After visiting the prison, Marge says to Bart that Sideshow Bob will be seeing him real soon, just three episodes later Sideshow Bob makes an appearance, since his last appearance in the season 8 episode Brother from Another Series (1997).
According to then-showrunner Mike Scully, the story of this episode originated from the fact that the staff members of The Simpsons wanted to do an episode about Marge but felt they did not want it to revolve around her getting a new job, as that had been seen on the show "too often".
Michael Keaton is the second actor to have played Bruce Wayne/Batman and been a guest voice on "The Simpsons." The first was Adam West, who played himself in the season 4 episode, Mr. Plow (1992).
Maggie does not appear in this episode.
The episode title is a pun on the popular franchise Pokémon. "Pokey" is a slang term for prison.