Penal Colony: Difference between revisions

And the winds a-blowin' gale,<br />

I'd rather have drowned in misery<br />

 

What to do with criminals is a problem for societies real and fictional. One common solution in times past and perhaps [[Recycled in Space|future]] is the Penal Colony. This is a self-contained society consisting mostly of prisoners and those who guard them, usually separated from the civilized world by natural barriers in addition to (or instead of) prison walls; in science fiction, it may be a whole Prison Planet whose [[Planet of Hats|Hat]] is an orange jumpsuit. Typically the prisoners will be required to do some sort of hard and dangerous labor; mining is a favorite in [[Science Fiction]].

== Anime and Manga ==

* Hecatonchires in ''[[Outlaw Star]]''

{{quote| '''Agito:''' You know, this place is really great.<br />

'''Lutecia''': You mean you can't see that it's a criminal deportation world?<br />

'''Agito''': That's not what I mean. It's not a penal colony. [[No Except Yes|It's a world that people are currently adapting and developing]]. }}

* The Abh wind up conquering one of these in ''[[Crest of the Stars|Banner of the Stars II]]''. Lafiel is put in charge of figuring out what to so with the inhabitants, much to her displeasure, specifically the guards and some of the female prisoners who want ''off''.

* In ''[[Gun X Sword]]'', Endless Illusion was originally a prison world. {{spoiler|The Original Seven were used by the heads of security, and the Claw was once one of those in charge. He's also the last person who remembers the details.}}

* One of these exists at the beginning of the Filler Arc in ''[[Naruto]]'' {{spoiler|The corrupt teacher from waaaay back at the start of the series is there, and he's been experimenting with spells that could best be described as the wizarding-ninja equivalent of steroids. He gets out, and Naruto and the other Leaf Ninja have to stop him.}}

* ''[[Guy Double Target]]'' has Heel as the warden of the Prison Planet Geo in which women are used as sex slaves for male prisoners as a reward.

 

== Comic Books ==

* The Mines of Titan and the various Cursed Earth work farms in ''[[Judge Dredd]]''

* Takron-Galtos, the [[Legion of Super-Heroes]]' favorite dumping ground for cosmic baddies.

* The British 1980's science fiction comic ''Starblazer'' had a number of these.

** Issue 7 "Holocaust Hogan". Zeta-9 was the main colony in use by Earth forces. It held a large number of hardened criminals and was protected by a detachment of guard ships.

== Film ==

* Butcher Bay and Crematoria in ''[[The Chronicles of Riddick]]''

* Fury 161 from ''[[Alien]] 3''.

 

 

* In Peter Hamilton's ''Night's Dawn'' trilogy, serious criminals were suitably equipped with survival gear, and then sent on a one-way trip to the surface of a penal planet, where they would be effectively cut off from all modern (and indeed, not so modern) benefits of human civilisation, and left to fend for themselves for the rest of their lives.

* This is where one of Kafka's short stories (In the Penal Colony) takes place. The focus of the story, however, is on an upcoming execution....

* The planet Dagoola IV in the [[Vorkosigan Saga]] story ''Borders of Infinity'', from which Miles engineers a mass escape.

* In [[Robert Heinlein]]'s ''The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress'', part of the moon was a penal colony, but the Authority running the place treated the whole thing as such.

* The [[I Don't Like the Sound of That Place|marvellously named]] planet Despayre in the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]], the original construction site for the Death Star (and the first casualty of the [[Death Star]] superlaser). There are also others that tend to end up in this kind of role, such as the spice mines of Kessel.

* In J. K. Rowling's ''[[Harry Potter]]'' series, Azkaban, the wizard prison, was such an example, being an island in the middle of the north sea. As it was run by dark creatures who eventually let the prisoners escape it was a cardboard prison.

* Botany in the ''Catteni'' books. The similarities to the settlement of Australia are numerous and explicit.

* "A Planet Named Shayol" by [[Cordwainer Smith]] took place on a very unusual prison planet.

* In [[Sergey Lukyanenko]]'s ''[[Seekers of the Sky]]'', the Isles of Sorrow are a penal colony where the condemned mine iron for the rest of their lives (usually, pretty short thanks to the conditions).

* The setting of ''[[A Planet Called Treason]]'' is a penal planet for the leaders of a rebellion and their descendants. A lack of metal keeps the inhabitants on the surface while the rest of the galaxy profits from their otherwise advanced technology which is offered up for pittances of metal.

 

 

* ''[[Blake's Seven|Blakes Seven]] '' had Cygnus Alpha.

* The ''[[Space: 1999]]'' episode "Devil's Moon" had a prison moon.

** The ''Whom Gods Destroy'' episode of the Original Series centres around a penal colony for the criminally insane, the Elba II asylum.

* Desperus in the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' serial "The Daleks' Masterplan".

** In "Frontier In Space", the Doctor is sent to one on the Moon.

** The ultimate example from that show, though, may be Shada, prison planet of the Time Lords.

** One of these was a world where the gate had no dialing device, although, if you happen to find a power source, you can just dial manually.

* ''[[Buck Rogers in The 25th Century]]'' had Buck visit a world which seemed at first like a charming pastoral community. Then you find out that they aren't this low-tech voluntarily...

 

== Theater ==

 

 

 

== Web Comics ==

* A minor running gag in ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]]'' is that the [[Space Pirates|Pirates of Ipecac]] don't want to be sent to the Lint Mines of Dustworld. "The dust bunnies! Shudder!"

* The Eye in ''[[The Lydian Option]]'' is a self-contained asteroid prison with few rules - the guards rarely intervene in fights between prisoners unless directly threatened.

== Web Original ==

* ''[[Tech Infantry]]'' had the Federation penal colony in the R45 system, which was also a [[Death World]].