Walking Dead Wiki

Attention! Please be aware that spoilers are not allowed on the wiki and a violation of this policy may result in a ban. Information (character deaths/fates, screenshots, etc.) from episodes released early on AMC+ may not be added to the wiki until the episode officially airs at 9pm EST on the Sunday it is scheduled for. Thank you.

READ MORE

Walking Dead Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Walking Dead Wiki
This article is about the Comic Series group. You may be looking for the TV Series counterpart.


We saw the reports on TV -- And then all hell broke loose in here. Since then we've been holed up in here, with no word from the outside world. We don't know what's going on.
―Axel telling Rick's group about the prison during the outbreak[src]

The Prisoners are convicts who were sent to the Meriwether County Correctional Facility to answer for their crimes. Out of nearly a hundred prisoners there, only a minority survived the outbreak when it began. Most of them serve as antagonists to Rick Grimes' group, but one of them serves as an ally to the group. They are first encountered in Issue 13 of the Comic Series. They serve as the primary antagonistic group of Volume 3: Safety Behind Bars and Volume 4: The Heart's Desire.

Pre-Apocalypse[]

Hardly anything is known about the prisoners other than that they were all arrested for committing crimes: Axel for armed robbery, Andrew for drug possession, distribution, and robbery, Thomas for homicide, and Dexter for double homicide. It is unknown though how their lives were prior to their arrest and imprisonment.

Post-Apocalypse[]

A riot broke out at the prison soon after the outbreak. Due to the news broadcasts, the inmates and guards had a basic understanding of what was going on. Soon, many of the guards abandoned the Prison and the inmates to fend for themselves; at about the same time, a few walkers had somehow gotten inside and began to kill the inmates. Several of the guards freed the inmates and joined together to fight their way out, resulting in heavy casualties. By the time Rick and his group discovered the Prison, it was discovered that there were only four survivors left who were locked up inside the cafeteria.

It later turns out that the two groups cannot co-exist inside the Prison after one of them, Thomas Richards, kills two of the survivors, Rachel and Susie, and Dexter is wrongly accused of the crime due to him being the "only" prisoner who was arrested for murder (it is later revealed that Thomas was arrested for murder as well and initially lied about being arrested for committing tax fraud). Thomas also tries to kill Andrea and Patricia, but the first attempted murder is stopped by Rick, who beats Thomas brutally, and the second attempted murder is stopped by a vengeful Maggie, who empties her entire firearm clip into Thomas.

After Thomas is killed, Dexter and Andrew try to kick out Rick's group, resulting in walkers flooding the courtyard. During the struggle, Rick shoots Dexter in the head, covering it up as friendly-fire, and Andrew surrenders, running outside the gates to die.

Axel, the only prisoner to side with Rick, joins the group and later becomes a vital and trusted member of the group until he is killed during the second assault on the Prison from Woodbury.

Members[]

Crimes[]

  • Dexter - Double Homicide
  • Axel - Armed Robbery
  • Andrew - Drug Possession, Distribution, and Robbery
  • Thomas Richards - Homicide

Killed Victims[]

This list shows the victims the Prisoners have killed:

Deaths[]

Appearances[]

Comic Series[]

Volume 3: Safety Behind Bars[]

Volume 4: The Heart's Desire[]

Advertisement