History Main / PariahPrisoner

* In ''ComicBook/TopTen'', Atoman - publicly a veteran hero, but actually a pedophile and ringleader of a child porn business - chooses to commit suicide rather than surrender to the police, as he believes he'll be permanently de-powered before thrown into prison, making him an easy target for his many past enemies there.

* In the backstory of ''Series/{{Life}}'', police officer Charlie Crews was in prison for a crime he didn't commit and ended up spending most of his time in solitary just to keep other prisoners from killing him.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' when Rorschach is captured and put in prison, other prisoners plan to kill him for his vigilante activities, but he turns the tables on them. "I'm not locked up in here with you. You're locked up in here with me."

** A quadriplegic prisoner was sentenced to 10 years in prison for manslaughter, with no way of defending himself in prison. So what did the guards do? ''They pulled the prisoner from his wheelchair, threw him onto the ground'' '''''and left him behind so that other prisoners could lynch and eviscerate him!''''' A journalist who had reported the incident was later arrested, thrown into the same prison, and suffered the same fate. And that was in ''America''!

** Frank once visited a not-quite LuxuryPrisonSuite where it was mentioned that the occupants made use of guys with toothless mouths who knew how to use them, considered the lowest of the low.

* The 1974 play ''Theatre/ShortEyes'' by Miguel Piñero (Obie Award, Drama Desk Award, Tony Nomination, made into a film) is about an accused child molester in prison. Nearly all the other inmates turn on him for his crime. The term "Short Eyes" is prison slang for a pedophile.

* ''ShortEyes'' (1977), based on real life ex con Miguel Pinero's 1974 play of the same title's prison slang for child molester) in which Bruce Davison's character is accused of this while confined at Manhattan's Men's Detention.

* ''Film/ShortEyes'' (1977, based on real life ex con Miguel Pinero's 1974 play of the same title's prison slang for child molester) in which Bruce Davison's character is accused of this while confined at Manhattan's Men's Detention.

[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/{{Batman}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/warren_white.jpg]]]]

Mainstream criminals have [[BlackAndGrayMorality a morality scale of their own]] ([[MoralEventHorizon though in some cases, said morality may involve them being]] ''[[MoralEventHorizon worse]]''). Many of them despise the police and prison crews (including [[DirtyCop officers sentenced to prison]]), [[TheInformant snitches]], [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil sexual offenders]] (especially [[PaedoHunt child rapists]]), [[BreadEggsMilkSquick and]] [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain sexual minorities or members of certain racial/ethnic groups]]. TruthInTelevision featured in many works of fiction.

* ''Film/TheHunter'' (1980 Steve McQueen's last movie before his death that year) had LAPD character "Detective Spota" facing this unenviable fate because he stole and sold drugs from an evidence locker but instead commits suicide to avoid facing this.
* ''Film/AnInnocentMan'' (1989 Tom Selleck) has David Rasche's ex cop character facing this when he is sent to the same prison after being convicted of drug dealing.

* ''Film/ShortEyes'' (1977, based on real life ex con Miguel Pinero's 1974 play of the same title's prison slang for child molester) in which Bruce Davison's character is accused of this while confined at Manhattan's Men's Detention.

* ''Film/TheHunter'' (1980 Steve [=McQueen=]'s last movie before his death that year) had LAPD character "Detective Spota" facing this unenviable status because he stole and sold drugs from an evidence locker but instead commits suicide to avoid this.

* ''Film/ShortEyes'' (1977, based on real life ex con Miguel Pinero's 1974 play of the same title prison slang for child molester).

* ''Film/TheHunter'' (1980 Steve McQueen's last movie before his death that year) had LAPD character "Detective Spota" facing this unenviable status because he stole and sold drugs from an evidence locker but instead commits suicide to avoid this.

* ''Film/ShortEyes'' (1977, based on real life ex con Miguel Pinero's 1974 play of the same title prison slang for child molester).

** LGBT criminals suffer '''heavily''' in some prisons. This is due to the infamously homophobic sentiment shared among many guards and prisoners alike. they are seen as below even the worst of the child molesters, to the point where a common hoax circulated around the DoubleStandardRapeMaleOnMale trope was that the perpetrator in prisons was gay. In some years and areas, more LGBT people killed by prisoners and guards than informants and child molesters

** A quadriplegic prisoner was sentenced to 10 years in prison for manslaughter, with no way of fending for him in prison. So what did the guards do? ''They pulled the prisoner from his wheelchair, threw him onto the ground'' '''''and left him behind so that other prisoners to lynch and eviscerate him!''''' A journalist who had reported on the incident was later arrested, thrown into the same prison, and suffered the same fate. And that was in ''America''!

If prisoners of these groups get locked up together with mainstream criminals, they might be beat up in a PrisonRiot, become the victim of PrisonRape (a kind of KarmicRape for sexual offenders), or even murdered, typically with a SinisterShiv.

See also AssholeVictim as a possible outcome, MoralEventHorizon for atrocities that may make them unwanted, BlueAndOrangeMorality for the peculiar rules that dictate what is acceptable and what not, and EvenEvilHasStandards for one possible reason that some prisoners become this.

* ''Film/TheShawshankRedemption''. [[spoiler:When guard chief Hadley is arrested, he breaks down. Implicitly, he knows he will not only go to prison, but also together with inmates who hate him.]]

* In the backstory of ''Series/{{Life}}'', police officer Charlie Crews was in prison for a crime he didn't commit, and ended up spending most of his time in solitary just to keep other prisoners from killing him.
* On ''Series/MyNameIsEarl'', Randy (who has just become a prison guard) brings in a new prisoner, and introduces him as a first-time prisoner, a convicted child molester, and a former police officer to the other inmates.

** A quadriplegic prisoner was sentenced to 10 years in prison for manslaughter, with no way of fending for him in prison. So what did the guards do? ''They pulled the prisoner from his wheelchair, threw him onto the ground'' '''''and left him behind so that other prisoners to lynch and eviscerate him!''''' A journalist who had reported on the incident was later arrested, thrown into the same prison and suffered the same fate. And that was in ''America''!
** And just about any person with intellectual beliefs, or have no incentive for violence are seen as "worse" than informants and child molesters, due to them being seen as complete "cowards" who are "defenseless". Despite the obvious disparity in deaths, informants, bad cops and child molesters disproportionately make up most of the pariahs in fiction and news coverage.

** Inmates on Retained Jurisdiction, or "riders" are being given a probationary sentence by a judge and are not officially in the custody of a Department of Corrections. They are only slightly higher than child molesters in the prison hierarchy.
** Civil Commitments have been declared mentally incapable of living in society by a judge and have not been convicted of a crime. They are people who would have been in a state hospital in the '50s, but are often held in prisons due to a lack of mental health facilities. Mental health offenders often require special attention, but Civil Commits are extreme cases.

* Contrary to belief, [[PaedoHunt child molesters]] and [[TheInformant snitches]] are not the only prisoners targeted by inmates and guards. (In this case, this is definitely '''not''' a case of EvenEvilHasStandards.)
** The LGBTIQ suffer '''heavily''' in prison, in which due to the infamously homophobic sentiment shared among guards and prisoners alike, they are seen as below even the worst of the child molesters, to the point where a common hoax circulated around the DoubleStandardRapeMaleOnMale trope was that the perpetrator in prisons was gay. More LGBTIQ people were killed by prisoners and guards than informants and child molesters
** People with liberal-leaning (or are activists for civil rights) are seen by many prisons of many stripes as "traitors" to the "race" (thus feeding into the extremely bigoted environment of prison) and are frequently the target of PrisonRape and/or lynchings. However, many activists willing to go into prison in a hope to further advance progress on social issues would often realize how ill-informed the decision was due to the extreme anti-liberalism in prisons and would often either leave with no way of employment or income (causing them to be driven to the DespairEventHorizon, leading to [[RichesToRags homelessness]], [[WellIntentionedExtremist terrorism]] and [[DrivenToSuicide suicide]], as not even their fellow activists are willing to attempt to prop up that victim's income after prison) or get killed in prison.
** A quadriplegic prisoner was sentenced to 10 years in prison for manslaughter, with no way of fending for themselves in prison. So what did the guards do? ''They pulled the prisoner from his wheelchair, thrown him onto the ground'' '''''and leaving him behind for the prisoners to lynch and eviscerate him!''''' A journalist who had reported on the incident was later arrested, thrown into the same prison and suffered the same fate. And that was in '''''[[DeathWorld USA.]]'''''
** And just about any person with intellectual beliefs, or have no incentive for violence are seen as "worse" than informants and child molesters, due to them being seen as complete "cowards" who are "defenseless". Despite the obvious disparity in deaths, informants and child molesters disproportionately make up most of the [[PariahPrisoner Pariah Prisoners]] in media and news.

* Jeffrey Dahmer was beaten to death by Christopher Scarver in 1994 while serving barely three years into his multiple life sentence. He was declared mentally competent to answer for his crimes, thus placed in the general population. What is notable about this incident is that Dahmer was white while Scarver is black. Normally, undesirable inmates such as pedophiles are always "handled" by inmates of their own race. To cross racial barriers on such an issue is a violation of prison politics, regardless of the end justifying the means. However, Dahmer was considered an acceptable exception due to the fact that while he was a white serial killer, the majority of his victims were black men.

** People with liberal-leaning (or are activists for civil rights) are seen by many prisons of many stripes as "traitors" to the "race" (thus feeding into the extremely bigoted environment of prison) and are frequently the target of PrisonRape and/or lynchings. However, many activists willing to go into prison in a hope to further advance progress on social issues would often realize how ill-informed the decision was due to the extreme anti-liberalism in prisons and would often either leave with no way of employment (leading to terrorism or suicide) or get killed in prison.

Mainstream criminals have [[BlackAndGrayMorality a morality scale of their own]] ([[MoralEventHorizon though in some cases, said morality may involve them being]] ''[[MoralEventHorizon worse]]''). Many of them despise the police and prison crews (including [[DirtyCop officers sentenced to prison]]), [[TheInformant snitches]], [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil sexual offenders]] (especially [[PaedoHunt child rapists]]), and [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain sexual minorities or members of certain racial/ethnic groups]]. TruthInTelevision featured in many works of fiction.

** The LGBTIQ suffer **heavily** in prison, in which due to the infamously homophobic sentiment shared among guards and prisoners alike, they are seen as below even the worst of the child molesters, to the point where a common hoax circulated around the DoubleStandardRapeMaleOnMale trope was that the perpetrator in prisons was gay. More LGBTIQ people were killed by prisoners and guards than informants and child molesters

** The LGBTIQ suffer **heavily** in prison, in which due to the infamously homophobic sentiment shared among guards and prisoners alike, they are seen as below even the worst of the child molesters, to the point where a common hoax circulated around the DoubleStandardMaleRapeOnMale trope was that the perpetrator in prisons was gay. More LGBTIQ people were killed by prisoners and guards than informants and child molesters

** A quadriplegic prisoner was sentenced to 10 years in prison for manslaughter, with no way of fending for themselves in prison. So what did the guards do? ''They pulled the prisoner from his wheelchair, thrown him onto the ground'' '''''and leaving him behind for the prisoners to lynch and eviscerate him!''''' A journalist who had reported on the incident was later arrested, thrown into the same prison and suffered the same fate. And that was in '''''[[DeathWorld USA]]'''''