Belle Reve Penitentiary is a penal institution located in Belle Reve Parish. It is designed to hold supervillains and metahumans.
All inmates are required to wear inhibitor collars, with each one designed to restrain the wearer's specific meta-ability. The walls are strong enough to withstand even Superman, though are subceptible to other forms of assault.
On July 4, four ice villains (Mister Freeze, Icicle Jr., Killer Frost, and Captain Cold) staged simultaneous attacks around the country.[1] Frost and Cold were sent to Belle Reve, Mister Freeze was sent to Arkham Asylum and Icicle Jr. was sent to a young offenders institution. However, Freeze petitioned to be ruled legally sane and Icicle Jr. sued to be tried as an adult, and both were subsequently transferred to Belle Reve on September 16. As a result, the Justice League sent Superboy and Miss Martian into Belle Reve undercover, posing as Tommy and Tuppence Terror, to find out what they were planning.
The prison's psychiatrist, Hugo Strange, and inmate Icicle Sr., were working on a plan for the Light. It had two goals: disposing of warden Amanda Waller, and allowing the Riddler to escape. This would be masked by a destined-to-fail prison break, that involved the four ice villains making the walls brittle. Ultimately, the prison break was prevented by Superboy and Miss Martian (with unwitting help from Icicle Jr.), but the main goals had been accomplished. Riddler had escaped, and Hugo Strange was established as warden,[2] and could now allow people that were of use to the Light to temporarily, and secretly, be put to use outside the prison.[3]
Following their arrest, the Injustice League was sent to Belle Reve, with the exception of the Joker, who was sent to Arkham Asylum,[4] and Count Vertigo, who had diplomatic immunity.[5]
In their search for Red Tornado and T.O. Morrow, the Team stopped by Belle Reve. Warden Strange could not deny them an audience with Morrow's chief competitor, Professor Ivo, because they had helped prevent a prison break. However, when he saw Zatanna was able to extract the desired information from him with ease, he made sure to have Ivo warn Morrow.[6]
After Queen Perdita of Vlatava revoked Count Vertigo's immunity after a failed coup, he was sent to Belle Reve, and immediately became the subject of mockery from fellow inmates. As the coup involved a coordinated attack from five ice fortresses, Batman suspected the five ice villains in Belle Reve might have been involved. Strange showed him security footage, that showed each of them in their cells at the time of the attacks.[5]
With Strange's complicity, Sportsmaster broke Professor Ivo out of prison. Strange made sure to shut off the alarms, and control an android of Ivo to make it appear he was still in jail.[7]
Belle Reve December 30, post-09:48CST
After an ambush on the Team involving Belle Reve in-mates made it clear the prison was under the Light's control, Vandal Savage called Strange to alert him, instructing him to open all the doors.[8]
In the comics, Belle Reve is a metahuman prison in Louisiana, and is mainly the headquarters for the Suicide Squad.
This is the second adaption of Belle Reve Penitentiary. In Justice League Unlimited, it again functioned as recruiting grounds for the Suicide Squad (renamed Task Force X).
The original Belle Reve in media was as the name of the fictional Dubois family's plantation in A Streetcar Named Desire.
