Villains who are not deceased but are no longer active (at least physically) due to being imprisoned or incarcerated forever, but actually & much better they will be deceased soon by the future by rotting at imprisonment they were sent into instead of being deceased earlier in the present. Whether it be by regular means (in the case of more human beings) or mystical means (in the case of more demonic/god-like beings). Although they are unable to be a physical threat, a few some imprisoned villains may be able to continue their crimes from prison and often plot ways to escape.

Note: Imprisoned villains cannot be labeled as Karma Houdinis regardless of how painless the imprisonment is, the one exception is villains who are former inmates that successfully manage to escape without being brought back to justice or given any punishment whatsoever. However, villains who were officially Redeemed can still be imprisoned, even if their crimes were ultimately forgiven but still have to repay for their crimes (e.g. Miss Sharon Stone, Mr. Freeze and Veener.)

ALSO, villains who have previously been imprisoned but were released (e.g. Dee Dee Twins, Ventriloquist, Igor Karkaroff and Barriss Offee) or managed to escape and continue their villainy (e.g. Tai Lung, Bellatrix Lestrange, Ivan Ooze, Moff Gideon, Joan Ferguson, Morgan Elsbeth, Miles Jackson, Azula, Ryan Gaerity and Moro) DO NOT qualify. This category is for villains who are still imprisoned as of their most recent appearance in continuity. Regardless, some of them may have to be killed if they end up being too dangerous to be left alive.

Scapegoats can fall under this category if villains were wrongfully imprisoned, especially if their crimes are very minor to the point where they still receive harsh sentences (even if their crimes are severe enough, they may be Possessed/Brainwashed as their horrible actions are out of their control) or in rare cases, suffer from extremely brutal slapstick comedy moments towards their defeats.