24,601
24601 is the prison code of the character Jean Valjean in the novel/musical Les Misérables. In homage, or perhaps as a recurring in-joke in the performing arts, the number has frequently been used in other works of fiction. The number often identifies one who is persecuted:
Television
- Arrested Development: Oscar Bluth's prison number is 24601.
- Cannibal! The Musical: Alferd Packer is prisoner 24601.
- Drawn Together: Captain Hero is accused of violating Superhero Code 24601. (episode: "Ghostesses in the Slot Machine")
- South Park: Eric Cartman's cell number is 24601. (episode: "Cartman's Silly Hate Crime 2000")
- The Simpsons has many references:
- Sideshow Bob is prisoner number 24601 in "Black Widower"
- The number on Principal Skinner's helmet in The Simpsons episode 9F21, Homer's Barbershop Quartet.
- It is Marge's prisoner number in Marge in Chains.
Other
- System Shock: The hacker's designated Trioptimum employee number is 2-4601.
- The Black Canyon School (a juvenile detention facility for girls) in Phoenix, Arizona is located at 24601 North 29th Avenue. There is nothing else abutting that remote mile of frontage road, so the state could have chosen any address number within range for it; that they would choose to locate a "prison" at 24601 demonstrates some literary humor on the part of somebody with the Arizona Department of Corrections.
- In the comicbook GrimJack issue #73, the main character's prison number is 24601.
- The prime factorization of 24601 is 73 and 337.
- 24601 is the zip code for Amonate, Virginia.
Origin
It's rumored that the number actually refers to the date Victor Hugo (the author of Les Misérables) was conceived, the 24th of June 1801. This is possible, as he was born nearly 8 months later and is known to having been born about a month too early. Another possible origin is, that the 24th june is also St. John's Day. Jean is the french form of John and Valjean is called "a saint" several times in the novel. Yet another possible orgin is the fact that all its digits added together equal 13, an "unluckly" number.