History Main / TheAlcatraz

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': Impel Down seen above as the page picture. It probably takes the cake as ''the'' worst prison in fiction. The only exit is also the entrance, as it is surrounded entirely by water. Even if a prisoner were to somehow escape, they would be stuck since many inmates have eaten Devil Fruits, which gives people superpowers but also [[SuperDrowningSkills robs them of the ability to swim]]. Even if you were able to swim, you would end up being eaten because the waters surrounding the prison are infested with Sea Monsters and Sea Kings. Even if you could somehow beat the sea creatures trying to eat you, Impel Down is in the middle of the ocean and the nearest island (if there are any nearby islands) is most likely hundreds if not thousands of miles away. The only realistic way to escape would be to steal a ship and somehow navigate past the fleet of battleships protecting the prison while also making it through the Gate of Justice before the prison staff closes it, assuming it's even open in the first place. Even if you manage to do ''that'', the water currents past the Gate of Justice only leads to two locations, the Government Island of Enies Lobby and the Military base at Marineford. And even then, that's only if they open the respective Gate of Justice leading to the location, otherwise, you will be stuck riding the current forever. It has six levels, each progressively worse than the last to house progressively dangerous criminals and is filled with things just waiting to kill the unlucky prisoners.
** Level 1 is mostly a normal floor, though the highlight of Level 1 is the "Crimson Hell," a forest within the prison made up entirely of bladed "saber trees" and "needle grass." Prisoners are forced into it, being cut up at every turn and every step, giving the forest its trademark red color, all the while being chased by poisonous insects and AxCrazy prison guards. To add to the sadism the only way out is a pit located within the Crimson Hell, which leads to ''Level 2''. This was where Buggy was kept until the mass-escape, and it wasn't so bad for him, because he simply couldn't be hurt by the hazards here due to his Devil's Fruit power; for some reason, the guards never noticed that.

** Level 4, the "[[EvilIsBurningHot Blazing Hell]]", is even hotter than Level 3 (in fact, it's the heat from this level that keeps the above one hot), as a gigantic "Lake of Blood" is kept boiling hot at all times, which prisoners are dropped into regularly. Other prisoners are used to keep wood on the fire at all times, where they face the risk of getting into a fight and being thrown into the "Lake" or their flesh searing off form the extreme heat.
** Level 5, the "[[EvilIsDeathlyCold Freezing Hell]]", is the polar opposite of the previous level, with below freezing temperatures and wolves that are so vicious, they actually preyed upon Level 2's beasts when they were initially introduced there, forcing their relocation. The prisoners kept here have given up on escape and rebellion completely, as they all stay locked in their freezing cells waiting to die.
*** [[MoodWhiplash Level 5.5: Newkama Land]]: Unknown to even the Warden and his staff, there is a hidden "Paradise" level, tunneled out by a former prisoner and connected via secret passages. Prisoners lucky enough to be invited can live in relative luxury and safety, supplied by stealing from the rest of the complex. Prior to Luffy's infiltration, it is ruled by Emporio Ivankov, who has the ability to, among other things, [[GenderBender gender bend]] people. As of the TimeSkip, Ivankov and the bulk of the prisoners he had recruited have returned to his homeland, and Straw Hats ally Bentham, better known as former Baroque Works agent Mr. 2 Bon Kurei, has taken over.
** The generally unknown Level 6, the "Eternal Hell". Every (non-political) prisoner within is either a Lifer or on Death Row who caused incidents so serious the World Government sought to erase them from history. Among its inmates are Shilew (mentioned below), a former ArcVillain Crocodile, and the target of Luffy's intrusion into the place: Portgas D. Ace. Aside from the perpetual abandonment from the world, nothing else actually goes on here, mainly because you can't do much to such badasses.
** To make this even worse, criminals go through a ritual when they first arrive where they're bathed in boiling water, which disinfects them and renders them completely free of germs and other microorganisms. (This is called "baptizing" by the guys who are in charge, likely a sick idea of a joke.) Luffy is the only inmate known to escape this, as he was an intruder who had been poisoned and was not expected to survive longer than twenty-four hours. (Note that while the ritual is known to be agonizing, there are stories of incredibly tough inmates like Portgas D. Ace, Jimbei, and Crocodile, who were able to withstand it without even flinching.)
** There's also the people ''running the place''. There is Sadi-chan, a chick with a dominatrix feel who commands the Four Demon Guards (highly powered Zoans); Saldeath, who commands the Blugori (giant mooks who hunt sea kings); Hannyabal, TheDeterminator Vice-Warden strong enough to brave all of the above tortures in only a loincloth; and Magellan, the Chief Warden, and one of the most powerful people in the World Government's employ. He can cover himself in poison to block direct attacks, cover a prison level in poison strong enough to melt stone, and create poisonous gas and other attacks. There was once also the swordsman Shiryu, the former Head Jailer, Magellan's AxCrazy near-equal, before he himself was confined to Level 6.
** To highlight just how bad this prison is, one need only look at the two successful attempts to escape it. The only self-escapee had to ''cut off his feet'' and use his rare power of flight to escape. Luffy's break-''in'' and escape with 241 other prisoners was only possible because of the Head Jailer position being vacant at that particular moment, the assistance and chaos of the entire populations of Levels 5, 5.5, and 6, Buggy, Mr. 3, and the timely intervention of the Blackbeard Pirates, one of the strongest crews in the world. It would later be revealed that there was a third escapee that was never discovered. One of the Commanders of the Revolutionary Army, Morley, who has a Devil Fruit ability that allows him [[TunnelKing to push through rock like soft clay]]; which is what he used to burrow out under the sea floor and was how he helped create Level 5.5.

** Anyone entering the prison must put all of their items in a chest in exchange for a keycard used to retrieve the items after a visit. The guests are also subject to several stages of searching and frisking to ensure they are not hiding any items, and splashed with potions to weaken them in the case of misbehavior.

** Any blocks that are broken will immediately alert the prison guards via a text message to their ''real life phones'', which means even the most determined of players cannot escape on their own.

* ''VideoGame/BaldursGateIII'' has the Iron Throne, a prison owned and operated by Enver Gortash for keeping his political prisoners, situated in the most secure location one can find: in the deep sea. [[spoiler:It is where Duke Ravengard is held, and Gortash is ready and willing to have the entire facility scuttled if needs must.]]

* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'''s Castle Heterodyne is a sentient (if badly damaged) psychopath's funhouse filled with deathtraps and run by an insane and fragmented AI. (It's also the titular heroines' ancestral home.) The ever-pragmatic Baron Wulfenbach deals with troublemakers by sentencing them to join the repair crew, thus killing two birds with one stone.

* ''LetsPlay/DreamSMP'': A demonstration of how one can make a nigh-inescapable prison in Minecraft is given through Pandora's Vault, a practically inescapable facility Awesamdude made for Dream to imprison the latter's enemies. A list of the (known) layers of security:

** ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight''has Iron Heights, which was meant to combine this with HellHolePrison. Basically the idea of it being escape-proof was due to the fact it was an airship, a zeppelin to be more precise. Least in theory it would have been escape-proof had Killer Croc not gotten loose and caused it to crash in Gotham Bay.

** The Source Wall, a barrier that separates the universe from the Source, may as well be this. It is theoretically possible to pass through it and into the Source, a godlike cosmic essence or being that is the "source" of all that exists, but anyone who fails to do so is absorbed into it and irrevocably trapped forever. It is possible to be rescued from it, however; Darkseid seems able to rescue a prisoner from it, and was himself rescued by an alternate version of himself due to a deal they made. Batman was once able to rescue Superman using the Highfather's staff. It is rare, however, for the Wall to be intentionally used as a prison (except maybe by the Source itself); one time it was occurred when the Teen Titans trapped Superboy-Prime there after his return as it was the only type of prison they hadn't yet tried to contain him with

** In ''ComicBook/TheDarkKnightStrikesAgain'', The Atom is forcibly shrunken and kept in one of his own petri dishes, where he must constantly fight for survival against bacteria that are the relative size of dinosaurs.

** The Source Wall, a barrier that separates the universe from the Source, may as well be this. It is theoretically possible to pass through it and into the Source, a godlike cosmic essence or being that is the "source" of all that exists, but anyone who fails to do so is absorbed into it and irrevocably trapped forever. It is possible to be rescued from it, however; Darseid seems able to rescue a prisoner from it, and was himself rescued by an alternate version of himself due to a deal they made. Batman was once able to rescue Superman using the Highfather's staff. It is rare, however, for the Wall to be intentionally used as a prison (except maybe by the Source itself); one time it was occurred when the Teen Titans trapped Superboy-Prime there after his return as it was the only type of prison they hadn't yet tried to contain him with

** Level 5, the "[[EvilIsDeathlyCold Freezing Hell]]", is the [[JustForPun polar]] opposite of the previous level, with below freezing temperatures and wolves that are so vicious, they actually preyed upon Level 2's beasts when they were initially introduced there, forcing their relocation. The prisoners kept here have given up on escape and rebellion completely, as they all stay locked in their freezing cells waiting to die.

** The First Level is the Appetizer course. As described, the Appetizer course is all about having the parts of one's favorite foods taken from them. Not too bad, right? '''[[NightmareFuel WRONG]]'''. The "punishment" isn't just limited to the way the food is prepared; the prisoners themselves may be physically altered so that they cannot enjoy their favorite parts. For example, a man with a sweet tooth may have his brain rewired so that he cannot taste "sweet" flavors, while a marijuana addict may have the pleasure center of his brain numbed so that, even if he ingests the drug, he cannot derive its traditional effects (in turn leading to his going through withdrawals). Even by real world standards, that's pretty hellish treatment; in fact, it would fall squarely in the area of Cruel and Unusual[[note]]It doesn't help that surgical repression is considered a crime against humanity, and was infamously practiced in Nazi concentration camps and TheGulag[[/note]]. ''[[JustForPun And that's just the Appetizer.]]''

** A second superprison was created in the Negative Zone dimension by Mr. Fantastic of the Fantastic Four, though it turned out that he was tricked into doing so as part of a plan by the Mad Thinker. Later, another prison was again built in the Zone, this time to hold the arrested superheroes during the ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' series; no reference is made to the previous one there (or the problems it faced.)

** ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'' introduces the Raft, an underwater prison apparently built for the sole purpose of containing the Avengers if they go rogue (or, really, any superpowered individuals, but we only ever see it used for that purpose). [[spoiler:Following the airport fight, it's used to contain Hawkeye, Ant-Man, Falcon, and Scarlet Witch, although Steve, Natasha and Bucky break them out after defeating Iron Man at the HYDRA facility in Siberia.]] It's essentially the MCU's version of Prison 42 from the original ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' storyline, which was an extra-''dimensional'' prison used by Iron Man and his allies to hold non-registered superheroes before their trial.

* Chateau d'If, most famous for its role in ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo'', was a real-life island in the middle of nowhere to keep political prisoners who were too important to kill locked up. No real prisoner ever escaped.

* LetsPlay/{{Ivorycello}}: Every place where Ivorycello is imprisoned is considered inescapable, and yet she manages an escape every time. Many of the prisons take inspiration from Pandora's Vault[[note]]while Ivory's videos wouldn't be canon to the Dream SMP, it could be vice versa as she references Sam as Pandora's warden on multiple occasions[[/note]], and expand upon its ideas even further:

* ''Literature/TheFourLordsOfTheDiamond'': The Warden Diamond is a solar system with four habitable planets infested by a microrganism that kills anyone who tries to leave, making for one huge, seemingly inescapable prison colony.

* ''ComicBook/StarWarsDoctorAphra'' has Accresker Prison, the Imperial PrisonShip that Aphra ends up imprisoned on during the "Catastrophe Con" arc. There's no cells, no bars, just no way to escape except into space and [[ExplosiveLeash implants]] that'll blow you up if you get too far from your assigned hubdroid. And when Aphra does find a way to escape, she finds that that's just the cherry on top to the actual security system, [[spoiler: a Force spirit haunting the halls sabotaging any and all escape attempts]].
** The parallel series ''ComicBook/StarWarsMarvel2015'' has Sunspot Prison, which is built and maintained by the Rebellion to keep Imperial [=POWs=]. It's a space station kept in low orbit around a sun, barely far enough out to not be disintegrated. No one actually manages to escape, since the storyline set there revolves around an insane former rebel agent who, following a personal encounter with Palpatine, figures that people who work for the empire don't deserve to live.

LISTEN UP, convicts! Welcome to The Alcatraz, the prison where you'll spend the rest of your lives. Around here, we like to call this place "[[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace The Rock]]". And I'm your new god, [[WardensAreEvil Warden Evil]]. But you'll call me "Sir".

I'm sure you've heard of this place. We're on an island surrounded by shark-infested boiling acid. There are guard towers every twenty feet and more [[{{Mooks}} faceless guards]] than you've had warm meals. The walls are made of titanium, and our AA guns will shoot down any flyer that approaches. The only way off this miserable spit of land is a narrow bridge that's watched 24/7, with explosives rigged so we can destroy it at a moment's notice. We've got a perfect zero-escape record here, and we're ''not'' going to lose it. So don't even think about trying to bust out, you miserable swine, or you'll end up a blackened skull. I don't know what heinous crimes you committed... or maybe you were [[MiscarriageOfJustice wrongfully convicted]] by some KangarooCourt... BUT IT DOESN'T MATTER NOW! You're all scum in my eyes, and there's no hope for any of you.

Well, except for you, Mr. Protagonist and your RagtagBunchOfMisfits. I'm ''[[SarcasmMode sure]]'' a combination of [[IndyPloy blind luck]], [[AirVentPassageway poorly-guarded air vents]], [[TheGuardsMustBeCrazy the stupidity of my own men]], and {{Deus Ex Machina}}s will be enough to let you pull off a GreatEscape and continue on your quest. It's almost inevitable, whether you're escaping yourself or getting someone else out. No one's ever escaped from here before, so of ''course'' you'll be the ones to do it. Well, enjoy your time here, [[YouRebelScum you scum]]. God knows it won't be long, one way or the other. Now, guards! Take 'em to their cells and let 'em rot!

What? Who says we're TemptingFate? Wha-- oh, ''all right'', there was ''one'' guy years ago, but he became a LivingLegend for escaping, and we've ''tripled'' the security since. You ain't half the man he was, and on top of that, no one ever saw him again. All he ''[[PyrrhicVictory escaped]]'' into was Hell! ''(EvilLaugh)''

Oh, and just so you know -- this ain't your daddy's CardboardPrison. Folks've been breaking out of that one for years now. Sometimes we make special precautions for a particularly bad inmate: a TailorMadePrison that takes advantage of some AchillesHeel you super freaks have, or a Room101 for when prisoners need ColdBloodedTorture or a FateWorseThanDeath in order to behave. [[HellholePrison We can be really nasty if we want to be]]. Ain't no one gonna remember you now. Might as well go to a [[EpiphanicPrison happy place]] now, scum.

SuperTrope to DeadlyEnvironmentPrison. Compare PrisonShip and PenalColony.

* ''Franchise/LupinIII'': The real life Trope Namer appears in titular anime film ''Anime/LupinIIIAlcatrazConnection'' where it plays an important factor in the story.

* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' has [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Tartarus]], a prison designed to contain supervillains. It has a rather impressive track record, considering that this is a world without any conveniently available PowerNullifier, [[HellholePrison but it certainly violates a long list of human rights and Geneva conventions]]. Its most high-profile prisoner, [[BigBad All For One]] is kept immobilized with his brainwaves and heart rate monitored at all times. His cell is bare, except for the guns that will automatically kill him if his heart rate ever increases or he so much as ''considers'' escaping. All For One admits that even ''he'' couldn't break in or out of here on his own. [[spoiler:So he stages a simultaneous and coordinated mass-break out ''and'' break-in thanks to his PsychicLink with Shigaraki after transfering the All for One Quirk to him, launching the latter with Shigaraki and the Near High-Ends to distract the guards into forcing a lockdown before cutting the power and then releasing his main body and all the high-profile criminals to run amuck inside the prison to enact the former. The result is as swift as it is brutal.]]

* ''Literature/{{Holes}}'': Camp Green Lake. Mr. Sir even points out that there are no towers, fences, or barbed wire. The kids are free to run off anytime they want, but there's no way they'd last more than three days. They would die either from thirst or the hostile fauna. Even the guns most of the staff carry on them aren't for keeping the kids in line, they're for killing any stray scorpions or yellow-spotted lizards that enter the camp.

* Several in Russia, such as White Swan (in Solikamsk), Black Dolphin (in Sol Iletsk), Fire Island (in Vologda Oblast). These supermaxes were built for ''[[TheMafiya vory]]'', Chechen terrorists and similar especially dangerous criminals sentenced to lifetime imprisonment. Another one, infamous in Mafiya and gopnik circles, is the Vladimir Central. There is a ''shanson'' song dedicated to it. Note that Russian supermaxes are either from the Tsarist times (like the Vladimir Central) or [[UsefulNotes/TheNewRussia recently built]]. The Soviets did not believe in this trope, using either lax but very distant, frozen penal colonies or the death penalty.

* ''Literature/{{Worm}}'': The Birdcage is a prison fitted into a mountain where a hole in a wall creates a deadly vacuum. It is designed to have people go in and never come out. So far, it has been successful. As there are no guards in the Birdcage, it's basically run entirely by the supervillains contained within, and so while supplies are sent in, it's also a HellholePrison. [[spoiler: Surprisingly, the Birdcage remains unbroken throughout the story... while some villains do get out of it in the end, that's only because they were ''let out'' in order to [[GodzillaThreshold get their help against a world-ending threat]].]]

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_State_Penitentiary Louisiana State Penitentiary]] (also known as "Angola"), a large [[PrisonersWork prison farm]] in central Louisiana, is literally nicknamed [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast "Alcatraz of the South."]] Surrounded by the Mississippi River on three sides, and a range of hills on the other, the prison has only seen one successful escape, carried out by five men in December 1956.

* Chateau d'If, most famous for its role in ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo'', was a real life island in the middle of nowhere to keep political prisoners who were too important to kill locked up. No real prisoner ever escaped.

* All of West Berlin for an inverted example. East Germany spent enormous amounts of money to keep people from ''breaking in''.

* Portlaoise Prison in the Republic of Ireland contains Ireland's most dangerous criminals, members of dangerous drug gangs and criminals serving life sentences for serious crime. A number of Irish Republican prisoners are still in the old E Block. Anyone charged under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act must be sent to the prison because of its unique security measures. The prison has a capacity for 399 prisoners, but because of the security sensitive nature of its inmates, it operates below this capacity. A large number of well armed Irish Defence Forces soldiers guard the prison 24 hours a day, making it one of the most secure prisons in Europe. The security features include a army detachment consisting of approx Company strength, armed with assault rifles and anti-aircraft machine guns, who guard the prison complex. An air exclusion zone operates over the entire complex. The perimeter consists of high walls, cameras, sensors and acres of tank traps.

* During World War II, Nazi Concentration camps were a subversion, as they were neither escape-proof, nor sneak-proof. Alongside people who smuggled various objects inside, who spied and relayed some bits of info to partisans or Allied spies, who helped some prisoners to escape, the prisoners themselves were usually taken out for forced labor in quarries, construction sites or armament factories. The secrecy of UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust was not maintained by guarding those ''living'' inside, but by [[NightmareFuel exterminating most of the new arrivals in the first three hours after disembarking from trains]].

* Her Majesty's Prison Peterhead was described as "Scotland's gulag." It is an old, Victorian era building, initially serving prisoners doing hard labour. It only got electricity in 2005, and as of then still didn't have flush toilets for prisoners. It was closed and converted to a prison museum in 2016.
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spike_Island,_County_Cork Spike Island]] was this when it was used as a prison. In 1985, a riot occurred culminating in the prisoners burning down one of the prison blocks. Of course, they were all rounded up, as getting off the island without a boat was impossible.

* Tadmor Military Prison in Syria, home of rebels and political dissidents. The prison can only be accessed through a single long tunnel, through which those wishing to get in must ''crawl''. During the 1980s, it was infamous as somewhere the regime cast people too important to execute but too dangerous to release - it was nothing more than a hole for them to die in. Closed during the 1990s, it has now been re-opened to hold rebel prisoners taken in the ongoing Syrian Civil War. Completely destroyed by the so-called Islamic State or ISIL after they captured Palymra in May 2015.

* South Africa has Robben Island, located right off the coast of Cape Town. A small, barren lime quarry of an island, this is where anti-Apartheid activist Nelson Mandela spent most of his years in prison. During his imprisonment, intellectual activity was active on that island, hence calling it a "university". Nowadays, it's a tourist attraction and a World Heritage Site.

** The Nest of Maggots, a prison where Shinigami who are deemed too dangerous to be free are imprisoned. No magic weapons are allowed, so all personnel are required to have sufficient hand-to-hand abilities to suppress any prisoner. Most prisoners are allowed to walk freely through the main chamber, while a rare few like Kurotsuchi Mayuri are chained in locked cells.

''If you came here looking for the 2012 series, it's [[Series/{{Alcatraz}} here]]. If you're looking for the Creator/BrandonSanderson book series, it's [[Literature/AlcatrazSeries here]].''

Greetings, convicts. Welcome to The Alcatraz. Around here, we like to call this place "[[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace The Rock]]". I'm sure you've heard of this place. We're on an island surrounded by boiling acid that just happens to be [[ThreateningShark infested with sharks]]. There are guard towers every twenty feet and there are more {{Mooks}} here than you've had warm meals. The only way on or off this miserable spit of land is a narrow bridge, with explosives wired to it so we can destroy it at a moment's notice. We've got a perfect record here, and we're not going to lose it. So don't think about trying to escape, you miserable swine, you're likely to end up a blackened skull. There's no hope for any of you.

Well, except for you, Mr. Protagonist and your RagtagBunchOfMisfits. I'm ''[[SarcasmMode sure]]'' a combination of [[IndyPloy blind luck]], [[AirVentPassageway poorly guarded air vents]], [[TheGuardsMustBeCrazy the stupidity of my own men]], and {{Deus Ex Machina}}s will be enough to ensure that you escape and continue on your quest. It's almost inevitable, whether you're breaking a loved one out or just escaping yourself. No one's ever escaped from here before, so of ''course'' you'll be the ones to pull it off. So enjoy your time here, [[YouRebelScum you scum.]] God knows you won't be here long. Now, guards! Take them to their cells, and let them rot!

What? Who says we're TemptingFate? What - oh, ''all right'', there was ''one'' guy years ago, but he became a LivingLegend for escaping, and we've ''tripled'' the security since. ''You'' ain't half the man he was, and on top of that, no one ever saw that guy again. All he ''[[PyrrhicVictory escaped]]'' into was Hell! ''(EvilLaugh)''

Oh, and just so you scum know -- this ain't your daddy's CardboardPrison. Folks have been breaking out of that one for years now. Sometimes we make special precautions for a particularly bad prisoner: a TailorMadePrison that takes advantage of an AchillesHeel you super freaks have or a {{Room 101}} whenever prisoners need ColdBloodedTorture or a FateWorseThanDeath in order to behave. [[HellholePrison We can be really nasty if we want to be.]] Ain't no one gonna remember you now. Might as well go to a [[EpiphanicPrison happy place]] now, scum.

SuperTrope to DeadlyEnvironmentPrison. Compare PenalColony.

* Hinohara and Kotoha from ''Manga/ArataTheLegend'' are sent to Gotoya for the crime that Arata was framed for.

** The Nest of Maggots, a prison where Shinigami who are deemed too dangerous to be free are imprisoned. No zanpakutos are allowed, so all personnel are required to have sufficient hand-to-hand abilities to suppress any prisoner. Most prisoners are allowed to walk freely through the main chamber, while a rare few like Kurotsuchi Mayuri can also be chained in locked cells.

* Chorh-Gom Prison, the mountain prison that holds Tai Lung in ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda1''. He's the only prisoner, chained to the floor in a deep pit, wearing a tortoise shell-shaped suit with acupuncture needles that keep him paralyzed, and covered from above by massive crossbows at all times. There are one thousand guards responsible for containing him alone. [[spoiler:He obtains one solitary feather, picks the lock and defeats the defenses in a few minutes.]]

* Chorh-Gom Prison, the mountain prison that holds Tai Lung in ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda''. He's the only prisoner, chained to the floor in a deep pit, wearing a tortoise shell-shaped suit with acupuncture needles that keep him paralyzed, and covered from above by massive crossbows at all times. There are one thousand guards responsible for containing him alone. [[spoiler:He obtains one solitary feather, picks the lock and defeats the defenses in a few minutes.]]

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': Impel Down seen above as the page picture. It probably takes the cake as ''the'' worst prison in fiction. The only exit is also the entrance, as it is surrounded entirely by water. Even if a prisoner were to somehow escape, they would be stuck since many inmates have eaten Devil Fruits, which gives people superpowers but also [[SuperDrowningSkills robs them of the ability to swim]]. Even if you were able to swim, you would end up being eaten because the waters surrounding the prison are infested with Sea Monsters and Sea Kings. The only way to escape would be to steal a ship and somehow navigate past the fleet of battleships protecting the prison while also making it through the Gate of Justice before the prison staff closes it, assuming it's even open in the first place. Even if you manage to do ''that'', the water currents past the Gate of Justice only leads to two locations, the Government Island of Enies Lobby and the Military base at Marineford. And even then, that's only if they open the respective Gate of Justice leading to the location, otherwise, you will be stuck riding the current forever. It has six levels, each progressively worse than the last to house progressively dangerous criminals and is filled with things just waiting to kill the unlucky prisoners.

** To highlight just how bad this prison is, one need only look at the two successful attempts to escape it. The only self-escapee had to ''cut off his feet'' and use his rare power of flight to escape. Luffy's break-''in'' and escape with 241 other prisoners was only possible because of the Head Jailer position being vacant at that particular moment, the assistance and chaos of the entire populations of Levels 5, 5.5, and 6, Buggy, Mr. 3, and the timely intervention of the Blackbeard Pirates, one of the strongest crews in the world. WordOfGod later stated there was a third escapee that was never discovered, a man who had the ability [[TunnelKing to push through rock like soft clay]] which he used to burrow out under the sea floor (and was the one who created Level 5.5).