Miss Piggy stuck in the big house.
A prison, also known as a jail (or, according to Miss Piggy, also known as the big house, squealer, slammer, or the joint) is a facility in which prisoners are confined against their will and usually denied a variety of freedoms under the authority of the state as punishment for various crimes.
A common media trope is to depict prisoners behind bars in black-and-white striped uniforms with matching pillbox hats.
Prisoners[]
Wontkins is jailed for not drinking Wilkins Coffee in the Wilkins Coffee "Jailhouse" spot.
Rowlf dreams he is in prison and Jimmy Dean joins him to sing "The Prisoner's Song" in a 1966 episode of The Jimmy Dean Show.
The Spook is shown in jail in The Wizard of Id pilot.
Various criminals, suspects and other characters are put in the station's holding cell in the "Bear on Patrol" sketches on The Muppet Show.
Miss Piggy is arrested and held in one of Her Majesty's prisons after being framed for stealing Lady Holiday's necklace in The Great Muppet Caper.
The Fraggles are imprisoned by the Gorgs and stand trial in the Fraggle Rock episode "Wembley and the Gorgs."
The babies' imaginations run wild as they fear Officer Carruthers will put them in jail for being too loud in the first episode of Muppet Babies.
The babies appear as jailbirds during the "Jailbirds" song in the Muppet Babies episode "Kermit Goes to Washington."
Earl Sinclair goes to jail ("The Big House") for copyright infringement in the Dinosaurs episode "Georgie Must Die."
One-Eyed Jack is shown sitting in a jail cell on Christmas day in The Muppet Christmas Carol (echoing Scrooge's earlier line about where the poor should go, "Are there no prisons? Are there no poorhouses?")
Ace Hart is charged with dognapping and put behind bars before being taken to the electric doggy bed in the Dog City episode "In Your Dreams."
Polly, Clueless and Mad Monty are locked up in the brig of the Hispaniola after torturing Gonzo and Rizzo in Muppet Treasure Island.
Telly imagines himself going to court and being thrown in prison in Episode 3058.
A Grouch (David Rudman) in The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland.
The residents of Sesame Street are locked up in the Grouchland Jail in The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland.
Rizzo's time with the rats in the C.O.V.N.E.T. lab in Muppets from Space parodies many prison movie tropes.
In 2001, as part of The Muppet Show’s 25th anniversary line of products, Nanco released a Valentine's Day plush toy of Animal as a "Prisoner of Love" (dressed in a striped prison uniform and chained to a heart).
Pepe is said to have escaped from jail in the world in which Kermit was never born in a deleted scene from It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie.
The Muppets are thrown in jail in a deleted scene from The Muppets.
Danny Trejo appears as a fellow-detainee to the Muppets in jail in a deleted scene from The Muppets.
Various prisoners, including Kermit the Frog, Prison King, Big Papa, and Danny Trejo, in Gulag 38B in Muppets Most Wanted.
Constantine appeared behind bars at Disney's Hollywood Studios in August 2014.
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The ghost of Cousin Huet (Danny Trejo) is still imprisoned in Muppets Haunted Mansion even though the caretaker expresses that "we all know you didn't do it."
Verbal references[]
- When Elmo says he and his friends really like to sing "Sing" in The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland: Sing and Play, Grizzy comments, "Sing Sing? Hey, I think my Uncle Grumble spent some time there," confusing Elmo's words for the maximum-security prison in New York.
- Stiller the Elf worries about going to prison after losing The Christmas Counter-Downer in Elmo's Christmas Countdown, listing various synonyms for "jail."
Honorable Mentions[]
- Jim Henson's experimental film The Cube examines the nature of freedom and being trapped with a man being trapped inside a cube.
- The Labyrinth from the film of the same name, includes oubliettes, dark pits or dungeons meant to trap and contain people to be forgotten.
- Meteora considers the Christmas package she was in to be a prison before Rugby Tiger convinces her otherwise in The Christmas Toy.
- Before Little Chrissy and the Alphabeats perform "Gonna Rock You to Sleep," Irvine rattles her cup against her crib bars, calling out for a lawyer as if she's in prison.
- The Netflix series Orange is the New Black (which is about a women's prison) was parodied on Sesame Street as "Orange is the New Snack," swapping the prison setting for a school.
Wardens and guards[]
- Peggy Aitchison as the prison guard in The Great Muppet Caper
- Grouch Jailer and Grouch Cop as personnel of the Grouchland Jail in The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland
- Officer Ethel as the jail attendant in The Muppets deleted scene
- Nadya (the warden) and Ivan (guard) of Gulag 38B in Muppets Most Wanted
Songs about prison[]
- "The Big House" from Muppets Most Wanted
- "Fraggle Rock Rock" from Fraggle Rock
- "Jailbirds" from Muppet Babies
- "The Prisoner's Song" from The Jimmy Dean Show
- "Stop" (unused song) for The Great Muppet Caper