All these reviews talk about how much fun it can be to create a draconian panopticon of hell, but I find it much more profitable to push on rehabilitation. You get money every time you take in prisoners, so it pays to be constantly taking them in, and you get a nice bonus whenever you release someone on parole and they don't reoffend. And while housing them in constant terror can reduce their will to re-offend, it's rather difficult to get that bonus check from a dead man.
And the great thing about this game? Both philosophies are perfectly valid. They each have benefits and flaws, and it's your job to strike the balance between the two to get your desired result. Go on, experiment; it's just the lives of criminals you're tinkering with, after all.
Adendum: the five-mission story mode is one of the better tutorials I've seen in a primarily sandbox game, both in terms of setting up game mechanics as well as for the story itself.

All these reviews talk about how much fun it can be to create a draconian panopticon of hell, but I find it much more profitable to push on rehabilitation. You get money every time you take in prisoners, so it pays to be constantly taking them in, and you get a nice bonus whenever you release someone on parole and they don't reoffend. And while housing them in constant terror can reduce their will to re-offend, it's rather difficult to get that bonus check from a dead man. And the great thing about this game? Both philosophies are perfectly valid. They each have benefits and flaws, and it's your job to strike the balance between the two to get your desired result. Go on, experiment; it's just the lives of criminals you're tinkering with, after all. Adendum: the five-mission story mode is one of the better tutorials I've seen in a primarily sandbox game, both in terms of setting up game mechanics as well as for the story itself.