History Main / TheAlcatraz

** There's the Vault, the Big House, and the Raft mentioned in the ComicBooks section, while also using the Cube, a prison specifically designed to deal with [[ILoveNuclearPower gamma-powered supervillains.]] [[CardboardPrison The series is kicked off by a simultaneous jailbreak from all four prisons.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/ArcaneLeagueOfLegends'': Stillwater Prison is a prison fort off the coast holding criminals captured throughout Piltover and Zaun. The prison goes up to at least 40 floors, and has cells acting as solitary confinement for prisoners.

* ''Rainbow Islands'', a sequel to ''VideoGame/BubbleBobble'' features [[spoiler:a mountaintop prison on an island that is ''fully underwater''. Bub finds out that eleven victims have been [[BalefulPolymorph transformed into bubble dragons]] and locked in small individual cells in the prison, and proceeds to make its island rise to the surface. Here's hoping Bub can reach them and not [[ItsAWonderfulFailure suffer that fate himself.]]]]

* 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 still doesn't have flush toilets for prisoners.

* ''Fanfic/ThisBites'' already has Impel Down as per ''Manga/OnePiece'' canon, but takes things further with the reveal of the Never Day Isle of Nox Vestibule, aka "The Seventh Hell — the Hell of Darkness". Located in the North Blue "in the shadow of the Red Line", this is the World Nobles' ''personal jail'', their dumping ground for all who have ever dared to openly challenge the iron grip the World Nobles have on the world; political prisoners, dissidents and revolutionaries of all kind. It's a massive labyrinthine fortress full of traps and monsters, overseen by the most ruthless and heartless guards the World Nobles can get. Prisoners are thrown in and left to rot, devolving into feral, cannibalistic beasts. It's a place so foul that the World Nobles ''[[EveryoneHasStandards didn't trust Impel Down to enact it]]''; [[UpToEleven let that sink in]]. The only people who know it exists are the guards and the denizens of Mariejois, who actually broadcast the suffering and degradation of the prisoners from the island to their city as entertainment for the World Nobles. [[spoiler: And guess where Cross ends up after the Straw Hats were split up?]]

*** The Boiling Rock is one of the most over-the-top examples that isn't for humor: It's a maximum security prison, on a tiny island, in a lake ''heated to boiling'' by hydrothermal vents, [[UpToEleven in the caldera of a remote volcanic island]], so that the only way in or out is an aerial tram to the docks. [[spoiler:Sokka and Zuko break out Suki, Hakoda, and a random inmate named Chit Sang who overheard their escape plans ("Hey, I'm new")]].

* The most secure prison in the United States is ADX ("Administrative Maximum Facility") Florence, the "Alcatraz of the Rockies", opened in 1994 as a containment facility for inmates too dangerous for even maximum security. Just for starters ADX is part of a four-prison complex surrounded by open ground and is at the far end of the prison access road watched by almost a dozen guard towers. Inmates at higher security levels never see another inmate, are forbidden phone calls, and cell windows view only the sky to prevent inmates from knowing where they are. In addition there are the razor-wire fence, hundreds of security cameras, 1400 steel doors, and various other security devices. As a result of the massive security, ADX's [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADX_Florence#Notable_current_inmates inmate list]] is a Who's Who of international drug lords and terrorists.

** The one truly escapee from La Gorgona Daniel Camargo Barbosa, a psychotic serial murderer and rapist managed to escape on September 24, 1984. During his time as a fugitive in Ecuador, he raped and murdered between 72 and 180 young girls [[WouldHurtAChild with his last victim being a 9 year old girl.]] He was eventually captured by the Ecuadorian government and sentenced to 16 years in prison, [[LaserGuidedKarma where he was murdered in 1989 by a nephew of one his victims.]]

* ''Anime/LupinIIIDeadOrAlive'' has the jail for Zufu, which boasts that are only two ways out. Death by natural causes, and death by execution. To prove that, they annually select prisoners and give them a WinYourFreedom challenge, playing the prey while [[HuntingTheMostDangerousGame the guards try to kill them.]]
** ''Anime/LupinIIIAlcatrazConnection'' clearly counts, too, as Alcatraz itself is a important factor of the story.

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

* Azkaban from Creator/JKRowling's ''Literature/HarryPotter'' combines the "rock in the middle of the sea" with guardian creatures called Dementors who [[EmotionEater suck all happy feelings out of you]], mentally breaking the prisoners down down before they can escape. It's stated that Azkaban has high iron walls but doesn't need them, since the Dementors imprison inmates in their own minds. Nonetheless, the following people managed to escape:
** Sirius Black broke out in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban'', because he could transform himself into a dog which has less complicated emotions than a human (and thus couldn't be sensed by the Dementors). He kept himself (more or less) sane by reflecting on [[spoiler:the fact that he had been betrayed]], which was not a happy thought, and therefore could not feed the Dementors. He remains the only known individual to break out without help.
** Barty Crouch Junior also broke out of Azkaban as revealed in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire''. In this case, his dying mother switched places with him, and the blind Dementors only sensed one person coming in, one going out.

* ''Anime/DeadLeaves'' sticks one on the Moon.

* ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean]]'' has Green Dolphin Street Prison, also known as "The Aquarium" due to being built on an island off of Florida. Its offshore location keeps prisoners from escaping without aquatic transport, and many guards patrol the place to keep prisoners in their place, including Corrections Captain Miuccia Miuller, whose stand, Jailhouse Lock, is able to prevent even other Stand Users from escaping the prison. The prison also houses the Ultra Security House Unit, where exceptionally violent prisoners are housed, being kept on one meal and one shower a day, as well as having the majority of their privileges removed.

** 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 arc BigBad [[spoiler:Crocodile]], and the target of Luffy's intrusion into the place: [[spoiler: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.

* ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'': The titular prison is an interesting example: Inmates are dumped into the Gotham Slums that were converted into a massive prison, and allowed to do anything they want if they don't try to escape. If they do, the guards are authorized to kill them. While most Batman media usually uses CardboardPrison for the Arkham Asylum and Blackgate Penitentiary, Arkham City averts this, the only person to escape it was Black Mask, and he was recaptured and the security was reinforced, since the criminals are free to do whatever they want, it becomes a hellhole where villains, especially the Joker, Two-Face and the Penguin are fighting each other for territory, and it seems that some villains don't even want to leave.

* An actual map in the ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsII'' "Uprising" map pack. You play as four Prohibition gangsters who planned to fly out of Alcatraz itself with a makeshift plane. They actually could do it, except that this is a zombies map, and of course, zombies are rampaging everywhere. [[spoiler:The main protagonists were [[PlotTwist actually already dead]], because they killed one of their own before they started the plan outright, and the other three were sent to the electric chair as a result. They're not in the real world in fact, but in a purgatory of some sort. Unless Albert, one of the gangsters, kills the other three at the climax of the easter egg, they will continue the cycle of death and rebirth, ''[[FateWorseThanDeath over and over again]].'']]

* In ''VideoGame/DestroyAllHumans 2'', the expy of San Francisco level has an expy of Alcatraz just off the shore called The Rock. At the time it is used as the secret base for the KGB.

* Corel Prison in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' ''can'' be escaped from...the problem is, it's in the middle of an endless desert and you'd probably die of thirst before you made it out. The desert has quicksand too.
* The D-District Prison in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' is pretty hard to escape from, given that it sics guards with Sleep spell training on you, lots of monsters and mechs of varying types, has powerful anti magic barriers, and requires heavy machinery to even reach certain parts of the place. (The main body of the prison is actually three giant vertical screws, allowing it to dig into and out of the sand.) Like Corel prison, it is also in the middle of a desert - so even if the prisoner escapes, without any way of getting back safely, they're not going to be surviving.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' has Via Purifico, an underground labyrinth that even requires swimming to get anywhere. It can be escaped...but there's only one exit, so it's not exactly tough to guard and kill any survivors that make it out.
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyCrystalChroniclesTheCrystalBearers'', there is the Aerial Prison. a giant prison compound filled with deadly guard robots, laser defenses, etc. But the worst part is the fact that it is ''floating in the sky'', at such a height that jumping off would kill you. if you ''do'' manage to escape your cell, dodge the guard 'bots, make it outside, and somehow get to the ground without dying (our heroes ended up crashing the entire prison to get to the ground), all you've managed to do is land yourself in the Prison Sands, ''another'' desert-based prison located directly beneath.

* The Wall in ''Fleeing the Complex'' from the ''VideoGame/HenryStickminSeries'' is a prison that is said to contain the most notorious criminals ever. Their guards are equipped with {{Boom Stick}}s, there are tanks patrolling the yard, sick (or [[PlayingSick 'sick']]) inmates are all thrown in a room together with anything from radioactivity to a mild cough, dead (or [[FakingTheDead 'dead']]) inmates get thrown off the cliff, and [[VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys Freddy freakin' Fazbear]] is in a shed outside. [[spoiler:In the final scene for the Convict Allies ending]], the warden states that there has never been a single incident in the last ''50 years'', and [[spoiler:in the final choice for the Presumed Dead ending]], he says that he is truly impressed by how far Henry managed to get.

* Gerudo Fortress in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'', Forsaken Fortress in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'', and the catacombs of Hyrule Castle and the Arbiter's Grounds in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess''. The latter's inmates on death row couldn't be killed by normal means, so they were instead banished to another dimension. Its only known "escapee" is Ganondorf himself, though he actually escaped as he was being sent there and needed the Triforce of Power to do so.

* ''VideoGame/MightAndMagic X'' features Fort Laegaire in the ''The Falcon & the Unicorn'' DLC. Named for Laegaire the Mad, the Emperor of the Holy Falcon Empire who commissioned the prison, Fort Laegaire is located on a small island far out at sea (too far for any non-amphibious being to swim to shore from), has its wall enchanted so that magic can't pass out of them (stopping magical calls for help. The fort has a balcony which is open enough to not be subject to that, but the only entrance to it is from the commandant's office), and features an extensive aerial defence system, stopping anyone from approaching or leaving via air. The prison function was supposedly abandoned after Laegaire's death, with the fort later re-purposed as a base for anti-piracy operations by the Unicorn Duchy, but in actually the Duke of Unicorn has maintained it as a prison, using it to dump any people he wants or needs to 'disappear' without such pesky things as trials. It ''would'' still be a proper Alcatraz, but is compromised by the guards being corrupt and/or dissatisfied with what is going on. Combine that with your characters being imprisoned ''after'' beating the main game...
* The Gulag in ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare 2''. The player character has to go there at one point to break out one specific prisoner.

* ''VideoGame/Sly2BandOfThieves'' has Sly and Murray thrown into one of these in the 4th chapter at the hands of The Contessa. The only way for them to break out is for Bentley to break ''in''.

* ''Videogame/SunlessSkies:'' Piranesi is a culmination, in that it had to be built in a region where [[WorldOfChaos the laws of reality had come loose]] in order to be made utterly inescapable. The cells and doors barely even do anything, because the real thing keeping everyone in is the utterly strange AlienGeometries. You simply cannot make progress physically, because you'll quickly loop right to where you started. Only by advancing ''[[CharacterDevelopment as a person]]'' can you make any sort of movement at all around the place. Only the wardens can move around freely (and escort visitors), but even they cannot get you out right off even if they wanted to once you're imprisoned; the best they can do is counsel you, to help you move on and finally leave as a reformed individual. Though [[BodyHorror physical change]] works too, and some of your stronger traits [[EnemyWithout might follow you home]]. And no one said [[FallenHero becoming a much worse individual]] didn't count as change, either...

* Several facilities of the ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'' function as prisons designed to protect the world from the dangers of supernatural and hide it from the public to protect the [[{{Main/Masquerade}} Masquerade]], prisoners can be monsters, humans with powers or curses, [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]], [[{{Main/RealityWarper}} Reality Warpers]] and abstract paranormal events, those places are also laboratories where the supernatural is studied with many unethical experiments.

** The Foundation also has prisoners called D-Class, normal humans that are used in experiments with the [=SCPs=], most of them die or worse, or even get straight-up sacrificed because [[{{Main/RedShirt}} dying for science is part of their job]], most of the D-Class personnel are criminals that were sentenced to death anyway. Traitors to the Foundation or people from groups who use or create anomalies for their own selfish goals can also be arrested and used as D-Class.

* The Birdcage in ''Literature/{{Worm}}''. It's 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]].]]

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'':
** The Fire Nation keeps captive Earthbenders on a giant steel platform way out to sea. The lack of any earth to bend keeps prisoners down, even when Katara makes a RousingSpeech, until the others grab a huge load of coal, which the Earthbenders ''can'' work with. One of the reasons [[Film/TheLastAirbender the movie]] was so disliked was that they dropped the "out to sea" part, keeping the Earthbenders in a ''quarry''.
** The Boiling Rock is one of the most over-the-top examples that isn't for humor: It's a maximum security prison, on a tiny island, in a lake ''heated to boiling'' by hydrothermal vents, [[UpToEleven in the caldera of a remote volcanic island]], so that the only way in or out is an aerial tram to the docks. [[spoiler:Sokka and Zuko break out Suki, Hakoda, and a random inmate named Chit Sang who overheard their escape plans ("Hey, I'm new")]].

* Early in Book 3 of ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', the four members of the Red Lotus get one of these each. Each one is tailor made to restrict their abilities. [[spoiler:The cells held them for 13 years and even then they only failed because their leader gained Air Bending, through what was basically a miracle.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/StormHawks'' has the Cyclonian prison on Terra [[SdrawkcabName Zartacla]]. Since the actual prison complex is surrounded by a dense jungle, escaping the prison proper doesn't mean you're home free. What's more is that [[WardensAreEvil Mr. Moss]] keeps dangerous animals bred for tracking down escapees. And since a 'Terra' in WesternAnimation/StormHawks means a tall peak surrounded by a volcanic wasteland, without a pre-arranged ride, you'd be out of luck. Aerrow manages to escape and spends the episode dodging Mr. Moss' forces until his friends [[spoiler:(who by this time have freed the ''rest'' of the prison while it was left defenseless because Moss called all of his men on the search)]] come to rescue him.

* ''Film/{{Fortress 1992}}'' is a feature-length escape from a futuristic Alcatraz, the titular "Fortress" (located on a bunker deep underground, run by a sadistic warden and an equally nasty MasterComputer, with intestinal [[ExplosiveLeash Explosive Leashes]], nightly [[MindRape Mind Rapes]], automated [[SentryGun Sentry Guns]] and heavily-armed cyborg MechaMooks). ''Fortress 2'' is a feature-length escape, by the same character, from a different futuristic Alcatraz. In space.

* This is the premise of the film ''Film/NoEscape'': the protagonist has broken out of ''five'' Alcatraz-type prisons which are really nothing more than tombs for the living, so the Warden dumps him in his private project -- a DesertedIsland surrounded by automated gunboats programmed to [[ClosedCircle kill anyone who tries to leave]].

* This trope is [[InvokedTrope invoked]] by a FanNickname of a certain {{speedrunning}}/SequenceBreaking trick in ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'' -- wall-jumping and quick-morphing to get out of a certain pit in the game without using the intended mechanic for leaving it. The trick is pretty difficult, and the pit is otherwise impossible to escape except by picking up the item the game tries to force you to get. (This trick in turn becomes very useful in the VideoGameRandomizer version of this game, as it allows the randomizer script to place a greater variety of items in that location.)

* in ''Literature/DisAcedia'' the titular setting ''is'' the Alcatraz. Dis is an another dimension that functions as an inescapable Hell plane with even more horrible pocket dimensions and worlds inside of it and guarded by Lazarus' monstrous Divs along with countless other horrors, traps, and monsters locking in its inmates.

* Tarrafal (aka Chão Bom in the Sixties and Seventies) in UsefulNotes/CapeVerde was a combination of this and PenalColony for [[UsefulNotes/AntonioDeOliveiraSalazar New State]] opponents and colonial independence fighters. Located 350 miles off the West African coast in the Atlantic Ocean where escape was impossible. It was also infamous for the overall bad conditions of the place, as well as the ''frigideira'' ("frying pan"), an isolation unit made entirely of zink in which - due to being completely closed as well as the climate being tropical - many prisoners died of insolation.

* The Rank 23 stage in ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes2DesperateStruggle''.

* ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'' has the Raft, which holds the Avengers' most dangerous enemies, including [[FlyingBrick Count]] [[EnergyBeing Nefaria]], ComicBook/TheJuggernaut, the Abomination, the Leader, and the Absorbing Man, as well as open cells for Magneto (in case he pulls a FaceHeelTurn again) and Bruce Banner (at his own request). It's been running for a few years, and the only escape was engineered as a BatmanGambit by Fury to catch out the Red Room.

** 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.

* This trope is [[InvokedTrope invoked]] by a FanNickname of a certain {{speedrunning}}`/SequenceBreaking trick in ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'' -- wall-jumping and quick-morphing to get out of a certain pit in the game without using the intended mechanic for leaving it. The trick is pretty difficult, and the pit is otherwise impossible to escape except by picking up the item the game tries to force you to get. (This trick in turn becomes very useful in the VideoGameRandomizer version of this game, as it allows the randomizer script to place a greater variety of items in that location.)

* The most secure prison in the United States is ADX ("Administrative Maximum Facility") Florence, the "Alcatraz of the Rockies", opened in 1994 as a containment facility for inmates too dangerous for even maxiumum security. Just for starters ADX is part of a four-prison complex surrounded by open ground and is at the far end of the prison access road watched by almost a dozen guard towers. Inmates at higher security levels never see another inmate, are forbidden phone calls, and cell windows view only the sky to prevent inmates from knowing where they are. In addition there are the razor-wire fence, hundreds of security cameras, 1400 steel doors, and various other security devices. As a result of the massive security, ADX's [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADX_Florence#Notable_current_inmates inmate list]] is a Who's Who of international drug lords and terrorists.

* ''VideoGame/{{Xenoblade}}'' has the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin aptly-named]] Prison Island, though it's an inversion as the heroes are trying to get into it, rather than out of it. In fact, getting to Prison Island is arguably the driving force of the first stretch of the game or so, as [[TheHero Shulk]] sees it in a vision and wants to find out the meaning of it. [[spoiler: It isn't until the climax of the game that the prison's [[PainfulTransformation true]] [[ColonyDrop purpose]] is revealed.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/StormHawks'' has the Cyclonian prison on Terra [[SdrawkcabName Zartacla]]. Since the actual prison complex is surrounded by a dense jungle, escaping the prison proper doesn't mean you're home free. What's more, the warden, Mr. Moss keeps dangerous animals bred for tracking down escapees. And since a 'terra' in WesternAnimation/StormHawks means a tall peak surrounded by a volcanic wasteland, without a pre-arranged ride you'd be out of luck. Aerrow manages to escape, and spends the episode dodging Mr. Moss' forces until his friends [[spoiler:who by this time have freed the ''rest'' of the prison while it was left defenseless because Moss called all of his men on the search.]]