History Main / PrisonChangesPeople

* Part of Wrestling/DominikMysterio's heel character in 2023 is him making himself out to be a hardened criminal who was left to languish in the darkest pits with the worst monsters known to man... when actually what happened was (in storyline) he spent a couple of hours in a county slammer after crashing his [[Wrestling/ReyMysterio his father]]'s Christmas festivities. Even his ''Wrestling/WrestleMania'' entrance for his match with his aforementioned father played into this, with Dom arriving in cuffs in the back of a prison transport van, having to be escorted to the ring by several prison guards.

* ''Franchise/TheSimpsons'' episode "Brother From Another Series" revolves around this trope; Sideshow Bob was reformed by his time in prison and helps to thwart his brother's crimes. Unfortunately, Bob is arrested again regardless, and this time gives up on being good.

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': Meg Griffin took it to parody levels in an episode where she went to prison for a few months.

* After being rescued from [[MindPrison Cyberia]] in ''Literature/RedDwarf: Last Human,'' Lister's AlternateSelf goes a little crazy, risks his life to steal some alcohol from the infirmary, and murders several defenseless prison guards before being restrained. Afterwards, he claims that this trope is in play, having lost all traces of his old slobby-amiable self after months in virtual hell. [[spoiler: He's lying: Lister's other self is a psychopath with no impulse control and no regard for the lives of others, as ''our'' Lister discovers when his doppelganger abandons him in Cyberia and forces him to take his place at the prison.]]

* At ''Literature/TheSchoolForGoodMothers'' the "school" is run like a prison or a reeducation camp for abusive and neglectful mothers. While the goal on paper is to teach them good parenting skills, it sets up the mothers for failure by setting unrealistic standards, providing them with zero empathy and little support for their own issues, and constantly telling them that they are bad mothers, narcissists, and a danger to their children. The school's spear counterpart is nowhere near as harsh.

-->'''Wrestling/MichaelCole''': This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever witnessed! They should have left this ''Series/OrangeIsTheNewBlack'' wannabe back in prison and thrown away the key!

* This is a gameplay mechanic in ''TabletopGame/BladesInTheDark'': when a PlayerCharacter is arrested and thrown into [[TheAlcatraz Ironhook]], their player must make an "incarceration roll" that determines how bad their time behind bar has been. On a bad roll, the character automatically receives a Trauma, which usually has major impact on future role-play, as well as being completely incurable under the regular rules.

-->Thog: [[HulkSpeak thog wonders how thog will cope with life outside jailhouse walls.]] prison changed thog.
-->Elan: We were only in there for 40 minutes.
-->Thog: prison changed thog quickly.

* In ''WesternAnimation/HarveyBirdmanAttorneyAtLaw'' Harvey gets tattoos and becomes hardened while in prison for killing [[WesternAnimation/DynoMuttDogWonder Dynomutt]].
-->"Step off holmes! [...] You wouldn't last a minute in my world!"
* ''Franchise/TheSimpsons'' episode "Brother From Another Series" revolves around this trope as Sideshow Bob is reformed and helps thwart his brother, Cecil. Unfortunately, Bob is still arrested and basically gave up on being good.

* Played for laughs in ''Film/TheLegendOfZorro'', when Joaquin breaks Alejandro out of prison. A few guards come running, and Alejandro (who is secretly the masked hero Zorro) thrashes them in about five seconds flat. When a surprised Joaquin asks him where he learned that, he quips, "Prison changes a man, son."

* Part of Wrestling/DominikMysterio's heel character in 2023 is him making himself out to be a hardened criminal who was left to languish in the darkest pits with the worst monsters known to man… when actually what happened was – in storyline – he actually spent a couple of hours in a county slammer after crashing his [[Wrestling/ReyMysterio his father]]'s Christmas festivities. Even his ''Wrestling/WrestleMania'' entrance for his match with his aforementioned father played into this, with Dom arriving in cuffs in the back of a prison transport van, having to be escorted to the ring by several prison guards.

* Part of Dominik Mysterio's heel character in 2023 is him making himself out to be a hardened criminal who was left to languish in the darkest pits with the worst monsters known to man… when actually what happened was – in storyline – he actually spent a couple of hours in a county slammer after crashing his [[Wrestling/ReyMysterio his father]]'s Christmas festivities. Even his ''Wrestling/WrestleMania'' entrance for his match with his aforementioned father played into this, with Dom arriving in cuffs in the back of a prison transport van, having to be escorted to the ring by several prison guards.