Overview
This is simply a quick-reference guide to refer to in-game for the particular sizes of certain rooms.
Introduction
This is by no means intended to be an exhaustive guide – only a reference for myself (and you, if you choose to read this). This guide will not necessarily cover all room types (you can decide for yourself how you want your Storage and Forestry to be laid out, for example), but I intend to cover the rooms which are used for Prison Labour.
Date of most recent edit
2nd April 2016 (still)
Most recent game update:
(There’s been some performance improvements in the game, but the gameplay features begin about 16mins into the update video.)
Update 5 continues with the thermodynamics update, introducing a hot water system to your prison, with the Water Boiler connecting with Radiators and Showers, via Hot Water Pipes.
Update 5c has made some changes to the Hot water system, but is not a major game update.
Edit: Prison Architect is out, but the changes don’t seem to affect this guide terribly (aside from season/weather effects), so there probably won’t be an update here for that one.
As always, if there’s something you feel should be included or changed here then please let me know in the comments. 🙂
Edit2: Update 7’s description reads: “No new content updates this month, just a ton of stability improvements and bug fixes.” As such, this guide has not been changed – aside from the title.
Prisoner’s needs:
When designing a prison, there are certain rooms/objects that are required from the start to keep your early prison population happy.
Holding Cell / Cell block – Bladder + Bowel + Sleep
Kitchen + Canteen – Food
Shower – Hygiene
Weight Bench – Exercise need
Phone Booth – Family need
TV, Pool Table, etc. – Recreation need
Radiator – Warmth need
Prisoner’s ‘wants’:
Other rooms are important for your prisoners, but not immediately necessary for prisoners with short sentences.
Yard (or Weights Bench) – Exercise
Visitation (or Phone Booth) – Family
Cell (individual) – Privacy
Chapel – Spirituality
Library (and Classroom) – Literacy
Laundry – Clothing
Cleaning Cupboard (or hire extra Janitors) – Environment
Basic prison infrastructure
Some early goals for things to plan out and build in your prison:
Grant: Basic Detention Centre
Holding Cell (5×5 or greater)
Shower (variable size)
Yard (variable size)
Kitchen (variable size)
Canteen (variable size)
Grant: Administration Centre
Warden’s Office (4×4)
Accountant’s Office (4×4)
Grant: Health and Well Being
Infirmary (variable size)
Psychologist’s Office (4×4)
Grant: Staff Well-being
Staffroom (4×4)
Grant: Cell Block A (B, C)
Prisoner Capacity 15 (50, 100)
– Rooms –
listed in alphabetical order:
Armoury (variable size)
– Prerequisites: Armoury unlocked, in Bureaucracy
– Description: none
– Requirements: Indoor, Weapons Rack (2×1), Guard Locker (1×1, one required per Armed Guard), Table (4×1)
– Contraband: Shotgun, Gun, Tazer, and Baton. (All weapons, only two of which are metal.)
Time to put those oh-so durable Solitary Doors to good use! The Armoury is where your guards will go to equip Tazers, and where your rioting prisoners will go to find something notably more lethal.
Zone it as Staff-Only, and don’t let your prisoners in. (I tend to place my Armory behind the Infirmary, so that I can easily evacuate my Doctors to the Armoury in case of rioting, and my guards will always pass through the Infirmary at the start/end of their shift.)
The Armoury doesn’t need to be huge, but you will need enough space for Guard Lockers for the Armed Guards you want to have. Building this room too small (especially on larger maps) can result in needing a second Armoury – which means there will be two rooms your prisoners can break into to get guns.
The Armoury is also required to arm your Snipers, which have been added in .
Canteen (variable size)
– Prerequisites: none.
– Description: “Where your prisoners will take their afternoon tea.”
– Requirements: Indoors, Serving Table (5×1), Table (4×1), Bench (4×1).
– Contraband: none.
This room doesn’t particularly need a guide per-se, as its size will be dependent upon the number of prisoners you intend to have in your prison. Note that you can place two Benches either side of a Table, such that one Table can seat up to 8 prisoners, in a 3×4 (or 4×3) space.
It may be worth placing Metal Detectors at the door, to prevent prisoners stealing contraband.
The canteen no longer produces contraband of its own, however if you have prisoners working the Kitchen, it may still be worth leaving Metal Detectors in place. It’ll catch armed prisoners as they go in for meals, and catch prisoners working as Kitchen staff if they try to smuggle weapons out.
Cell (varying size)
– Prerequisites: none.
– Description: “Where your prisoners live”
– Requirements: Indoors, Enclosed (surrounded by walls and doors), Minimum Size 2 x 3. (can be reduced to 3m²), Bed (1×2), Toilet (1×1, requires plumbing)
– Contraband: None, except for what they bring in with them.
Prison Cells are where your prisoners will spend large chunks of their time. It’s also where they will begin digging their escape tunnels. There are various ways of preventing escape tunnels reaching the borders of your prison, though I prefer to add a fence around the outer boundary of the land, and use the Search Cell Block feature while my prisoners are eating breakfast to check for any tunnels that began overnight.
If you’ve got a Metal Detector at the entrances to your Cell Wards, tunnels are much less likely to happen but sometimes a tool still gets in so don’t rely on it too much.
I recommend using the Policy window to set it so that whenever a prisoner is caught doing anything, they and their cell is searched. It’ll save you a lot of micro-management.
I tend to set aside a set of cells for Death Row prisoners, and another set for prisoners in Protective Custody. I tend to give the latter its own Kitchen, Canteen, Shower, Laundry, and Library, etc. and also put a ‘Staff Only’ zone between protective custody and the rest of the prison, so that prisoners don’t stray in or out.
As of Alpha 33, there are benefits to having cells of varying sizes and levels of luxury. (Details are mentioned in the next section.)
– Cell Grading –
In , a feature has been added in which prisoners can have cells of varying quality.
When a prisoner first enters your prison they are rated as deserving the average quality cell within your prison, for the first few days after arriving. As prisoners stay within your prisoner without incident, they earn the right to better quality cells. Any prisoner who commits an offence within your prison will lose that right, forfeit their current cell and be relegated to lowest-quality cells.
Meanwhile, a more deserving prisoner will move in to the now-vacant cell.
A Cell’s Grade is measured from 0-10, and there are ten key features which can improve the quality of a cell. (These can be viewed in-game on the Logistics screen, under Room Quality.)
These features are:
– Room size at least 6 Squares (in size, e.g. a standard 2×3 room)
– Room size at least 9 Squares
– Room size at least 16 Squares
– Outdoor Window
– Item: Office Desk
– Item: Shower Head
– Item: TV
– Item: Radio
– Item: Bookshelf
– Item: Chair
If a prisoner is in a higher-than-average cell, their boiling point will be significantly improved and they will be less likely to riot. Conversely, a prisoner in a lower-quality cell (in comparison to their peers) will be unhappy with this and more likely to rebel against your guards.
Note that as of Update 4, a cell having a window leading to outdoors (or just being on an outer wall of a building) will cause its temperature to be reduced more quickly as nighttime falls and the outside temperature drops. Be sure to install Radiators within the cell block to help keep your prisoners warm at night.
Chapel (6×6 or larger)
– Prerequisites: none.
– Description: “What happens when a bureaucratic committee gets together and designs a solution to inmate’s religious needs? A “Multi-Faith Prayer Room”, that’s what. We refer to it as the Chapel.”
– Requirements: Indoors, Room Size 6×6, Altar (3×2), Pews (4×1), Prayer Mat (1×1).
– Contraband: none.
The Chapel is used in the Spiritual Guidance program (20 places per 2-hour session), which will fulfil prisoners’ Spirituality need and instil calm in the affected prisoners. Spiritual prisoners also have a calming effect upon nearby prisoners for a short period of time.
(The Spiritual Leader is selected randomly each time from one of the seven religious denominations in the game.)
Classroom (5×9 or larger)
– Prerequisites: Education unlocked, in Bureaucracy
– Description: none
– Requirements: Indoors, Room Size 5×5, School Desk (1×2), Office Desk (2×1)
– Contraband: none.
I tend to allow a 7×11 space for my Classroom, so that it has space for each School Desk and rows between. In theory the Classroom only needs to be 5×9 to contain twenty School Desks and the Office Desk (with a minimum room size of 5×5), to suit a full class of 20 students.
Additionally, try to place Armed Guard patrols away from the Classroom, Workshop, Psychologist’s Office, and Kitchen. Suppressed prisoners learn at a slower rate, and the presence of armed guards may contribute to prisoners failing their courses.
The picture below shows a 5×10 classroom, though you can move two school desks from one end of the room and rotate them to fit them in the empty spaces next to the office desk.
Cleaning Cupboard (80m²)
– Prerequisites: Cleaning unlocked, in Bureaucracy
– Description: none
– Requirements: Indoors, Minimum Size 3×3
– Contraband: Poison (Narcotics, Smelly) and Club (Weapons, Improvised)
– Floor space per working prisoner: 4m² each
– Maximum optimal size: 80m² (20 working prisoners)
Common Room (variable size)
– Prerequisites: none.
– Description: “Allowing your prisoners some free time to relax.”
– Requirements: Indoors
– Contraband: none.
, the Common room is used for treating prisoners with addiction to alcohol. The Alcoholics Group Therapy program allows for up to 20 prisoners, each requiring a Chair.
The Common Room is one of the areas Gangs will attempt to claim as their own, if it contains a Weights Bench and Phone Booth.
Deliveries, Exports, Garbage. (variable size)
Deliveries, and Garbage
– Deliveries Description: “Where your goods, materials, and prisoners are dropped off.”
– Garbage Description: “Where your waste is collected from.”
– Requirements: none*
* I’m not intimately familiar with how the game determines the functioning of Deliveries and Garbage, so I tend to leave these zones as they are, building my prison around them.
Having said that, I always have Garbage further south than Deliveries. The reasoning for this is that your trash will be loaded onto the truck when it reaches Garbage, and the truck will then unload its contents into Deliveries. Your workers will then pick up the bags, carry them north to Garbage, and drop them off – ready for the cycle to begin again.
(As of Alpha 29, the way in which deliveries can be made to your prison has been changed. So having a longer Delivery / Garbage zone beside the road may not necessarily be a bad idea.)
, contraband can enter your prison via deliveries. This being the case, it may be worth adding a Metal Detector to your prison entrances, and have a Guard Dog patrol near your Deliveries area.
Exports
– Description: none
– Requirements: none.
– Contraband: none.
The Export zone, , allows your Workmen to carry saleable items (Licence Plates, Superior Beds, Planks, and Wood – the latter two depending on whether you have a Carpenter Table / Workshop Saw in your prison, respectively.)
I tend to place this across the road from the Garbage zone, within my Road Gate area.
Below is how I tend to start with my prison’s entrance:
Note that there are two Road Gates (to prevent prison escapes), as well as Staff Doors – so that my workmen do not require a guard to access a storage area on the northern side across the road from my prison. In this picture, the Garbage and Deliveries are in their default location, I have the Exports in a 3×9 zone across the road from Garbage (not sure if those extra three tiles give any priority to Exports at all, but it’s personal preference) and I have Storage opposite deliveries (again, also personal preference – but it’s a handy out-of-the-way place while you’re planning / building.) The reasoning for the northern gate being two tiles north from Deliveries is that it fits the truck lengths better, and doesn’t force an open gate if you have a second truck arrive before the first leaves.
Note: Rotating the Road Gates twice will cause them to open to the right, rather than opening to the left. This has no real in-game effect, but sometimes you don’t want the gates to open by appearing to slide through the walls of your prison.
Dormitory (4m² per prisoner)
– Prerequisites: none.
– Description: “A variable-size room for housing multiple prisoners. The bigger the dormitory the more prisoners it can house.”
– Requirements: Indoors, Enclosed (surrounded by walls and doors), Minimum Size 2 x 3. (can be reduced to 3m²), Bed (1×2) or Bunk Bed (1×2), Toilet (1×1, requires plumbing)
– Contraband: none.
Dormitories were added in and, much like the Holding Cell, allow you to house multiple prisoners in a shared space.
Prisoners require 4m² each, and adding additional beds without increasing the size of the room cannot increase the capacity of the Dormitory. For example, a Dormitory that is 3×5 (15m²) will only be able to hold 3 prisoners (12m² plus 3 tiles), no matter how many bunkbeds it contains. Increasing the size of that room by one tile would bring it up to 16m², allowing it to house 4 prisoners.
As the Beds / Bunk Beds don’t require that much space, I would recommend using the remaining space to include objects such as the Pool Table, Phone Booth, Weights Bench, TV, and Bookshelf.
Your prisoners will already be having increased need for Privacy, so taking care of their other needs should to help reduce the risk of riots breaking out.
Execution (variable size)
– Prerequisites: Death Row unlocked, under ‘Legal’ in Bureaucracy
– Description: “Where you send your prisoners to die”
– Requirements: Indoors, ElectricChair (2×2)
– Contraband: none.
Note: In addition to the Execution Room itself, you’ll want to set aside a small cell block to be zoned for Death Row prisoners. Death Row prisoners arrive very slowly to your prison, so don’t make too many of those cells as they will likely be empty for some time before even a single prisoner shows up.
The execution room has been added in Alpha 31. There’s are several steps on how to use this which I don’t want to get bogged down with, but if you’re not aware of how to use this room:
(Alpha 31 video duration: 42 minutes.)
Alternately, more information is available here[prison-architect.wikia.com].
Family Cell (4×4)
– Prerequisites: none.
– Description: “Where your prisoners live, if they have babies.”
– Requirements: Minimum size 4 x 4, Enclosed (surrounded by walls and doors), Indoors. (can be reduced to 3m²), Bed (1×2), Toilet (1×1, requires plumbing), Crib (1×1), Shower Head (1×1).
– Contraband: none.
Added in , the Family Cell is where your prisoners who have babies will stay. Each mother will require their own cell, as well as access to the Nursery.
Note: as the room requires as Shower Head, it may be worth adding a Drain to prevent your showers flooding the area.
Forestry (variable size)
– Prerequisites: Grounds Keeping unlocked, in Bureaucracy
– Description: none
– Requirements: Outdoor, Minimum Size 5×5
– Contraband: none.
The Forestry is a suprisingly lucrative source of income, even when you don’t have a single prisoner in your facility. So much so, that this method makes for an exceptionally easy start to the game.
If you prefer to play the game as it’s intended to be played, don’t do this.
1) Start a game.
2) Close your prison to new prisoners immediately.
3) Allow your staff to unload the delivery trucks.
4) Build two Offices
5) Hire a Warden
6) research Maintenance in Bureaucracy
7) Hire a Foreman
8) Research Grounds Keeping
9) Hire about 5 Gardeners
10) Zone an area as Exports
11) Zone the outdoors of the map (that isn’t already Delivery/Garbage/Exports) as Forestry
Then to give your computer some time to finish lagging out, go make a snack or something. :-p
In theory, the Gardeners will have begun planting trees everywhere, which your Workers will begin to cut down, before taking the logs to Exports for them to be sold, so that your prison can afford more Tree saplings to repeat the process.
This way you’ll have a passive income as you do the Planning for your prison, but it will make the game particularly easy once you’ve got the right amount of Workers and Gardeners for the Forestry you have. Again, if you prefer like to play the game as intended, do not use this method.
Note: Using this method WILL cause your Workmen and Gardeners to be notably busy, which will delay construction and other tasks within your prison. So if you want to have your prison built quickly, this may not be the best option.
Holding Cell (5×5 or larger)
– Prerequisites: None
– Description: “A room where new recruits are placed until a cell is found for them”
– Requirements: Room Size 5×5, Enclosed (surrounded by walls and doors), Indoors, Toilet (1×1, needs plumbing), Bench (1×4).
– Contraband: none.
The holding cell is a simple room where you can begin storing prisoners, if you don’t have enough cells prepared. While the requirements include only a Toilet and Bench, I prefer to include a shower (with a drain to prevent water leaking throughout the cell), a bed or few, and some form of distraction – usually a Phone Booth, Weights Bench, etc., or a combination of such items.
Over time, prisoners living in the Holding Cell will crave Privacy, causing them to become agitated. In a pinch, you can send other cell-dwelling prisoners to Solitary, then move the holding cell prisoner to the now-vacant cell, but ideally you’ll want to have sufficient cells for everyone and limit the incoming population to prevent over-crowding.
As at Alpha 28, prisoners will NOT attempt to escape by tunnelling out of the holding cell, so it is relatively safe to have the holding cell near the edge of the prison (though it may be best to have the Holding Cell not too far from the Canteen and Shower, to save walking time.)
Infirmary (variable size)
– Prerequisites: Health unlocked, in Bureaucracy
– Description: “Area for your medical staff to work.”
– Requirements: Indoors, MedicalBed (2×2)
– Contraband: Narcotics and Weapons. (The ‘smelly’ and ‘metal’ categories, respectively.)
, the infirmary can now be used to treat prisoners with addictions to narcotics through the Pharmacologial Treatment of Drug Addiction program. As this treatment program allows for up to 10 participants, I recommend including that many Beds in your Infirmary. You likely won’t need them all, but it’s good to have spares; and there’s no harm in allowing for a full ‘class’.
Note: The introduction of random events in Alpha 36 adds the Virus event, which may cause some of your prisoners to become ill, spreading the contagious virus to your other inmates. The virus hurts your prisoners, causing them to fall unconscious and die if not cured.
Your guards will bring prisoners to the Infirmary if they fall unconscious, but only if there are enough spare beds. Consider having either multiple Infirmaries about your prison, or a large Infirmary for ill prisoners to be taken to.
Kennel (5×5)
– Prerequisites: Dogs unlocked, in Bureaucracy
– Description: “Where your dogs live”
– Requirements: Minimum Size 5×5, Enclosed (surrounded by walls and doors), Dog Crate (1×2)
– Contraband: none.
Kennels are where your Guard Dogs go to rest. Unlike the Armoury, you don’t need as many Dog Crates as you do dogs, so long as you have some of them on patrol at any time. The Kennel is more like a canine staff room than anything else.
You’ll want to have the Kennels in the middle of things, so that your dogs don’t have so far to travel – but there’s nothing wrong with the Kennel being part of the main entrance to your prison. Doing so will mean that ALL objects and prisoners coming in are likely to pass a Guard Dog, and they will be present to take down any prisoners who try to escape by the front door of your prison. Just be sure to zone it as Staff Only so that prisoners won’t try to go out that way.
Kitchen (up to 240m²)
– Prerequisites: none.
– Description: “Area for cooks to prepare food for your prisoners.”
– Requirements: Indoors, Cooker (2×1), Fridge (2×1), Sink (3×1)
– Contraband: Weapons and Tools (both Metal)
– Floor space per working prisoner: 12m² each
– Maximum optimal size: 240m² (20 working prisoners)
If you intend to use this room for Prison Labour, remember to include a Metal Detector, as prisoners will attempt to smuggle out Tools and Weapons. Additionally, use Road Gates and the Deployment feature to zone off the Deliveries area as ‘Staff Only’. Otherwise, working prisoners may go to the Delivery zone, then make a break for it and escape.
For my first Kitchen+Canteen, I usually have two doors out from the Kitchen – one into the Canteen, and one into a small corridor (zoned Staff Only) that leads to the Delivery area. Like this:
(The layout in the above image isn’t optimal, and I found that the dirty serving trays would pile up so I would add an extra sink or another staff member to cover the workload.)
With the addition of Random Events to Prison Architect in Alpha 36, it is now worth adding Sprinkler systems to the Kitchen to help counter random kitchen fires.
As of Update 5c, “Hot water makes sinks work faster.“
– Kitchen and Canteen efficiency
I’ve wanted to add a section with information about how many Cookers, Fridges, Sinks, Serving Tables, staff, etc would suit your prison’s population, but haven’t wanted to rely upon others when creating this guide. (Not to mention there were multiple conflicting pieces of information on this when I did search for reliable information.)
However, as I don’t presently have the time to do extensive testing on this, I’ve decided to make an exception with this part. Courtesy of
:
—
A WELL RUN KITCHEN:
to run the kitchen efficiently you need the following –
1 cook per cooker (will feed upto 16 inmates per cooker if it as its own cook)
1 fridge per 2 cookers
1 sink per 2 cookers
1 serving table per 4 cookers
so for example 1 serving table, 2 sinks, 2 fridges, 4 cookers, 4 cooks will feed approx 64 inmates
—
By extension, if you have 8 tables (16 benches) in your Canteen, that should provide for a cell block of 60-64 inmates. If you have your Nutritional Policy set as high food Quantity and low food Quality, it will mean less variety will need to be stocked, and you should be able to fit everything on the one Serving Table. If you’d rather not do that, there’s no harm in having a second serving table for the 60ish prisoners.
(I tend to make the canteen a bit larger than needed anyway and include items like Phone Booth, Weights Bench, etc, so that prisoners who have finished eating can make use of the remaining scheduled Eating time.)
Laundry (80m²)
– Prerequisites: Prison Labour unlocked, in Bureaucracy
– Description: none
– Requirements: Indoors, Laundry Machine (1×1, requires plumbing), Laundry Basket (1×1, moveable), Ironing Board (3×1)
– Contraband: none.
– Floor space per working prisoner: 4m² each
– Maximum optimal size: 80m² (20 working prisoners)
The Laundry produces no contraband, and is recommended to be within easy access of a Cell Block. Depending on the layout of your prison, consider placing it on the outmost edge of your prison (between the cell blocks and the outside world) possibly along with rooms such as the Cleaning Cupboard, to act as a buffer zone against escape tunnels.
Library (240m²)
– Prerequisites: none (to build.) Prison Labour, in Bureaucracy (to assign working prisoners.)
– Description: “Your prison will be sent boxes of discarded and used books from around the country. Prisoners will need to sort those books onto the shelves”
– Requirements: Indoors, Room Size 5×5, Library Shelf (3×1), Sorting Desk (3×1)
– Contraband: Scissors (‘Weapons’, ‘Tools’, and ‘Metal’ contraband categories).*
– Floor space per working prisoner: 12m² each
– Maximum optimal size: 240m² (20 working prisoners)
* Note: Delivered books may also contain contraband which has been smuggled into your prison.
Having the deliveries pass through a metal detector and past the Kennel should help prevent most of it getting through.
Prisoners can be assigned to work in the library. Books will need to be sorted by working prisoners before being placed upon shelves.
Once books have been sorted and placed on the shelves, other prisoners can borrow books and carry them about, using the books elsewhere in the prison.
(If you have separate cell blocks for the various different security levels, it may be worth having individual libraries for those areas, rather than one large communal library for your entire prison.)
Mail Room (up to 240m²)
– Prerequisites: none.
– Description: none
– Requirements: Minimum Size 5×5, Indoors, Sorting Desk (3×1), Table (4×1)
– Contraband: none.*
– Floor space per working prisoner: 12m² each
– Maximum optimal size: 240m² (20 working prisoners)
The Mail Room has been added in .
* Note: While the room itself does not provide access to contraband, mail delivered to the prison can contain smuggled contraband.
Stacks of Unsorted Mail are delivered the the Sorting Desks to be sorted by prisoners, much the same way as books are sorted in the Library, and placed into Mail Satchels. From there, the mail is delivered by guards to individual cells, similar to how clean uniforms are delivered from the laundry by prisoners / Janitors.
Delivered mail is then read by prisoners in their cells, helpingto fulfil their needs for Family, Comfort, and Recreation.
Morgue (variable size)
– Prerequisites: Health unlocked, in Bureaucracy
– Description: “Where you send your dead prisoners and staff to.”
– Requirements: Indoors, MorgueSlab (2×1)
– Contraband: none.
This room is best placed near the road, for easy unloading of dead staff/prisoners into a Hearse.
The morgue has minimal requirements and, assuming you’re having few deaths in your prison, takes up very little space. I tend to put two or three Morgue Slabs in the room, at most.
Nursery (variable size)
– Prerequisites: none.
– Description: “Activity room for prisoners with babies”
– Requirements: Serving Table (5×1), Table (4×1), Bench (4×1), Crib (1×1), Play Mat (1×1)
– Contraband: none.
Added in , the Nursery is the main room for your female prisoners who are Mothers. It serves as a hybrid Canteen / Common Room / etc. for prisoners with babies, as they do not use many other shared spaces within the prison.
Office[s] (4×4)
– Prerequisites: none.
– Description: “An area for your administrative staff to work.”
– Requirements: Minimum Size 4 x 4, Office Desk (2×1), Chair (1×1), Filing Cabinet (1×1)
– Contraband: Cellphone, Booze, Cigs, and Lighter. (Narcotics, Luxuries, & Smelly items.)
You will need at least six offices, for the Warden, Chief, Foreman, Psychologist, and Accountant, and Lawyer. (Seven ‘offices’, if you include Security too.)
I also normally place CCTV Monitors in the Offices as there’s usually free space, and Guards will be present to protect my admin staff in the event of a Riot.
As of each CCTV monitor requires an individual guard – but that guard can view 8 connected CCTV Cameras at a time (or more if you’re willing to accept only partial CCTV coverage).
I tend to place the Foreman’s office near the Workshop, and the Psychologist office near where prisoners will be, as there are rehabilitation programs using each of those rooms.
—
(Psychologist’s) Office (4×4)
– Prerequisites: Psychology unlocked, in Bureaucracy
– Description: “An area for your administrative staff to work.”
– Requirements: Office Desk (2×1), Chair (1×1), Filing Cabinet (1×1)
– Contraband: Cellphone, Booze, Cigs, and Lighter. (Narcotics, Luxuries, & Smelly items.)
The office your Psychologist(s) work in are identical to regular offices. The only difference is which rooms your staff are allocated to. Placing the Psychologist Office near the Cell Blocks or Canteens (depending on your preferred prison Regime) will help reduce the amount of walking your prisoners need to do when attending psychologist appointments during the Work schedule.
Visiting the Psychologist always carries the risk of contraband, but the benefits outweight the risks.
Parole Room (5×5)
– Prerequisites: none.
– Description: Your prisoners will be eligible for parole after serving 50% and 75% of their terms. Their fate will be decided in this room, with the Warden and the Chief.
“N.b. Extra security is advised. Prisoners have been known to become quite upset when their parole is denied.”
– Requirements: Indoors, Room Size 5×5, Visitor Table (3×2).
– Contraband: none.
Prisoners who are eligible for parole may attend the Parole Hearing program. The Parole Hearing is attended by the Warden, Chief, the prisoner in question, and the prisoner’s lawyer.
The required parole level (re-offending chance) can be set in the Policy window. If a prisoner leaves your prison and does not re-offend you will receive $3,000. But if they do, you will be fined $10,000.
Setting the level too high (generous to the prisoner) you increase the chance of releasing prisoners who will re-offend, but setting it too low (strict) will cause more prisoners to be angry when they’re refused parole.
Reception (variable size)
– Prerequisites: none.
– Description: “Where your prisoners are first taken when they arrive.”
– Requirements: Indoors, Office Desk (2×1), Table (4×1), Chair (1×1)
– Contraband: none.
New prisoners will be brought in here by guards, strip-searched and given a new uniform, then taken to their cells.
This room doesn’t need to be very big at all, but it’s very useful to have. (I tend to build it 4×4 then change the room to an Office later if I want to move Reception elsewhere in my prison.)
Additionally, the Reception room does not need to be at the entrance of your prison, so place it wherever you feel is best.
You’ll want it to be somewhere not too far from the laundry, and accessible by your prisoners (so they can deliver laundry.)
Security (4×4)
– Prerequisites: Security unlocked, in Bureaucracy
– Description: “Offices for your Officers”
– Requirements: Office Desk (2×1), Chair (1×1), Filing Cabinet (1×1)
– Contraband: Jail Keys (Metal), Baton (Weapon), Cigs (Narcotics, Luxuries, Smelly), and Lighter (Luxuries).
The Security room takes the same 4×4 space as an Office, and , this room can be used with Confidential Informants to detect hidden contraband.
It may be worth placing a Metal Detector outside, to catch any Confidential Informants who attempt to steal Jail Keys while informing on their fellow inmates.
Security is one of the areas Gangs can attempt to claim as their own, even if it contains nothing more than the basic room requirements.
Shower (variable size)
– Prerequisites: none.
– Description: “Used to keep your prisoners squeaky clean, and lice free.”
– Requirements: ShowerHead (1×1, requires plumbing)
– Contraband: none.
The shower does not strictly need a ‘room’ of its own. You can place it as an area within a cell block, using Drains as a border so that water doesn’t spread. I tend to place a showerhead for each prisoner, and a single toilet (in case anyone forgot to use the bathroom before they left.)
The size and placement of your shower block will vary depending upon the number of prisoners you have.
Example of a shower ‘room’ in the middle of a cell block:
Prisoners won’t change their Clothing unless there’s a scheduled Shower time, so while you can include showers in individual Cells, it may be more efficient to have a Shower area near each cell block – or even placed between two cell blocks.
However, if you feel that you have the space, and/or have prisoners who just need to be that bit cleaner than the average prisoner, this kind of cell design may be beneficial instead:
As of , you can either run just cold water to your shower, using regular water pipes, or pipe hot water to your showers as well. Cold showers will temporarily suppress prisoners but will make them unhappy.
Update 5c : “If a shower head is connected to hot water, this will benefit prisoner’s warmth and comfort needs. Cold showers no longer cause frigid effect.“
Shop (up to 240m²)
– Prerequisites: none.
– Description: none
– Requirements: Minimum Size 4×4, Indoors, Table (4×1), Shop Shelf (3×1), Shop Front (2×1), “Adjacent to Room:”*
– Contraband: none.
– Floor space per working prisoner: 12m² each
– Maximum optimal size: 240m² (20 working prisoners)
The new room type added in is the Shop.
Prisoners will now earn money while working in your prison, and also from visits by their family. This money can then be spent at the Shop to purchase items which will fulfil their Needs.
*Note, the Shop Front is placed on the wall of this room. Your shop’s customers will approach from outside the shop to make their purchases. (This does not need to be outside a building in the open air – your prisoners can just as easily walk through a room like your Chapel, for example, to buy items from the Shop.)
Solitary (1×1, or larger)
– Prerequisites: none.
– Description: “An isolated form of imprisonment for the worst of the worst.”
– Requirements: Enclosed (surrounded by walls and doors). No objects required.
– Contraband: none.
Strictly speaking, you can have your solitary confinement as a 1×1 square outside, put behind fences and normal doors. The ‘Solitary Door’ item is not required to keep prisoners in Solitary.
I tend to create them as 2×1 rooms, as I found sometimes the prisoner was put partly through a tile, which resulted in the door being held open by the prisoner’s body. Providing a toilet in the solitary cells isn’t a bad idea either.
Note: Zoning a Solitary area as Staff Only will result in your prisoner wandering out. If you want to keep prisoners from being in the area, perhaps create a small antechamber outside and zone that as Staff Only, so that prisoners won’t pass through into your Solitary rooms.
Staffroom (4×4)
– Prerequisites: none.
– Description: none
– Requirements: Indoors, Minimum Size 4 x 4, Wide Sofa (2×1), Drinks Machine (1×1)
– Contraband: Cigs, Lighter, Cellphone. (Narcotics, Luxuries, & Smelly items.)
The staff room is where most of your staff will go to rest when they are tired. As with most offices and similar rooms, zone it as Staff Only.
Note: You can easily fit the Staff Room and Security room with two Offices in an 8×8 room, if the offices are in opposite corners of the area. This may be an option for saving space in your initial prison design, rather than having each office in its own singular room with walls between them.
(This can be extended, by placing other Office rooms adjacent to the Staff and Security rooms.)
Storage (variable size)
– Prerequisites: none.
– Description: “Area designated to hold any materials your prison staff needs.”
– Requirements: none.
– Contraband: Weapons and Tools, both in the ‘Metal’ contraband category.
Storage can go basically anywhere. I tend to zone Storage for unused parts of my prison (behind Staff Doors), and/or across the road from my entrance, usually on the northern side. You don’t need infinite space dedicated to this task, and you can easily change the placement of your Storage areas on-the-fly.
As of Alpha 23 there is a 10-tile zone around the edge of your prison where contraband can be delivered over the walls. If you choose to handle this by having two layers of fencing (with the outer area off-limits to prisoners), then that space could be used as Storage/Forestry.
-Utilities- (3×3 + 5×5)
Water Works, 3×3
Power Station, 5×5 (3×3, with 16 Capacitors surrounding)
The Power Station and Water Works do not need to be in any particular place in your prison, but I recommend placing them in areas zoned as Staff Only so that they won’t be damaged by random unruly prisoners.
Because prisoners find it easy to dig tunnels along large pipelines, I recommend placing the Water Works away from the edges of your prison.
Power Stations can have up to 16 adjacent Capacitors, each Capacitor increasing the maximum power output of the station. If you have multiple Power Stations connected by Electrical Cables, they will short out and cease functioning. Using Power Switches or removing Electrical Cables (and then resetting the Power Station and its Capacitors) will fix the problem.
As of Alpha 36, there is the chance for your power stations to explode when near the point where it overloads. Keeping your power stations below 90% usage should help prevent this from occurring.
Note that when the power station explodes and begins a fire, it will break walls in the area, so avoid placing your power station near the outer walls of your prison as it may allow prisoners to escape.
Visitation (variable size)
– Prerequisites: none.
– Description: none
– Requirements: Indoors, Visitor Table (3×2) OR Visitor Booth (2×2)
– Contraband: Narcotics, and Luxuries.*
The ‘Visitation Rights’ grant will require you to have three Visitor Tables, so it’s likely worth building a room with four of them. You shouldn’t need any more tables than that for a small prison, and the Family need is also met by having Phone Booths around your prison.
If you have a large prison with multiple cell blocks, consider having different Visitation rooms for each block. (You may need to zone accordingly if they’re for different security levels.)
* In , the Visitor Booth has been added. Using Visitor Booths requires that the room be split into two parts, with Prisoners on one side and Visitors on the other side, but will prevent Prisoners from accessing contraband via Visitation.
(Note: Currently your guards cannot use the Phone Tap on the telephones in the Visitor Booths, though that may be added in later updates.)
Workshop (240m²)
– Prerequisites: Prison Labour unlocked, in Bureaucracy
– Description: “Where you send your prisoners to die of boredom while making you car license plates.”
– Requirements: Minimum size 5×5, Workshop Saw (3×1), Workshop Press (3×1), Table (4×1)
– Contraband: Tools and Weapons (both Metal), and Wooden Pickaxe (Tools, Improvised).
– Floor space per working prisoner: 12m² each
– Maximum optimal size: 240m² (20 working prisoners)
Notes: I suggest putting the Foreman’s Office nearby to the Workshop, to reduce the distance they will need to travel for the Workshop Safety Induction and Carpentry Apprenticeship programs.
Additionally, the listed minimum size is a mere 5×5, which allows for a total of two prisoners operating that room. There’s no real reason to have a workshop so small, especially when most of the equipment is at least 3 spaces long.
You’ll likely want to add space outside the door to include room for a Metal Detector, as prisoners will attempt to smuggle out Tools and Weapons. Bear in mind that Wooden Pickaxes will not be detected and prisoners (or their cells) will need to be searched.
In my prisons I tend to search cell blocks while prisoners are scheduled to be in the Shower / Canteen, as it allows your guards to check for tunnels without annoying prisoners who aren’t carrying any contraband.
Yard (5×5 or larger)
– Prerequisites: none.
– Description: “Let your prisoners see the sun for a few hours a day under the watchful eye of your sniper towers”
– Requirements: Room Size 5×5, Secure (behind at least one Door)
– Contraband: none.
The Yard is where your prisoners will go to exercise, running around the yard as they see fit.
The Yard can also be a good place to place Phone Booths, and other objects which prisoners may want to access during the Yard schedule or Freetime.
The Yard is one of the areas Gangs will attempt to claim as their own, if it contains a Weights Bench and Phone Booth.
Conclusion
I’ll endeavour to update this as new updates come out.
If you’ve found it useful, please Rate this guide with a thumbs-up. If there’s something you think is missing or if you have any comments / questions / corrections, please do leave a comment below.