| abstract | - A Penal World is a class of Imperial world that functions as a world-wide military-prison planet. A single such world's population consists entirely of criminals from hundreds of different worlds. This type of worlds tends to be barren worlds that have few other uses and have little, if any, indigenous population. Military formations are often raised from amongst the prison population as necessary, to serve as Penal Legion troops within Imperial Guard regiments. There, they might earn redemption through their term of service, which is for life. In the Imperium, crime is widespread enough that entire worlds are given over to incarcerating the refuse of society. On these Penal Worlds live the criminals of the Imperium, the guards that keep them there, and any luckless denizen unfortunate enough to have been born there. Penal worlds are, very often, barely-habitable planets. Here, the criminals labour and toil at various menial tasks while serving out their sentences; and only a few parole out. On some worlds, the worst criminals (those whose crimes aren’t severe enough to warrant death) might be segregated from the rest, but this practice varies from world to world. Thus, murderers and rapists might mix with petty thieves and con-men. From this melting pot comes a brutal society, where survival comes only when one forgets morality and is willing to do whatever is necessary to make it to the next day. Where most world classifications stem from the types of terrain or lifeforms found there, penal colonies are defined by strict Imperial Law. In every expansion, there are recidivists, looters, murderers, and thieves who appear in its wake. The most violent or persistent offenders, if not granted summary execution at the time of apprehension, may be shipped off-world to facilities designed to house them permanently. These purgatories made real are often ruined worlds left forgotten due to their lack of strategic importance or natural resources. Buildings are repurposed and retrofitted to accommodate massive numbers of inmates, and automated defences are brought in to keep the new residents in line. It is here that the lawbreakers are left to wither and die—though some survive to escape their sentence, and fight for the Emperor on other fronts.
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