History Main / MindPrison

Life inside the prison varies: maybe it's a seductive GildedCage designed to reward good behavior; maybe it's a virtual hell where the residents are made to suffer for every minute of their simulated existence; or it could be so much like reality that it's impossible to tell the difference. Maybe the experience is the same in every cell, or maybe the punishment truly fits the crime. Maybe the prisoners will be released at some point in the future... or maybe they're jailed for the rest of their natural lives. It may even involve some kind of ArtificialAfterlife if you're ''[[AndIMustScream really]]'' [[AndIMustScream unlucky]]. In extreme cases, BrainUploading may be involved.

The key thing here is that the mental world has to be an officially-mandated punishment for it to qualify as this trope: it's not enough for a villain to trap the hero in a LotusEaterMachine or a BlackBugRoom ForTheEvulz; '''it has to be either a punishment or an attempt to force reformation.''' In turn, the prison and/or punishment '''has to have been made legal''' - sometimes to the extent of an official trial and sentencing, sometimes just through the mandate of an absolute ruler or all-powerful police force... or, if you're dealing with an overtly supernatural setting, even a god.

* In ''Film/MinorityReport'', criminals arrested by the Precrime division are sentenced to CryoPrison, during which their minds are trapped in an inescapable dream state. According to the jailer, "your life flashes before your eyes" and "all your dreams come true." [[spoiler: John Anderton ends up as a prisoner here in the climax, though his wife is able to break him out and arrange for the BigBad's comeuppance. Following this, with the validity of the Precrime system thrown into doubt, the inmates are all released.]]
* ''Film/OtherLife'': Ren agrees to serve a year in simulated solitary confinement over causing Danny's death with her unsanctioned use of the drug. She does, but then escapes when it's reset on discovering this was real and just a ruse to get rid of her so Sam could take over the business. After this, she's told it's being used commonly for similated imprisonment, with the Australian government proposing even 10 to 20 year sentences with it. One US Senator even wants ''multiple'' life sentences to run this way, adding up into ''[[LongerThanLifeSentence centuries]]'' of simulated incarceration. Ren is deeply dismayed hearing this, since she knows how hard even a year was. [[spoiler:Later it turns out that she really was in simulated prison, and her "escape" was a glitch. She puts Sam into the same scenario for a "year" in revenge, nearly killing him.]] It all occurs [[YearInsideHourOutside only in minutes or hours at most]].

* Variation: in ''Literature/ReadyPlayerOne,'' [[MegaCorp IOI]] employs wage slaves and indentured debtors in the virtual reality world of OASIS, holding rooms full of prisoners using VR helmets to earn in-game currency and unlock prizes - all of which are kept by the company. As it happens, this is actually a practice directly inspired by the modern use of prison telemarketers.
* ''Literature/RedDwarf: Last Human'' introduces us to the PenalColony of Cyberia, where individuals convicted of crimes against the GELF state spend their sentences in virtual reality scenarios tailor-made to inflict the maximum amount of discomfort, boredom, frustration and all-around misery. [[spoiler: It turns out that the GELF state's justice system is a sham designed to convict as many people as possible in order to acquire "[[HumanResources volunteers]]" for an emergency terraforming project. Since the alternative to the project is another stint in virtual hell, most prisoners agree to the terms immediately as soon as they're offered.]]
* In ''[[Literature/TheManyLivesOfStephenLeeds Lies of the Beholder]]'' there is the Walters and Ostman Detention Enterprises, a company that aims to create such prison and tout such benefits as it being much cheaper and making inmates' rehabilitation easier, as well as seeing if an inmate is likely to get back to life of crime -- all this by making them live through various scenarios. The only problem is, their solution is still not really viable for longer periods, as human minds reject such manipulation.

* Combined with VirtualRealityInterrogation in ''Series/BlackMirror.'' Over the course of the episode "[[Recap/BlackMirrorWhiteChristmas White Christmas]]," a suspected murderer's mind is copied into a virtual world so the police can subtly coerce him into confessing. Eventually, they get the confession they wanted... but instead of just deleting the copy, they decide to leave him in the virtual world as "[[AlternatePersonalityPunishment a proper sentence]]," with the time settings cranked up to a [[YearInsideHourOutside thousand years a minute]]. As a result, the poor bastard is left alone in a room furnished with unwanted reminders of his crime, with "I Wish It Would Be Christmas Everyday" [[IncessantMusicMadness playing at full volume in the background]].
* In ''Series/{{Dollhouse}},'' house employees who abuse the Actives or otherwise make trouble for the house get sent to The Attic, where they are put into stasis and subjected to nightmares while their brains are [[WetwareCPU used to provide processing power for the house's network]].
* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' spinoff series ''Series/{{K9}},'' virtual reality detention facilities are quite common, serving as repositories for criminals, political dissidents or embarrassing mistakes made by [[SecretPolice the Department.]] Inside their simulations, prisoners are housed in cells composed of "[[BlankWhiteVoid nothing but white]]," with no details to distract the mind; as a result, long-term incarceration inside virtual environments like these is nothing short of hellish.

* {{Hell}}, as depicted in ''Series/{{Lucifer}}''. The damned souls spend eternity in an illusion, receiving the punishment they believe they deserve. They're actually free to leave at any time, [[SelfInflictedHell but they never do]].
* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'': In the episode "[[Recap/TheOuterLimits1995S2E22TheSentence The Sentence]]", a scientist named Dr. Jack Henson creates one of these, which, like the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' example below, works on a YearInsideHourOutside basis. Unfortunately, when it's tested on a man named Cory Izacks who - [[DidntSeeThatComing unknown to all]] - was wrongly convicted, it malfunctions and starts killing him instead. Jack plugs himself into the machine in an attempt to rescue Izacks, but fails and goes to jail for second-degree murder. After decades spent in a HellholePrison, he awakens to discover that he was just trapped in the simulation: in reality, he managed to save Izacks' life; unfortunately, Jack is left with severe PTSD and convinced his machine must be destroyed. Worse still, the demonstration has managed to impress the observing US Senator Meade, and he plans to have the machine approved for use on the general population.
* {{Hell}} also operates this way in ''Series/{{Preacher|2016}}''. Reimagined as a massive prison complex complete with guards and wardens, the inmates of Hell spend their time in bare concrete cells, being constantly forced to relive the worst moments of their lives through [[MagiTek mechanical projectors]]. Occasionally, the projectors break down and the inmates are given a brief respite in a particularly miserable breakroom while the machines are fixed. Breaking the rules here - ie: by being kind or helpful in any way - will result in the offender being sent to [[Room101 The Hole]], in which the aforementioned worst moments are made ''[[BlackBugRoom even worse]]'' through virtual reality.
* Appears in the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS04E19HardTime Hard Time]]." Here, an alien culture has done away with the hassle of maintaining a real prison system by simply implanting criminals with a virtual prison experience. [[YearInsideHourOutside The punishment lasts only a few hours]], but inside their minds, the prisoners can spend entire lifetimes in hellish prison conditions with minimal food and constant paranoia. As O'Brien discovers, the aftermath of such sentences can be nothing short of devastating.
* ''Series/TheTwilightZone2002'' episode "The Pool Boy" is about a man who experiences being murdered by an unknown assailant every day before he wakes up that morning to start the cycle anew. At the end it's shown that he's a murderer who's been sentenced to a mind prison, and the man who kills him repeatedly is a projection of his victim tormenting him.

* Crops up in the ''TabletopGame/TheEndOfTheWorld: Revolt Of The Machines.'' In the post-apocalyptic segment of the scenario "Logical Conclusions," a group of fanatically-patriotic cyborgs have taken over America, nuked the world into an irradiated hellhole, and are now incorporating surviving American citizens into communal virtual reality pods a la ''Film/TheMatrix.'' The goal here is apparently rehabilitation: most citizens are left in a pleasant-but-confusing haze of patriotic propaganda to make them more pliable while at work outside their pods, while those judged "deserving" are given an idealized simulation of the 1950s to live out their days in.

* ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' provides the TropeNamer. At one point, you're given a mysterious box to deliver and [[SchmuckBait told not to open it at any cost]]. Actually doing so plunges you into a BlankWhiteVoid in which an ancient Rakatan has been imprisoned - with no entertainment and only a bed for furniture. Apparently, Mind Prisons such as these were popular back in the days of the [[AbusivePrecursors Rakatan Infinite Empire]], and considered far more effective than any physical prison. Indeed, this piece of [[MagiTek Force-based technology]] worked so well that the inmate has outlived the Empire that sentenced him; by now, he desperately wants out... and since his original body died eons ago, [[GrandTheftMe he needs yours]].
* The majority of ''VideoGame/SaintsRowIV'' takes place in one of these, as it's [[BigBad Emperor Zinyak]]'s policy to imprison criminals and enemy [=VIPs=] in simulations based on their worst nightmares, while their bodies remain stuck in pods aboard his ship: [[AntiHero the Boss]] is trapped in a 1950s sitcom town where unlawful acts [[ControllableHelplessness are impossible]] until [[GettingSmiliesPaintedOnYourSoul the brainwashing]] breaks down; [[PlayfulHacker Matt Miller]] finds himself imprisoned in an old fashioned text adventure in which he is at the mercy of Killbane; [[ActionGirl Shaundi]] is forced to relive the death of Johnny Gat; [[ButtMonkey Pierce]] is constantly being attacked by an army of living Saints Flow merchandise; [[BaldOfAuthority Benjamin King]] finds himself in a recreation of his past where his old gang, the Vice Kings, [[EtTuBrute turn on him]]; finally, [[ConsummateProfessional Asha]] is pitted against a seemingly impossible mission to stop an [[EvilTwin evil version of the Boss]]. In a surprise twist, [[spoiler: Johnny Gat turns out to still be alive in the simulation: he's trapped in a side-scrolling fighting game in which he has to witness the death of Aisha again.]]
* A decidedly eldritch version of this appears in ''VideoGame/TheSecretWorld'', where it's eventually revealed that the appropriately-named [[EldritchAbomination Dreamers]] have been imprisoned in a state of unending sleep through the power of the [[CosmicKeystone Gaia Engines]]; essentially giant musical boxes, they ensure that the prisoners can never threaten existence, instead forcing them to [[MadDreamer live out their fantasies of escape in their dreams]]. [[spoiler: For good measure, the Gaia Engines also harness the power of the Dreamers to keep reality on track, and it's suggested that their imprisonment by [[OurAngelsAreDifferent the Host]] might be the only reason our universe exists in the first place.]] Trouble is, the Engines have begun to malfunction over the eons, allowing the dreams of these Lovecraftian baddies to ''[[RealityWarper leak out in physical form]]'' - to the point that you can actually visit one of their [[StoryboardingTheApocalypse dreams of the world as they'd want it to be]].

* Season two of ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' ends with Rick being sent to prison for various crimes against the Federation or -- as Rick puts it -- for "everything." In [[Recap/RickAndMortyS3E1TheRickshankRedemption the first episode of the next season]], it's revealed that most of Rick's time in prison has been spent in VirtualRealityInterrogation so the Federation can learn how his portal gun works. From the sounds of things, most of it involved a detailed scenario in which he escapes from prison and returns to Earth; however, Rick figures out what's going on very quickly. For good measure, this is also being used as a form of execution: once they think they've gotten everything from him, the agent in charge is planning to leave Rick in there until the MindProbe melts his brain.

* ''ComicBook/JupitersLegacy'' has what are called "Psychic Paintings", [[LotusEaterMachine full-sensory mental illusions]] crafted by telepaths and often exploited to trap minds and leave bodies vulnerable in what is by all appearances catatonia.

* In the Australian sci-fi movie ''Film/OtherLife,'' a form of biological VR is invented and soon proposed as a YearInsideHourOutside alternative to prison. Though the creator protests this idea, she soon finds herself on the receiving end of this when one of her VR programs accidentally kills a coworker, resulting in her being sentenced to a year of solitary confinement in the [=OtherLife=] simulation as punishment for unlicensed human testing and manslaughter. For good measure, it's also made clear that this is the more lenient option compared to a trial and a longer jail term. [[spoiler: Except it turns out that the coworker survived, and the sentence may not be as legit as it first appears.]]

* In ''Film/MinorityReport'', criminals captured by the Precrime division are sentenced to CryoPrison, during which their minds are trapped in an inescapable dream state. According to the jailer, "your life flashes before your eyes" and "all your dreams come true."

* The majority of ''VideoGame/SaintsRowIV'' takes place in one of these, as it's [[BigBad Emperor Zinyak]]'s policy to imprison criminals and enemy [=VIPs=] in simulations based on their worst nightmares, while their bodies remain stuck in pods aboard his ship: [[AntiHero the Boss]] is trapped in a 1950s sitcom town where unlawful acts [[ControllableHelplessness are impossible]] until [[GettingSmiliesPaintedOnYourSoul the brainwashing]] breaks down; [[PlayfulHacker Matt Miller]] finds himself imprisoned in an old fashioned text adventure in which he is at the mercy of Killbane; [[ActionGirl Shaundi]] is forced to relive the death of Johnny Gat; [[ButtMonkey Pierce]] is constantly being attacked by an army of living Saints Flow merchandise; [[BaldOfAuthority Benjamin King]] finds himself in a recreation of his past where his old gang, the Vice Kings, [[EtTuBrute turn on him]]; finally, [[ConsummateProfessional Asha]] is pitted against a seemingly impossible mission to stop an [[EvilTwin evil version of the Boss]]. In a surprise twist, [[spoiler: Johnny Gat turns out to still be alive in the simulation, and is trapped in a side-scrolling fighting game in which he has to witness the death of Aisha again.]]

* The majority of ''VideoGame/SaintsRowIV'' takes place in one of these, as it's [[BigBad Emperor Zinyak]]'s policy to imprison criminals and enemy [=VIPs=] in simulations based on their worst nightmares, while their bodies remain stuck in pods aboard his ship: [[AntiHero the Boss]] is trapped in a 1950s sitcom town where unlawful acts [[ControllableHelplessness are impossible]] until [[GettingSmiliesPaintedOnYourSoul the brainwashing]] breaks down; [[PlayfulHacker Matt Miller]] finds himself imprisoned in an old fashioned text adventure in which he is at the mercy of Killbane; [[ActionGirl Shaundi]] is forced to relive the death of Johnny Gat; [[ButtMonkey Pierce]] is constantly being attacked by an army of living Saints Flow merchandise; [[BaldBlackLeaderGuy Benjamin King]] finds himself in a recreation of his past where his old gang, the Vice Kings, [[EtTuBrute turn on him]]; finally, [[ConsummateProfessional Asha]] is pitted against a seemingly impossible mission to stop an [[EvilTwin evil version of the Boss]]. In a surprise twist, [[spoiler: Johnny Gat turns out to still be alive in the simulation, and is trapped in a side-scrolling fighting game in which he has to witness the death of Aisha again.]]

* Appears very early in ''ComicBook/TheSandman.'' Having been imprisoned on Earth by Roderick Burgess and his son Alex for seventy years, Dream of the Endless is ''not'' in a forgiving mood when he finally escapes. With Roderick long dead, Morpheus sentences Alex to an eternity of waking nightmares: comatose in the real world, his mind is trapped in [[DreamWithinADream a Russian doll of dreams]] in which he's ''always'' just waking up from his latest nightmare, only to find himself in another one.

* ''Film/{{Darkdrive}}'' features such a prison being managed by an evil MegaCorp, as it disposes of people by putting them in cryostasis and projecting their minds into the virtual world. The main character goes inside the mental prison to track down a specific person. It's not just some illegal experiment either; with its cyberpunk undertones, it's clear that the company can determine life and death questions.

* ''Film/{{Darkdrive}}'' features such a prison being managed by an evil MegaCorp, as it disposes of people by putting them in cryostasis and projecting their minds into the virtual world. The main character goes inside the mental prison to track down a specific person.

* ''Franchise/TheMatrix'': The Matrix itself is a massive virtual reality prison built by robots in the future designed to keep the human population complacent and asleep so their physical bodies can be harvested for bio-energy. Morpheus even describes it in such terms. Interestingly, earlier iterations actually experimented with this before settling on a rendition of late 20th century Earth; people's minds didn't accept either the GildedCage or CrapsackWorld versions.

* Crops up in the ''TabletopGame/TheEndOfTheWorld: Revolt Of The Machines.'' In the post-apocalyptic segment of the scenario "Logical Conclusions," a group of fanatically-patriotic cyborgs have taken over America, nuked the world into an irradiated hellhole, and are now incorporating surviving American citizens into communal virtual reality pods a la ''Film/TheMatrix.'' The goal here is apparently rehabilitation: most citizens are left in a pleasant-but-confusing haze of patriotic propaganda to make them more pliable, while those judged "deserving" are given an idealized simulation of the 1950s to live out their days in.

* ''Franchise/TheMatrix'': The Matrix itself is a massive virtual reality prison built by robots in the future designed to keep the human population complacent and asleep so their physical bodies can be harvested for bio-energy. Morpheus even describes it in such terms. Interestingly, earlier iterations actually experimented before settling on a rendition of late 20th century Earth; people's minds didn't accept either the GildedCage or CrapsackWorld versions.