tinyE: I keep coming up with silly little queries and ideas (and I know all of you do to) and it seems silly to make separate threads about them, so I'm starting this one. Feel free to use it as a springboard for your stupid questions and your off the wall suggestions. :D

To get it started, the Tutorials and Wikis make small cells sounds REALLY REALLY bad, like you are begging for riots, and I'm wondering if this is an exaggeration on their part. I keep looking at other players' layouts and they have these neat teeny tiny little cells with no worries, meanwhile I'm so paranoid I keep giving my cons fucking penthouse suits. :P
Am I showing WAAAAY too much concern for them?

tinyE: Actually 3x4 is what I give them and it's taking up too much damn space! XD I'm thinking of scaling it down to the minimum.

tinyE: Never occurred to me change that! :P Just now figured out how to change the prisoner intake. I'm still learning the nuances here, that's why I made this thread.

Please be gentle, and don't send me to the Hole! :P

Sachys: Cry.

...and maybe do a shakedown too - but be warned as it may cause a riot.

Edit: and if you do the latter be careful of two things:
1) prisoners in shackles sometimes get stuck to walls and become unsearchable and prolong the shakedown and thusly cause a lot more heat in the prison.
2) if you do the shakedown, its best to do it in conjunction with the tool cleanup grant

...Edit2:

Of course a well patrolled perimeter wall with an additional internal wall also helps - but I'll be damned if I can find a way to afford one without sandbox mode!

Sachys: Hmmm... never really thought about it, but dont think I had more than about 40 guards when I had 1000 inmates - been a while since I built a clink that big, and no longer have those saves due to a dead HD.*

Another good way to prevent escapes is to get some snitches (under the intelligence tab) - they'll often reveal tunnels if activated at night, BUT... they also have a habit of getting killed for it / other bad things happens as a result.

Edit: *that was micromanagement hell though - had to ensure all different levels of con were seperated, cctv everywhere, I think 25% of the guards were dog handlers. NO armed guards - only hire them to get that grant money unless you have supermax cons.

Sachys: If you have a look at your heat gauge it will list everything good / bad about the mood of the prison. Armed guards in service cause negative vibes.
See attached - screens taken seconds apart, but in one I added two armed guards - danger level begins to rise!

Sachys:

tinyE:

tinyE:

tinyE: I'm a pro with Death Row. I'm starting a new prison now but in my last one I was cooking a guy a week, totally legal, with no security problems at all.

tinyE: I only have one and he's currently in permanent solitary for killing a guard. Well two guards actually.

tinyE: It's just one guy! XD Everyone else is doing fine. :D

tinyE: Has anyone figured out the ration of beds to dorm yet? I'm sitting here building different shapes over and over but the number of beds allowed doesn't seem to mesh with any specific layout size.

Okay it seems to be 1 prisoner for every 4 squares which makes the new bunk beds totally useless because you need the same amount of total floor space regardless if you are using 5 bunk beds or 10 regular beds. What a bummer. I thought I was going to be able to pack em in like sardines.

Please tell me this is a bug. The description clearly says you can have as many prisoners in dorms as you can fit beds.

tinyE: I actually have two set up (40 beds each) but I'm using them for Minimum Security only! You'd be insane to try anything else.