Top 15 Evil Prison Wardens
AMC Movie List

Top 15 Evil Prison Wardens

Which movie warden would you least want in charge of your cell block?

rank title points votes your vote
1 Warden Norton (Bob Gunton), The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
<p>Despite his posh accent, Norton's a weasley creep with a cruel and sadistic nature. Good thing he has no head for numbers.</p> 236 430
2 Captain (Strother Martin), Cool Hand Luke (1967)
<p>He told Paul Newman "What we've got here ... is a failure to communicate." He's so mean, he probably chews scorpions instead of tobacco.&nbsp;</p> 179 333
3 Sean Nokes (Kevin Bacon), Sleepers (1996)
<p>This top guard is far more evil than any of the delinquents he oversees, and is the reason why juvie has the rep it does.</p> 93 303
4 Warden (Patrick McGoohan), Escape from Alcatraz (1979)
<p>He rules over a prison from which nobody escapes and does everything in his power to keep Clint Eastwood in his place.</p> 82 268
5 Warden Hazen (Eddie Albert), The Longest Yard (1974)
<p>Hazen advocates his boys playing sports, specifically an inmates vs. guards game where the guards play dirty.</p> 70 256
6 Col. Winter (James Gandolfini), The Last Castle (2001)
<p>Gandolfini's thuggish Tony Soprano looks like Man of the Year compared to this harsh and vindictive warden, out to punish inmate Robert Redford.</p> 42 246
7 Warden Drumgoole (Donald Sutherland), Lock Up (1989)
<p>Drumgoole takes the phrase "hard time" literarlly and is determined to make inmate Sylvester Stallone suffer. 11 217
8 Warden Hennessey (Joan Allen), Death Race (2008)
<p>She enjoys making her inmates race to the death. That's right: Hennessey's a she, and the kind of woman who watches NASCAR for the crashes.&nbsp;</p> -26 224
9 Warden (Michael Lerner), No Escape (1994)
<p>He works in a futuristic prison run by private corporations. His hobbies include dumping prisoners on an island and letting them fight it out. </p> -45 181
10 Poe (Kurtwood Smith), Fortress (1993)
<p>This ruler of a futuristic, underground, desert prison tortures his least favorite inmate by stealing his dreams and using his child to create cyborgs.</p> -50 182
11 Ken Castle (Michael C. Hall), Gamer (2009)
<p>America's richest man ruling over prisoners? Yep. His technology allows gamers to control death-row inmates and force them to fight to the death. </p> -50 188
12 McQueen (Barbara Steele), Caged Heat (1974)
<p>You'd think running a women's prison would mean she's seen it all. But a horrible event sends her over the edge: The prison talent show.</p> -63 177
13 Warden Barnes (Roman Bohnen), Brute Force (1947)
<p>Warden Barnes is only too proud of the fact he's in charge of a facility where suicide is an inmate's only chance for escape.</p> -68 172
14 Matron Mama Morton (Queen Latifah), Chicago (2002)
<p>Murderess' Row is about as nice a place as its name implies. Corrupt leader, Mama Morton is the worst: Taking bribes then singing about it!</p> -72 204
15 Warden Holliday (Stephen Tobolowsky), Wedlock (1991)
<p>Even for a prison guard, this guy is sadistic. Inmates get a collar linked to another inmate. If either try to escape, both are blown to pieces.</p> -82 170