History Main / CondemnedContestant

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[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
%% * ''The Condemned''.

* The cinematic version of ''Film/TheRunningMan''. Here the cons are all political dissidents. Naturally Ben Richards (played by Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger) and his love interest Amber are framed innocents; Richards for refusing to open fire on innocent civilians (which is ironically what he is then framed for doing) and Amber for trying to expose the coverup. It also turns out that [[spoiler: no one ever wins -- whoever wins the competition is killed secretly and their appearances faked using video editing]].
* ''Film/TerminatorSalvation'' has Marcus as a willing donor.
* In ''Film/{{Virtuosity}}'', convicts are used to test the new (and inadvertently deadly) VR police training system. The hero is an ex-cop who in a break from the norm is actually guilty of the crime he was imprisoned for, although there were some pretty mitigating circumstances.

* Russel Crowe's character Maximus in ''Film/{{Gladiator}}''.
* ''Film/CubeZero'' implies that all the people inside the Cube are condemned criminals who have signed an agreement to be used as lab rats in the Cube. Their crimes are whatever the evil government deems them to be, however. [[spoiler:The Cube technicians are themselves also guinea pigs.]]
* In ''Film/{{Coneheads}}'', Beldar was sentenced to fight a monster for the crime of treason in a gladiator-like arena upon returning to Remulak, along with four other criminals. While the others were killed quickly, Beldar manages to use his [[ChekhovsHobby skill in golf]] that he learned on Earth to slay the beast, granting a pardon and privileged status in the process.
* A variant appears in the original 1975 ''Film/{{Rollerball}}''. The lethal gladiatorial titular game is designed to undermine the concept of individuality. This backfires when rollerball champion Jonathan E becomes a superstar, an iconic figure representing individual empowerment to the masses. The megacorporate types running this crapsack society then entrap Jonathan E in a match in which he alone has to face an opposing team of veteran killers.
* In ''Film/TheCondemned2007'', 10 condemned criminals from prisons around the world are pitted against another in a DeadlyGame on an island.
* In ''Film/TheJurassicGames'', death row inmates are hooked up to a LotusEaterMachine that puts them on an island with dinosaurs on them, and the rules are that the last person left alive can go home with a full pardon. However, anyone who gets eaten by a dinosaur, or killed by a fellow contestant in the simulation, will have their real body die in the real world.
* ''Film/TurkeyShoot'': In the 2014 film the plot is about a TV show (''Turkey Shoot'', of course) with convicted murderers hunted for sport, with a pardon if they win (none ever has).

* In Literature/TimeScout, ''Wagers of Sin'', Skeeter ends up in the arena, condemned as a thief.
* ''TheYearOfTheFlood'' has condemned criminals release into a lethal paintball-style arena tournament, for the entertainment of the wider population, its competitors are not treated sympathetically, being sent back into the competition until they are eliminated.
* From the Literature/{{Gor}} series:
** In ''Outlaw of Gor'', Tarl is tricked into breaking the law and condemned to "the [[GladiatorGames Games]] of Tharna," where prisoners are forced to compete in races (a group towing a large block of stone), one on one combat with horns attached to their restraining yokes, and as the ultimate punishment a man-vs-beast fight, which just so happens to be against Tarl's lost [[HorseOfADifferentColor tarn]], which he quickly frees and escapes on.
** In ''Assassins of Gor'', Tarl is once again condemned to gladiator games, this time as a part of a group of alleged prisoners, all of whom are allegedly blindfolded so they have to swipe about with their swords more or less randomly. In actuality only Tarl is a prisoner and is to be genuinely blindfolded; the other "prisoners" are all part of the King's guards and have gimmicked blindfolds they can see through.
* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' are held as a punishment for a rebellion against the Capitol more than seventy years in the past, so could be considered a particularly unfair example of this trope, especially since those forced to compete weren't even born when the rebellion took place.

* A variation in an episode of ''Series/{{Sliders}}'', where it's the trial that's a highly popular game show, in which guilt or innocence are decided based on the vote of the audience (both live and TV). "Lawyerly" tricks (including ''objections'') are disallowed, and attorneys who try them may get punished as a result. Apparently, the system is so effective that most people are afraid of picking up someone's dropped wallet for fear of being charged with theft and ending up on the show.

* In the TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}} Verse, televised blood sports from Aztlan usually ''claim'' to get all their contestants this way, although it's an open secret that some are simply shanghaied onto the programs.
* In Spectrum Game's TabletopGame/UrbanManhunt, the criminals that the players hunt have already been convicted and imprisoned in the country's walled-off prison cities. But many volunteer for the game because they are granted a full pardon if they survive to the end of the match.

* In the Dreamcast game ''Headhunter'' we learn that criminals imprisoned in the undersea-dome (so you could say it's sort of a [[Film/MadMaxBeyondThunderdome waterdome]]) get to fight each other to the death which then gets broadcast live on TV, the winner gets a shorter sentence and the loser gets to generously donate their organs. Maybe they just didn't like Wade but some criminals got much better weapons than others.
* The entire ''Speedball'' series of games is built on this premise.
* Rockstar's ''VideoGame/{{Manhunt}}'', though the protagonist didn't really choose that option. Rockstar makes an oblique reference to another, similar game called "Liberty City Survivor" on Radio/GTARadio.

* In ''VideoGame/KillerInstinct'', Cinder is a convict who is transformed into a flame-being by Ultratech and is promised freedom if he destroys [[AnIcePerson Glacius]].
* Obscure Xbox BloodSport game ''Deathrow'' has the Convicts - a team of prisoners entered into the Blitz League to earn sentence reductions for good performance... thought they have to be serving multiple life sentences to be eligible.
* This seems to be the backstory behind ''VideoGame/ExitPath'', though it's never explained what you did to get put in the arena.
* This is what Death Watch was in ''VideoGame/MadWorld'' until the tournament the game takes place in, which forced civilians to become killers or die of a bioengineered plague. Though like the Real Life gladiators, some folks willingly entered the life for the fame and glory, like the protagonist.
* In ''[[VideoGame/DeadRising2 Dead Rising 2: Case West,]]'' Chuck Green and Frank West discover that [[MegaCorp Phenotrans]] [[spoiler: orchestrated [[ZombieApocalypse the Fortune City, and the earlier Las Vegas outbreaks]] ]] because they were running low on the [[spoiler: queens needed to make [[BlatantLies "syntetic"]] Zombrex, their anti-zombification medicine.]] Queens that they harvested from [[spoiler: [[DisposableVagrant anonymous runaways, missing persons,]] and convicted felons.]]
* Most of the contestants in ''VideoGame/TwistedMetal'': ''Black'' are mental patients recruited from [[BedlamHouse Blackfield Asylum]], many of whom are violent psychopaths. The contest is very much illegal, however, and how exactly they were freed is unknown.
* ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'' has Fahkumram, who was imprisoned by the Thai military after having killed a group of corrupt government officials in self-defense. The military had him participate in underground fights and eventually had him enter into the seventh King of Iron Fist Tournament for a chance at freedom for him and his family.
* In ''VideoGame/TheKillingGameShow'', the original story of the game had Carl as part of a Freedom Fighter movement looking to displace the corrupt government. He is thrown into the titular game post-arrest to be [[MakeAnExampleOfThem made an example of]], but he plans on finding a way to beat the DeadlyGame and use the newfound fame to displace said government.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* While the Castle Heterodyne prisoners in ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' are all put there by the Baron in the hopes that they'll be killed while working on the sentient deathtrap he did not intend their fates to be public entertainment. When seedy types started making a public spectacle of betting on which prisoners would survive and crowding around the exit at the end of every day turning it into entertainment the Baron eventually rounded them up and locked them in the castle with the other prisoners and stopped letting anyone out, just delivering food and only allowing those who had survived and gathered enough points to disable the bombs strapped to their necks, thereby completing their sentences, out of the castle.
* ''Webcomic/RustyAndCo'': At the start of level 8, Robespierre is charged with numerous counts of Aggressive Trespassery and first-degree Grievous Bodily Harmage. His attorney, however, suggest that instead of his sentence he could participate in [[GladiatorGames the Games]]... which happens to be a [[BaseballEpisode Gnomish Baseball]] tournament. Robespierre, however, delights in violence and is quite happy with the proposition.

* In ''Film/TheCondemned'', 10 condemned criminals from prisons around the world are pitted against another in a DeadlyGame on an island.

This story very likely takes the [[SympatheticPOV (sympathetic) POV]] of [[YouAllMeetInACell the cons]], because sympathizing with people conducting whatever horrific acts are about to be perpetrated on the cons is usually a bit too alienating for audiences. So aside from giving most of the cons a smidgen of sympathetic characterization, there will be one [[MiscarriageOfJustice innocent man]] who was framed to get him specifically into the night's debauchery. (Alternatively, his crime may be justified -- stealing bread for the hungry -- or not appear serious to the audience -- failure to bow before the noble he ''didn't see''.) Usually this one innocent man and the [[AntiVillain most likable]], [[NobleDemon noble]] or [[EvenEvilHasStandards least]] [[TokenEvilTeammate evil]] con [[SortingAlgorithmOfMortality will survive to the end]]; sometimes this is justified by their character making it possible for them [[ThePowerOfTrust to trust each other]].

* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'' episode "Judgment Day", where the criminals are hunted down by the families of those they murdered. [[spoiler: The protagonist manages to prove that the show's producer had framed him to get ratings. The episode ends with the producer sentenced to be hunted.]]

* The [[RedShirt D-class personnel]] at the ''Wiki/SCPFoundation''. Tested, experimented on, used as cannon fodder in as many ways as there are in the book (and making up a few new ones as it goes along), and (ex)terminated after a month. That is, until they run out of crooks and start bringing in fresh RedShirts from ''[[ParanoiaFuel the average populace]]''.

** In the pilot Spartacus and other Thracians are condemned to fight in the Arena after they are judged to be traitors. Since Gladiators are very skilled fighters, and the prisoners were not, none were expected to survive and this is seen as an entertaining form of execution.

Being found guilty of a crime grave enough to merit imprisonment, a life sentence or death row tends to make people less sympathetic to your situation in life, such as is left. This is why convicts are on a ''very'' short list of AcceptableTargets for a whole slew of not nice things; and in fiction, there are ''plenty'' of these not nice things. [[{{Conscription}} Military conscription,]] [[PlayingWithSyringes medical]] [[TestedOnHumans experiments,]] {{Blood Sport}}s, {{Deadly Game}}s, HumanSacrifice, the list goes on and on.

The cons aren't shipped off to a sub-human prison, that would be... [[HumanResources wasting resources]]. Instead the government uses them in a "contest" of one of the above in order to get some use, entertainment or money out of them. Usually they're "kidnapped" and officially were "ReleasedToElsewhere", but there's plenty of distressingly legal ways to whitewash the whole bloody affair. The government may declare that AllCrimesAreEqual, and as un-persons the prisoners can be used for basically whatever.