Pitiful prisoners taken up by paratroopers (4)

I believe the answer is:

poor

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'pitiful' is the definition.
(I know that pitiful can be written as poor)

I don't understand how the remainder of the clue works.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for poor that I've seen before include "Rotten" , "Shoddy" , "Of low standard" , "Lacking money and resources" , "Lacking means; paltry" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.

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