Pope Joe was a convict who lived as a hermit and preacher in the underbelly of Butcher Bay Correctional Facility. He dedicated himself to cleansing the humanoid dwellers who reside in the sewers. At one point, when Riddick escaped from the first cell block of Butcher's, Pope Joe enlisted Riddick in finding his voice box (a tye-dye color radio tuned to a religious radio station), which the dwellers had stolen. Before Riddick left, Pope Joe allowed him to use his NanoMED machine, and gave him some flares to help him in both his search for the radio and his battle against the dwellers.