History Main / WhatAreYouInFor

--> '''Mr Beale: I didn't mean time, I meant offence.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''Webcomic/PennyArcade'' did a strip where a serial killer who cut out his victims eyes is in the same cell as a former Midway employee who made the decision to [[FelonyMisdemeanour not put multiplayer in]] the now-obscure flight racer game ''VideoGame/FreakyFlyers''.

*

* Variant: at the end of the [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Bugs Bunny]] cartoon "Wabbit Twouble," Elmer Fudd is jailed for destroying the government property of Jellostone National Park (after a typical Bugs onceover). In his cell, Bugs and the bear that chased Elmer earlier both ask "How long ya in for, doc?"

* In the ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' episode "Folsom Prison Blues," Sam and Dean intentionally get themselves arrested in order to investigate mysterious deaths at a prison. When Sam tries to probe Randall, a veteran inmate for clues, Randall changes the subject by asking Sam why he's there. Sam, who wasn't happy with the plan in the first place, responds: "Because I've got an idiot for brother."

* In the final episode of ''WebAnimation/EveryFaggotEver'', the titular faggot is asked this when thrown into the jail cell.

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 illegally smuggling notes and letters from facility to facility.

[[folder:Theater]]

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

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

** 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!!
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': In the episode "Spongebob Meets The Strangler";

* In ''[[WesternAnimation/DynomuttDogWonder Dynomutt]]'' #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.

[[quoteright:350:[[Webcomic/JakeLikesOnions https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_book_of_onions_04.jpg]]]]

* On ''WebVideo/WhatTheFuckIsWrongWithYou'', Nash and Tara will occasionally discuss how awkward these conversations will be for people who committed especially stupid, embarrassing, or petty crimes ([[{{Jerkass}} like the guy who stole money from a lemonade stand... after they gave him free lemonade]].)

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_book_of_onions_04.jpg]]

-->'''Jenna:''' What's your story?
-->'''Blake:''' Well, I'm innocent; [[FrameUp of what I was charged with anyway]].
-->'''Vila:''' We have something in common, then. We're all victims of a miscarriage of justice.
-->'''Blake:''' It's true!
-->'''Jenna:''' [[SarcasmMode Of course it is.]]
-->'''Blake:''' What about the others?
-->'''Vila:''' Oh, a very antisocial bunch. Murderers, liars, cheats, [looks at Jenna] smugglers...
-->'''Jenna:''' [Returns the favor] Thieves...
-->'''Vila:''' --and they're the nice people.

-->'''Boo''': What you in for?
-->'''Jane''': Oh, eavesdropping on a state agent. You?
-->'''Boo''': They say I raped and murdered a guy. Stabbed him to death.
-->'''Jane''': Oh.
-->'''Boo''': But that's not true.
-->'''Jane''': Oh, good.
-->'''Boo''': We had consensual sex. ''Then'' I stabbed him to death.
-->'''Jane''': [[OhCrap Okay...]]
-->'''Boo''': You get top bunk.
-->'''Jane''': ...I like the top bunk.

--> '''Al''': This is truly the best vacation I've ever had!

--> 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.

* ''Webcomic/YetAnotherFantasyGamerComic'': Gertrude the Valkyrie (on visiting from ''Cowboys and Crossovers'') asks this to [[http://yafgc.net/comic/2984-gertrudes-saga-02/ another frog in a cage after being herself turned into a frog]]. Yeah, that tend to happen when you piss off a wizard.

--> '''Brent''': Uh, and I popped a cap in my old lady for giving me lip about it.
--> '''Thug''': Word!

--> '''Killer''': Oh man, I ''played'' that game, it would have been great online! You're crazy! I mean, I'M crazy, but you...
--> '''Programmer''': ''You cut out a man's eyes!!''
--> '''Killer''': Hey, dont even compare my eye shit to what you did, it's not even close!

* On ''WebVideo/WhatTheFuckIsWrongWithYou'', Nash and Tara will occasionally discuss how awkward these conversations will be for people who committed especially stupid, embarrassing, or petty crimes ([[{{Jerkass}} like the guy who stole money from a lemonade stand... after they gave him free lemonade]].)

-->'''Inmate #2014410:''' "What are you here for, fat boy?"
-->'''Cloudwhisper of Darrowmere:''' "I'll have you know that I! Am a political prisoner! Blizzard keeps nerfing hunters and I! Had the guts to stand up and say no more! No one wanted to listen, but I! Wouldn't be silenced!"
-->'''Inmate #2014410:''' "Wow. Well I have to say that takes a load off my mind. A lot of guys can be deceptively dangerous when you start raping them... so... you ready to go then?"
-->'''Cloudwhisper of Darrowmere:''' ''[[PrisonRape *sigh*]]''

--> '''Mr Burns''': GET ME AWAY FROM THIS SAVAGE BEAST!!

* In an episodes of ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' Grim is sent to jail for taking off his robe in public when he is angry trying to prove [[ItMakesSenseInContext he can't fart]] because he's a skeleton and it is coming from the [[CassandraTruth evil invisible ghost duck that has been following him all day.]] His cellmate is a very tough-looking guy with tattoos on his arms. Grim nervously asks him what he was in for. His answer scares Grim, especially since the duck is still close by, grinning evilly.

* In thew ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' 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."
--> '''[[AmbiguouslyGay Stewie]]''': ''(terrified)'' Brian, there are some bad people in here!!

** 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.

* Winston muses that a question like this is essentially moot in ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour''. There is only one crime the Party cares about, so the answer is always {{Thoughtcrime}}.
* In ''Help I Am Being Held Prisoner'' by Donald Westlake, the protagonist played a silly prank that ended in a traffic accident. Because said accident resulted in the exposure of a politician's unsavory sexual habits, said politician pulls strings so the protagonist will get punished as hard as possible. Because of this his sentence and the description of his crime, while ambiguously vague, make him sound like a hardened, inhuman murderer -- so the toughest gang in prison recruit him to their schemes...
* In the second part of ''Literature/TheStranger'', when Meursault is first put into prison, a few people ask him what he's in for. "Killing an Arab." [[UsefulNotes/{{Algeria}} Guess what kind of people are mostly in that prison]].
* When Harry of ''Literature/{{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. A cellmate does enthusiastically tell Harry in excruciating detail exactly what bureaucratic cock-up led to him being detained, [[TooMuchInformation causing Harry's eyes to glaze over]].

* At the conclusion of the [[VacationEpisode London episodes]] of ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'', Al is imprisoned for stealing a towel from an upscale hotel. He asks this question of a fellow prisoner, who informs him that he stole an ashtray. Al despairs, but brightens up when the guy tells him that prisoners are fed bread and water.

* A rather dark example in the second ''Film/{{Fletch}}'' movie; the protagonist asks the cellmate -- a huge, scary-looking guy -- and the guy answers "molesting a dead horse". (Fortunately for Fletch, that's when the cops come in to move the guy.)