Iron Heights

Iron Heights Penitentiary
Iron Heights Penitentiary as seen in Flash: Iron Heights (August 2001)
Notable locations	Keystone City
First appearance	Flash: Iron Heights (August 2001)
Publisher	DC Comics

Iron Heights Penitentiary is a fictional setting in the DC Comics Universe, a maximum-security prison which houses the many Flash rogues and superhuman criminals of Keystone City and Central City when captured. Iron Heights first appeared in Flash: Iron Heights (2001).

Located about three miles north of Keystone City, Iron Heights Penitentiary is known for its vicious and brutal treatment of its prisoners. Under the ruthless authority of the current Warden, Gregory Wolfe, a former prosecutor of St. Louis, Iron Heights has become a living "hell-hole" to those in the prison. Possessing a personal hatred for the supervillains, Wolfe instituted a lockdown system in the building, and guards were ordered to shoot any prisoner on sight if they were trying to escape or caught outside the prison. Also, the prisoners were beaten on a daily basis. Wolfe has the superhuman ability to tense up others' muscles, which he uses on the prisoners, guards, and even the Flash, making them suffer cramps or discomfort that force them to halt until his power dissipates.

The supervillain prisoners are jailed in an area known as "the Pipeline." The Pipeline is the dark, dank basement of Iron Heights where the prisoners are treated under awful living conditions with little food or water. The prisoners are kept in their costumes so the guards can identify them immediately. Guards have orders to shoot any "mask" spotted outside the Pipeline.

Despite these harsh conditions and the ruthless warden, breakouts have occurred in Iron Heights. A riot occurred when a virus was released in the prison by Murmur, with Blacksmith's help. The viral outbreak ended up killing guards and prisoners. Murmur and Pipeline prisoners Weather Wizard and Girder escaped.

Gorilla Grodd also escaped when he controlled gorillas to break him loose from his confinement, the subsequent attack triggering a mass breakout as all the other cells in the Pipeline were opened as well.