History Main / WhatAreYouInFor

->''He said, "What were you arrested for, kid?" And I said, "Littering." And they all [[EvenEvilHasStandards moved away from me on the bench there]]...''

* BrianRegan discusses this [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWKO6vSnyAQ here]].

* Asked multiple times throughout ''{{OrangeIsTheNewBlack}}''. Occasionally, new inmates like Piper will be under the impression that it's taboo to ask this question.

[-'''Homer:''' What are you in for?\\

-->'''Second criminal:''' Well, I robbed 70 banks, see, and 90 gas stations. And I stole the Klopman Diamond. What are you in for?

* ''Film/MadeaGoesToJail''. Well the titular character's cellmate already knows why she's there.

* In the second ''[[Film/{{Bottom}} Bottom Live]]'' stage show:

* ''MadeaGoesToJail''. Well the titular character's cellmate already knows why she's there.

* In the second ''[[{{Bottom}} Bottom Live]]'' stage show:

* In the first ''Film/PoliceAcademy'' Mahoney ([[KarmicTrickster detained for property damage]]) asks Jones what is he in for. Jones convincingly imitates the sound of machine gun creating panic in the police station. Mahoney decides to take him to the academy too.

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

* Krage asks this question at the end of the ''MarvelAdventures TheAvengers'' comic he appears in to Fancy Dan (who mistakenly spam-called 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 Abby what she's in for. Abby, in no mood for small talk, says, "Hugging vegetables." The cellmate then backs away to the opposite corner of the cell.

* In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'' you can be thrown in the Markath prison mine. An Ork in there answers the question with

-->"Murder, Banditry, Assault, Theft... and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking lollygagging]]."

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* In ''MartialLaw'' the cop duo go undercover in jail. The Asian one's backstory is killing a dozen people in a restaurant shootout, and the black guy, purse theft.

-->'''[[CharlieSheen Boy]] [[RetroactiveRecognition in Police Station]]:''' Drugs?\\

* Played somewhat straight in ''Film/DownByLaw'': the arguably tough looking TomWaits and John Lurie are sent to prison on separate frame-up jobs. Their cellmate, the tiny, meek and bumbling Roberto Benigni reveals in the What Are You In For scene that he's in for a pool hall murder.

* In a ''Magazine/{{MAD}}'' parody of ''The Longest Yard'' (first version), this results in a long list of murders, ending with [[Main/ArsonMurderAndJaywalking "and strangling a tractor"]].

* When Harry of {{Incompetence}} is arrested for ImpersonatingAnOfficer, he is forced into a massively overcrowded holding cell for people who are awaiting trial. He notes that asking WhatAreYouInFor used to be a taboo question until an [[ObstructiveBureaucrat overabundance of regulations and laws]] that makes criminals of everybody means that hardened criminals need to know if they are mixing with real crooks or people who are arrested for displaying their fruits in pounds instead of kilos.

* MikeHarding performs a ballad called ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADSk8n3UldE Strangeways Hotel]]'' (Strangeways is [[OopNorth Manchester]]'s main prison).
There is a spoken interlude in between verses where Harding asks his fellow cons what they're in for:

* In the made-for-tv 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."

In RealLife (at least in UK prisons) they often already know - they read the daily courtcase roundup in the local paper so already know who's been sentenced for what and how long. In countries where this is not the case (Russia, for example), they still either already know or will soon be able to verify your words, using the rumor telegraph and illegaly smuggling notes and letters from facility to facility.

* An early episode of ''GrowingPains'' had Mike in jail for graphitti. One of his cellmates asks this question to which he replied, [[JohnnyCash "I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die."]]

* MikeHarding performs a ballad called ''[[watch?v=ADSk8n3UldE Strangeways Hotel]]'' (Strangeways is [[OopNorth Manchester]]'s main prison).

* MikeHarding performs a ballad called ''Strangeways Hotel'' (Strangeways is [[OopNorth Manchester]]'s main prison).

* ''Film/FerrisBuellersDayOff'':\\
[-'''[[CharlieSheen Boy]] [[RetroactiveRecognition in Police Station]]:''' Drugs?\\

'''Boy:''' Drugs.-]
* The live-action ''[[TransformersFilmSeries Transformers]]'' movie had this on a helicopter:\\
[-'''Maggie:''' What'd they get you for?\\
'''Sam:''' Bought a car. Turned out to be an alien robot. Who knew?-]
* In ''RobinHoodMenInTights'', Asneeze informs Robin that he was in for "Jaywalking". In 12th century Jerusalem. [[Main/RuleOfFunny It's a Mel Brooks movie.]]
* Happens in ''TheLastCastle'' when Irwin asks the doctor why he is in prison. The doctor says he was busted for marijuana possession. Irwin points out that marijuana possession will get you discharged from the military but not normally earn you a stint in a maximum security military prison. The doctor agrees and starts to explain, but they are interrupted and the audience never does get to hear the full story.

* Played with in ''TheShawshankRedemption'': Andy Dufresne maintains his innocence, making everyone else laugh: "everyone's innocent in here" and "[I'm in because] a lawyer fucked me" become {{Running Gag}}s among Andy's friends, while Red wryly refers to himself as "The only guilty man in Shawshank." ([[spoiler: Andy's telling the truth, though]])

* Played somewhat straight in ''DownByLaw'': the arguably tough looking TomWaits and John Lurie are sent to prison on separate frame-up jobs. Their cellmate, the tiny, meek and bumbling Roberto Benigni reveals in the What Are You In For scene that he's in for a pool hall murder.
* ''AmericanHistoryX'' has a scene in which the main character is talking to a black prisoner why they are in prison. The scene is played straight, however.

* In the second part of ''TheStranger'', when Meursault is first put into prison, a few people ask him what he's in for. "Killing an Arab." Guess what kind of people are mostly in that prison.

* As alluded to in the explanatory section, Wade from ''USAcres'' steps on a rake, sending him into a musical number, followed by a short trial sentencing him to 9999 years in prison. Once there, two inmates brag about their crimes. When Wade sheepishly admits his, the other two pull on the bars, terrified of sharing a cell with such a psychopath.

* Krage asks this question at the end of [[http://community.livejournal.com/scans_daily/6278952.html this]] ''MarvelAdventures'' comic.

* In the remake of ''AttackOfTheFiftyFootWoman'', the main character's cheating husband found himself in a spaceship with two other guys and one of them asked, "What are you in for?"