples

** Mrs. Puff gets sent to jail in [[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS3E5MermaidManAndBarnacleBoyIVDoingTime "Doing Time"]]. She ''loves'' it in there, simply because she doesn't have to deal with [=SpongeBob=] anymore.
** In another episode [=SpongeBob=] mistakes an escaped convict for his replacement driving instructor and the guy in turn mistakes [=SpongeBob=] for his getaway driver. [=SpongeBob=]'s reckless driving eventually causes the convict to want to go back to prison.

-->--''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'', "[=SpongeBob=] meets the Strangler"