Rework of the Prison System

[2letters]

Hello, me again.

Currently as it stands the prison system isn't a fun experience, majority of people who get sentenced just log out and log back in once the sentence is up, some will stick around and clean tables and leave.

In my opinion it could have a lot more aspects to it that would make the experience more enjoyable for prisoners / add purpose for the prison.

I came across an MLO which had a couple cool features i'd like to put forward, as much as we could change the MLO the one we have serves a purpose and some/all of the proposed changes could be added to the existing prison.

1) A woodcutting room, metal crafting room & laundry room.

When I saw this the first thing that came to mind was the ability to chop wood/smelt ores that you can sell inside the prison for (low) money which you can spend in the prison shop (read on for details on this).
I then had the thought of the laundry room, which also ties into the prison shop where you are able to get hold of a specific cleaning chemical which could be used as a 'cutting agent' for a specific drug - giving a purpose to your prison visit and also forcing activity if you are sentenced, as this would be the only method of gathering the chemical.

A further idea is that stuff you make & sell to the prison (smoothies, wood, ores, components etc) could be what stocks Noble Shops (idk the background/mechanics of Noble but from what I know they are the source of shop goods.

2) The prison shop

I feel that having a shop inside the prison for you to be able to buy food/drink/luxuries, possibly some 'prison exclusive' products in there, possibly used in crafting somehow.
Possible to have a free water & bread every (x) time from the shop otherwise you need to work in order to earn money for food/drink

3) Community service program

A community service system which I've seen as part of a prison script (don't believe we use it currently) allows for C.O's (in our case, Gruppe6) to take groups of inmates out of the prison to do community service such as litter picking, it could be gathering fruit/veg etc - Obvs risk of escape could be high so might require (x) G6 per community service run, would require some bright clothing for in-mates to wear so they can be seen easily. If they were caught trying to escape their original sentence would be doubled, successful escape you could make the sentence tripled once recaptured. I believe this would still make the risk worthwhile, but also if you're only in for a short stint, you can enjoy the community service/getting to see outside the yard for a bit and go back to the cells without incident as it wouldn't be worth the risk of escape.

It might also be that if someone commits a petty crime, e.g. they're caught robbing a shop with a hammer - they're sentenced to community service rather than prison time.

Summary: Make prison worthwhile

It's very often you wake up in your cell to find you're the only one doing time or there's no Gruppe6 around to talk to / entertain you, therefore making prison a very boring time or you simply just disconnect until you're released. I think adding a challenge to making prison an actual playable environment, this could in turn lead to longer sentencing if prison had a use rather than just a temporary inconvenience to your roleplay.

If any/all of these / any others suggested below got implemented I believe it would improve prison rp, add more for prisoners and G6 to do and could potentially lead to a new drug, new crafting or new/fresh RP.

I wouldn't mind spending 30 mins of my sentence being locked in a cell with other people, then being allowed to stand and socialise with other players without being allowed out in the yard and having G6 conduct routines, based on who/how many inmates / G6 are around. This may also lead to increased G6 applications for either being a corrupt G6 inside the prison system, entertaining/managing prisoners or people actually going to prison for the purpose of gathering specific goods for crafting.

This may also add a further lifespan to 'lifers' who can convert to / create a prison gang which might move to control specific markets of the prison etc.

Please, read and give me feedback, likes/dislikes or generally any feedback on my suggestion.

 

[MissRachie]

Me and Kenzo just did 6 days in the prison and my god it was boring! G6 were great allowing us visitors and such but being in the actual prison is mind numbingly boring. There’s a few things you’ve mentioned that sound amazing.

The prison shop for one would be great. At the moment with the new food update there’s no way to make banana smoothies in prison. There’s also no water so unless you get lucky with the smoothie machine you have to pick fruit and make normal smoothies OR eat about 20 oranges to sort your thirst. A prison shop could sell water, milk powder and snacks along with other more sought after items.

Cooking in prison!! Currently you can find potato sticks and raw tuna in bins in prison and can make cooked tuna or fries (can’t eat the fries though) there’s a sink in the kitchen and there could be a prep area. Give people the chance to cook meals not just smoothies. Put some lettuce and stuff in the yard to harvest to make salads. Anything but fruit and smoothies!

Games!!! Something for inmates to to that don’t require others is simply a must!! Low betting blackjack in one of the pods maybe with an inmate npc would be amazing. Maybe some of the arcade machines in the games rooms in cells too?

Weapons!! You can get weapons from searching in the prison it doesn’t take long however. There should be a way to make shivs with the plastic on the bench that would only have 2-3 uses and would break. Taking away the ability to find them in the trash and making them only accessible by making them.

 

[MissRachie]

And for the community service part we have been given that AFTER the prison sentence and we’ve been doing it with the rangers. Long term inmates should also have this option but would need G6 to work with the rangers and judges for this

 

[SteveStacy]

I do agree prison needs some changes, being a G6 you can only do SO much to try make it fun but it quickly becomes boring and repetitive.

 

[2letters]

Games!!! Something for inmates to to that don’t require others is simply a must!! Low betting blackjack in one of the pods maybe with an inmate npc would be amazing. Maybe some of the arcade machines in the games rooms in cells too?

The betting you could do with dice rolls & coinflips with other in-mates anyway as there's an ATM, but an NPC blackjack table would be cool and similar to blackjack chips you exchange (x) for cigarettes which is an actual currency in prisons.

Cooking in prison!! Currently you can find potato sticks and raw tuna in bins in prison and can make cooked tuna or fries (can’t eat the fries though) there’s a sink in the kitchen and there could be a prep area. Give people the chance to cook meals not just smoothies. Put some lettuce and stuff in the yard to harvest to make salads. Anything but fruit and smoothies!

I would like to see initiative for chef's/employee's of restaurants to come in and teach in-mates to cook, this could be a government funded scheme which could pay for the products used, i'm not too sure (up to CoC probs). Could lead to stuff like knifes being stolen/used and more fun RP.

Weapons!! You can get weapons from searching in the prison it doesn’t take long however. There should be a way to make shivs with the plastic on the bench that would only have 2-3 uses and would break. Taking away the ability to find them in the trash and making them only accessible by making them.

Perhaps a couple NPC 'black-market' trader to deal in stuff like 'prison shanks' which like you mention have 2-3 uses before they break - maybe you have to find a toothbrush or buy one from the prison shop before you can craft the shank?

 

[MissRachie]

The betting you could do with dice rolls & coinflips with other in-mates anyway as there's an ATM, but an NPC blackjack table would be cool and similar to blackjack chips you exchange (x) for cigarettes which is an actual currency in prisons.

I get the dice rolls and coin flips but again that’s only if there’s other inmates around so the blackjack or some sort of gambling should be accessible to people when there’s barely any others around it could be maximum £10 bets and can only take x amount out of the in prison atm per day

I would like to see initiative for chef's/employee's of restaurants to come in and teach in-mates to cook, this could be a government funded scheme which could pay for the products used, i'm not too sure (up to CoC probs). Could lead to stuff like knifes being stolen/used and more fun RP.

I like this but I imagine it would be a nightmare to plan for the chefs/g6 as preplanning when inmates are around is pretty impossible unless they’re in for a long time. There should be a way to harvest and cook in the prison kitchen at all times ensuring activities without needing others are available. It could work towards lowering sentences like the table cleaning/ stock checking and dish washing already does

Perhaps a couple NPC 'black-market' trader to deal in stuff like 'prison shanks' which like you mention have 2-3 uses before they break - maybe you have to find a toothbrush or buy one from the prison shop before you can craft the shank?

X amount of plastic sheets could make a weak shiv. A toothbrush and a razor only accessible through the npc black-market or prison shop could make a stronger shiv.

I will say with the ATM in prison it would make it too easy for people with money to buy everything they need as soon as they go in. That shouldn’t be an option. There should be a limit on how much can be taken out in prison OR inmates are checked in with say £100 and take the ATM away so they’re to make money doing jobs in the prison to earn enough to buy the luxury items like a toothbrush, phone, snacks, razors and such

 

[qaws]

I think we should discourage people just logging out in prison. Maybe make the "idle time" 10x slower. So 60 months logged out would take 10 hours. This increases activity in prison thus giving prisoners more to do; which is roleplay. Ultimately people will need some stuff to do / roleplay with too, but the current meta of just logging out is boring. I just did a small stint in prison a couple days ago and it was boring as fuck.

 

[cvppa]

I think we should discourage people just logging out in prison. Maybe make the "idle time" 10x slower. So 60 months logged out would take 10 hours. This increases activity in prison thus giving prisoners more to do; which is roleplay. Ultimately people will need some stuff to do / roleplay with too, but the current meta of just logging out is boring. I just did a small stint in prison a couple days ago and it was boring as fuck.

spot on, this.

 

[Xilvey]

+1 to this! Most people who end up in prison for a long time just fly out and don't bother waking back up until their sentence is done. I think having things like crafting where you can build your IQ would give people more incentive to stay away whilst in prison. Things that are crafted could even be traded and used as in prison currency. If you could craft x y z but could not leave prison with those items to ensure it's not used to exploit the market, you sell them inside and they get sold to nobles is a great idea.

Even adding things like crafting low damage shivs that have a very short durability could make it very interesting and would also add to the in prison currency/trade idea.

 

[Kovak]

+1

I tend to end up in prison fairly often, and with this it's safe to say that every experience is usually the same, you go in, clean tables, get punched, punch G6 and that's about it. In terms of RP there isn't much to do other than to mess with G6 to pass the boredom or to simply log off until the sentence has been served.

I think there are some solid ideas here which would really change the RP that's done in prison, especially for those who have characters that basically live there.

I think some changes could be made in terms of the fruit area, maybe reduce the size of the fruit patch and add veg like Potato's, Lettuce, Bell Peppers, etc to further expand the possibilities of cooking RP. These foods that are created in prison can then either be sold to the prison, other inmates or used for personal consumption. Personally to me it doesn't make sense for my character to find potato sticks in rubble for them to be able to make chips. This would also allow for characters to do what prison is meant for, to teach them new things and allow them to develop their skills to give them a better chance for employment once they have been released from prison.

When it comes to crafting I think this is a much needed feature in the prison. I understand that we already have some form of basic crafting like with the key and using plastic to make masks, however this is extremely limited. I think further expanding on this like allowing people to make normal objects from scrap like phones and shiv's. Like Xilvey said we could also having crafting opportunities to allow people to further their crafting IQ by creating things like repair kits which can either be sold to an NPC in the prison or gets sold once they leave and that stock goes to Nobles.

It would also be fun to have more tasks to do in prison that further reduce your sentence. This could be simple tasks like cleaning a cell toilet that reduces your sentence by a small amount or by completing complicated, more time consuming tasks that would decrease your sentence by a larger amount. For example cleaning a toilet could reduce your sentence by 3 min but taking clothes, loading them into a washing machine, waiting for the cycle to end, taking the clothes and putting them in the dryer and waiting for that cycle to finish and then loading them into a basket could reduce your sentence by 10 min.

Overall prison isn't just a "time out" zone, it should also be seen for what they are designed for, to rehabilitate the inmates, give them new life skills that help them fit back into society once released.