Accresker Jail, a wreckage-prison under the control of the Galactic Empire, had a reputation for being a death trap. Chelli Lona Aphra knew this firsthand, having been captured by the Empire's Magna Tolvan on Son-tuul. While incarcerated in Accresker, Aphra discovered an infestation of gundravian hookspores. This discovery led to the decommissioning of the prison, which was then set on a collision course with the planet Tiferep Major. However, just before impact, a tractor beam intervened, allowing Darth Vader to board the facility. After a fruitless search for Aphra, Vader returned to the Executor and deactivated the tractor beam. This resulted in the remnants of Accresker Jail crashing into Tiferep Major, obliterating the prison and causing widespread destruction on the planet.
Accresker Jail was intentionally designed to deter any rescue attempts. It was composed of eighty thousand tons of shattered starships, held together by an attractor node and enclosed within a tractor envelope. This envelope also provided the prison with gravity and prevented anything from escaping. A specialized Arquitens-class command cruiser, known as a prison-tug, pulled the main body of the prison. Transport pods moved along the lines connecting the cruiser to the prison, facilitating movement between the cruiser and the prison for staff and inmates. The prison was often deployed to combat zones, colliding with targets and deploying the prisoners as the Accresker Penal Legion. Hubdroids oversaw the convicts, dispensing weapons and food. An airdome maintained oxygen levels within the prison, and could expand during combat.
Sometime after its construction, Accresker Jail acquired the wreckage of an ancient Penumbra-1 shattersprite, containing the corpse of a dead Jedi. Gundravian hookspores had overrun the Jedi's ship and began to spread throughout the prison. The combination of the deceased Jedi and the hookspores resulted in the fungus gaining the ability to manifest as a Force spirit and manipulate objects using the Force, giving the impression that the prison was haunted by a ghost.
Around 1 ABY, Lieutenant-Inspector Magna Tolvan launched an attack against the Son-tuul Pride syndicate, using a micro-tracker that had been implanted on Chelli Aphra. Tolvan instructed a stormtrooper to send Aphra to Accresker Jail aboard the transport Shuttle Six, along with her droid Dek-Nil and the low-risk prisoners from the wreckage of Hivebase-1.
Almost a week after Aphra's arrival at Accresker, she attempted an escape during an attack on an EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigate. This led to the destruction of her hubdroid, which resulted in the deaths of her entire squad, except for a man who identified himself as "Lopset Yas," but was actually the renegade surgeon Cornelius Evazan in disguise. Dek-Nil rescued her and Yas, allowing them to join his squad. Their escape was foiled by the Force spirit, which activated Dek-Nil's restraining bolt, causing him to destroy the escape pod they were trying to reach.
Soon after, Aphra orchestrated a second escape during an attack on a pirate station, forcing Tolvan to come to her rescue. This second attempt was thwarted by the arrival of Sana Starros and the interference of the Force spirit, which ultimately led Aphra and Yas to discover the gundravian hookspores within the wreckage of the Jedi's ship. After the pirate station attack concluded, Aphra was subjected to interrogation using a bor gullet. During this process, Aphra revealed the existence of the gundravian hookspores to the interrogation officer and his lieutenant.
Upon learning about the infection within the prison, the Accresker command ordered the decommission of the facility, propelling it on a collision course with Tiferep Major, a planet known to be affiliated with the Rebel Alliance. The staff abandoned the Arquitens-class cruiser, which then crashed into the rest of Accresker. As the wreckage-prison hurtled towards Tiferep Major, the convicts descended into chaos and violence, turning against each other. The Force spirit continued to wreak havoc, killing several convicts.
Amidst the chaos, Aphra broke into the cruiser, hoping to find the gravity controls. She reduced the gravity to half its original level, rearranging some wreckage within the prison and bringing the Penumbra-1 shattersprite closer to them. Simultaneously, Tam Posla, whom Aphra had manipulated into believing she was holding Cornelius Evazan hostage, made his way to the prison. He was followed by 0-0-0, who had used listening devices in the ship he had provided Posla to learn of Aphra's location.
As Accresker Jail continued its descent toward Tiferep Major, Aphra led Starros and Tolvan into the only remaining escape pod. Intending to send them away so she could escape alone, she launched the pod, but Tolvan escaped at the last moment, leaving Starros alone. Despite Tolvan's refusal to leave, Aphra proceeded with her plan, heading for the main launch hangar. As she, Tolvan, and Yas waited, Tam Posla arrived in the hangar with his ship, along with a shuttle that he had agreed to trade for Evazan. Upon Posla's arrival, the hookspores left the wreckage of the Jedi ship, hoping to use him as their new host. However, Aphra froze it with a coolant grille, and Posla left with a similarly frozen Lopset Yas, who had "shapeshifted" into Evazan's form.
Aphra and Tolvan retrieved the Jedi's lightsaber and boarded the shuttle Posla had left for them. Before they could escape Accresker, their shuttle was shot down by the assassin droids 0-0-0 and BT-1, who landed their ship inside the prison. Several convicts attempted to attack the droids, but Triple-Zero killed them all. Moments before the prison collided with Tiferep Major, it was caught in the Executor's tractor beam. Darth Vader, whom Tolvan had anonymously contacted, boarded Accresker Jail in search of her.
Vader advanced through the prison, slaughtering any convicts who stood in his path. While Vader searched for her, Aphra, who had previously considered using the bor gullet to erase her own memory, reluctantly allowed Tolvan to choose to have her mind wiped instead. As Tolvan's mind was being erased, Vader encountered BT-1, destroying the astromech droid. He discovered Tolvan shortly afterward, interrogating her about Aphra's whereabouts. Tam Posla, who had returned with Yas, confronted Aphra, declaring her under arrest. Before Posla could apprehend her, however, Triple-Zero knocked him down, mauling him to death. As Vader took Tolvan prisoner, 0-0-0 similarly captured Aphra, and both returned to their respective ships. After taking Tolvan back to his shuttle, Vader sensed the hookspores through the Force, leaving to find them.
Once he had departed, the shuttle was destroyed by a small squadron of Rebel Alliance starfighters, led by Sana Starros, who had evacuated the inhabitants of Tiferep Major. Vader attacked Tan Leader's X-wing, but allowed the other fighters to escape after noticing the hookspore swarm approaching him. Vader destroyed the spores and ordered the tractor beam to be deactivated. As Vader was retrieved by a shuttle, Starros rescued Tolvan, who had survived the explosion. 0-0-0 brought Aphra to his ship, only to find it had been destroyed. "Lopset Yas" confronted them from behind, stunning both Triple-Zero and Aphra and escaping aboard Tam Posla's empty ship. All three parties escaped the falling prison, leaving it to continue its path toward Tiferep Major. Accresker Jail broke through the planet's ring system and collided with its surface in a massive explosion. The prison was destroyed in the crash, leaving a vast crater on Tiferep Major.
Within the ruins of Accresker Jail, Posla's corpse, still relatively intact, floated lifelessly. Although the hookspores had been defeated, the Force energy that had been within them remained, locating and possessing Posla's dead body. Posla recovered the remains of BT-1 from the wreckage, rebuilding him and tracking Triple-Zero's signal to Milvayne.
Accresker Jail was among the Imperial prisons known to New Republic Intelligence agent Caern Adan.
Accresker Jail was initially mentioned in the 2018 canon comic Doctor Aphra (2016) 19, authored by Kieron Gillen and Simon Spurrier. Its first appearance was in the subsequent issue, Doctor Aphra (2016) 20, also penned by Simon Spurrier and illustrated by Kev Walker.