History Main / WhatAreYouInFor

--->'''Dilbert:''' Hey, look! Corn for lunch. Can you believe that?

'''Smaller guy:''' I bought an UsefulNotes/Xbox360 [[Music/JohnnyCash just to watch it die]].\\

* In the made-for-tv ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'' movie "Good Wilt Hunting", Wilt ends up in prison. His cellmates are explaining what they're in for and comparing how vile their actions, before Wilt solemnly states he could top their actions. Wilt just says "I crushed [a kid’s] dreams."

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/MenInBlack: The Series'' features an alien race that's downright obsessive about law and order, complete with an ultra-brutal gulag for housing the many, many lawbreakers they round up. How strict are they? When Jay finds himself in the prison, he asks a fellow inmate what he's in for, and, well, [[MattressTagGag it turns out they take their mattress tags very seriously]].

-->'''Tattletale Strangler:''' ''[in prison]'' [[FromBadToWorse Well, at least I'm safe from that yellow idiot]].\\
'''[[TooDumbToLive Patrick]]:''' ''[in the same cell as him]'' Hey, mac. ''[the Strangler faces him]'' What're you in for?\\

* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'': Variant. At the end of the WesternAnimation/BugsBunny cartoon "WesternAnimation/WabbitTwouble", after a typical Bugs once-over, Elmer Fudd angrily trashes a sign at Jellostone National Park, which leads to him getting

* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'': Variant. At the end of the WesternAnimation/BugsBunny cartoon "WesternAnimation/WabbitTwouble", after a typical Bugs once-over, Elmer Fudd angrily trashes a sign at Jellostone National Park, which leads to him getting arrested for destroying government property. In his cell, Bugs and the bear that chased Elmer earlier both ask "How long ya in for, doc?"
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/MenInBlack: The Series'' features an alien race that's downright obsessive about law and order, complete with an ultra-brutal gulag for housing the many, many lawbreakers they round up. How strict are they? When Jay finds himself in the prison, he asks a fellow inmate what he's in for, and, well, [[MattressTagGag it turns out they take their mattress tags very seriously]].
* In the season 2 finale of ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'', [[spoiler:After turning himself into the Galactic Federation so his family can return to Earth in peace, an inmate asks this question to Rick. He replies, in a defeated tone, "Everything."]]
* A ''TabletopGame/{{Monopoly}}''-themed sketch from ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' has a prison inmate ask the shoe, dog, thimble, and car what they're in jail for.
* In "Sgt. Gravel to the Rescue" from ''WesternAnimation/PBAndJOtter'', Peanut has an ImagineSpot about being sentenced to row the book boat as a prison barge for returning a library book late. An otter who looks like an older version of himself with a beard asks him what he's in for. He tells him it was an overdue library book, but it was only one day late. The elderly otter replies that this is what they all say and the other prisoners laugh at him.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS2E11OneFishTwoFishBlowfishBlueFish One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish]]":
--->'''Homer:''' What are you in for?\\
'''[[CaptivityHarmonica Harmonica-playing Con:]]''' Atmosphere.
** When Mr. Burns is jailed for stealing valuable art, he seemingly lucks out by being put in the same cell as another white-collar criminal... until he finds out said inmate went to Dartmouth College.
--->'''Mr. Burns:''' GET ME AWAY FROM THIS SAVAGE BEAST!!
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'' has the gang trying to get help from one of the people they've put away. Shaggy and Scooby, in their usual fashion, slink away to the cafeteria. One inmate asks them what they're in for, and Shaggy responds "The food!"
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': In the episode "[=SpongeBob=] Meets the Strangler";
-->'''Tattletale Strangler:''' ''[in prison]'' [[FromBadToWorse Well, at least I'm safe from that yellow idiot]].\\
'''[[TooDumbToLive Patrick]]:''' ''[in the same cell as him]'' Hey, mac. ''[the Strangler faces him]'' What're you in for?\\
''[episode ends]''
* One ''WesternAnimation/TimonAndPumbaa'' episode has the recurring bear acting as a fire warden for the forest, and swallows anyone whole that brings it into the woods, with the last ones being a couple of kids. At the end of the episode, after he gobbles up the man who had been forcing Timon and Pumbaa to fetch him fire, the little girl in his stomach asks him what he's in for.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* If you do get asked this in jail, it is generally advised to answer truthfully, since if you avoid answering you may be suspected of child molestation. And [[PariahPrisoner then]], [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown well...]] Although in most American prisons, it is generally considered more polite to phrase the question as "What are you accused of?" While either is acceptable, one should never ask the question "What did you do?" as it implies guilt.
* While circumstances vary, it's generally impolite to point out what everyone in your room/unit/cell did for a newcomer, as is often done for {{exposition}} in fiction. Most newcomers to a group keep to themselves and are simply busier learning the new situation they are in than curious about what everyone else did to get there.
* This has been made much worse by universal access to computers and the rise of social media. It used to be possible (if unlikely) for someone to successfully hide their criminal history. These days, it takes five minutes for an inmate's girlfriend/sibling/friend to look up court records, and prisoners ''will'' learn what each other did.
[[/folder]]
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-->"[[TheStinger I killed a man. And you?]]"\\
"I added a Administrivia/ZeroContextExample to TV Tropes."\\
"[[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/i-killed-a-man (scoots away)]]"
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* ''Webcomic/PvP'' has a story where Brent took Skull to a veterinarian for a checkup, and ends up in jail for owning an exotic animal without a license (they thought he was a gorilla). When the other, significantly more hardcore criminals in lockup ask Brent what he did, he gives a legalese answer about not filing the proper paperwork, and receives blank stares.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Dynomutt|DogWonder}}'' #2, the villain Mastermind is apprehended and jailed for a very mundane crime: not returning an overdue library book. In jail, two bruisers tell each other what they're in for, then they ask Mastermind what he's in for.

* Krage asks this question at the end of the ''ComicBook/MarvelAdventures: Franchise/TheAvengers'' comic he appears in to Fancy Dan (who mistakenly spam-called ComicBook/IronMan).

* In ''ComicBook/SwampThing'', Abby goes to jail for "crimes against nature" when her [[InterspeciesRomance relationship with the title character]] becomes public knowledge. Her cellmate, after relating how she was caught shoplifting, asks her what she's in for. Abby, in no mood for small talk, says, "Hugging vegetables." The cellmate backs away to the other end of the bench.
* In ''ComicBook/TheWalkingDead'' the heroes ask this question of the small group of surviving inmates they encounter at the zombie-infested prison and are told armed robbery, tax fraud, drugs, and murder. It's probably not hard to pick out which one of these is eventually, horribly, revealed to be a bald-faced lie.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'': Rita asks Runt this when they first meet in the city pound. Runt's answer is "peeing on the floor".

"(scoots away)"

** In "Dial Meg for Murder", Meg is sent to a women's prison, and her black cellmate asks her "Did you get caught trying to vote in Ohio?"

** In the episode "Chris Has Got a Date, Date, Date, Date, Date" Stewie and Peter send out a tweet that a movie was "Just okay" and promptly get arrested by the "Internet police". When they get to jail, they run into another inmate; Brian asks "What are you in for"? and he replies "I thought that Caytlin Jenner wasn't very courageous or good looking."

* A variation appears in Arlo Guthrie's song/monologue "Music/AlicesRestaurant":
-->''And the meanest, ugliest, nastiest one, the meanest father raper of them all, was coming over to me and he was mean 'n' ugly 'n' nasty 'n' horrible and all kind of things and he sat down next to me and said, "Kid, whad'ya get?" I said, "I didn't get nothing, I had to pay and pick up the garbage." He said, "What were you arrested for, kid?" And I said, "Littering." And they ''all'' [[EvenEvilHasStandards moved away from me on the bench there]]…''
:: Then he adds "And 'Creating a Nuisance'," and all the criminals move back and become friends with him.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arcane}}''. A variation when Caitlyn asks this of Vi. Caitlyn is asking because she's an Enforcer, because Vi has been in prison for years with no record of an offense.

* The live-action ''Film/{{Transformers}}'' movie had this on a helicopter:

* In the made-for-tv ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'' movie "Good Wilt Hunting", Wilt ends up in prison. His cellmates are explaining what they're in for, before they get to Wilt. Wilt just says "I broke a little boy's heart."

* One ''WesternAnimation/TimonAndPumbaa'' episode has a bear swallowing people whole; when one unlucky bystander gets gobbled up, a little girl in the bear's stomach asks the man what he's in for.

* In the first chapter of the ''Secret World Chronicle'' by Creator/MercedesLackey, former Nazi SuperSoldier Eisenfaust has been tossed in a holding cell, and one of his cellmates asks him this. He replies "I killed one hundred and twelve people that I know of."