Prisoners Keep Escaping

[P4RK3R_543]

Ok, so I'm playing Prison Architect and I have built a really good prison. Then the prisoners arrive, and on by one they escape! It's really annoying as I spend so long building these prison and then I can never get prisoners to stay! Any ideas to stop this/tips to help?

[Mendacious Calamity]

Hard to say without knowing what your weak spot is. How do they escape every time? If you don't know because it happens without your knowledge, show us a screenshot of your whole prison but especially the front door.

(it would be useful if there was a feature that tracked this, and all the other infractions your prisoners commit, as at the moment if you don't see it happen you'll never know - I think this has been on the Official Suggestion List for some time though)

[Proteus]

This sounds like your prison area isn´t fenced in.
If your prisoners are escorted to their cells and don´t get into a fenced in area shortly after the delivery area, there is always a chance that they try to make a run for freedom ... the longer they get escorted through a not fenced/alled in area, the higher the chance (had this as well in my first prisons after buying PA ... taught me to always keep the whole area surrounded by a fence ;) )

[Mendacious Calamity]

Originally posted by P4RK3R_543:

I have built a really good prison. Then the prisoners arrive, and on by one they escape!

I forgot to mention, but:

That's not a good prison. ;)

[Telfram]

do regular shakedowns, that should find the tunnels the liitle bu**ers always keep digging. :)

[Taktron]

If it's a tunnel problem, I would say to hire some k-9 units and have one patrol the outside of each cell block.

[Logicon]

start on a small map then build a wall around the outside and down the edges of the road, make a roadgate section around the delivery and garbage areas. The point being to make it completely closed in.

[clutzyninja]

I have a single entrace to my prison. My delivery area is also inside.
The entrace way has two jail doors with a guard, K9, and metal detector all inside to screen incoming prisoners. Outside, I have road gates above and below the entrace, with armed guards patrolling the sidewalks. Finally, a perimeter wall or at least a fence bounding everything in.
Never had an escape yet. Even if they tunnel out of the main prison (which they won't because of dog patrols on the outside walls), they still can't get out.

[Bamwich]

^^^ That's not really true. You can't build on the outer rim of the prison. Your prisoners could dig all the way out and pop up there.

And dogs will only detect a prisoner in a tunnel if the dog is digging on that exact spot. Dogs can't detect empty tunnels.

[yoda]

Your prison sounds ♥♥♥♥. Try watching some YouTube vedios on how to play, there are tons of guides on there.

[clutzyninja]

What's not true? I put the perimeter wall a ways away from the actual prison. I've never seen a prisoner dig more than 10 blocks or so. They're not going anywhere.
Like I said, zero escapes. Ever.

[Proteus]

Originally posted by chalked.up:

^^^ That's not really true. You can't build on the outer rim of the prison. Your prisoners could dig all the way out and pop up there.

...

Yup, you can only buld the fence one tile away from the outer rim.
But that´s sufficient to discourage prisoners from building tunnels (at least in my prisons). For me a tunnel with 1 tile away from the rim of the map is the first thing I build
Didn´t have a tunnel since a long time.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=300861995

[Emmote]

Fences do not disuade tunneling - it doesn't even slow them down.

Perimeter Walls slow down tunnels and therefore disuades tunneling. Concrete/Brick also do, but nowhere near as much.

But Fences, they do absolutely nothing for tunnels.

[clutzyninja]

The point is, I don't need to dissuade tunnels. If they tunnel out of the main prison, they still have a fence 4 blocks away and a perimeter wall around the rim of the map to get through.

[Proteus]

Originally posted by Emmote:

Fences do not disuade tunnels - it doesn't even slow them down.

Perimeter Walls slow down tunnels and therefore disuades tunneling. Concrete/Brick also do, but nowhere near as much.

Right ... which why I was always curious why I never ever got tunnels since a long time.
Especially as I often read about other people having serious problems with tunnels.
(I might add that the primeter walls in my screenshots always are a late addition ... first come the prison houses, which then get inhabited by prisoners (with only the outer fence between them and freedom) and only later in game (when my workers have nothing else to do) I add a preimeter fence)

[Emmote]

The main reason most people don't get tunnels is because their prisoners are mostly happy. Or supressed enough.

The people who get tunnels a lot often have miserable prisoners with high needs that aren't being satisfied.

And in that case, omegacat, they will usully just keep tunnelling until they are properly outside your prison. Building extra walls is needless.