Diary of a Prison Architect – Day 5, High Risk Prisoners

Dear Diary,

Last night we completed the last of our available grants – one for Health and Well Being – and that has brought our bank balance up to just over $18,000. It’s not all good news though, the prison is currently over capacity and we have another 16 prisoners scheduled to arrive at 8am. We’re going to have to begin construction of the new cell block immediately, and even then we still won’t be able to hold everyone in individual cells. Furthermore, I’ve been informed that this next batch of inmates will be maximum security prisoners. It’s a good job we have those new solitary rooms ready to go.

The workmen are starting construction on the new cell block already and are then going to expand our canteen. There should then be some money left over for some additional machines for the workshop, we might as well get the new inmates put to work as soon as we can.

A large portion of the population was complaining about the hygiene standards. Those who weren’t already complaining had already been woken by the commotion so we set them some shower time. Paulie Fox (pleaded not guilty to Rioting) started a fight when the holding cell doors were opened though. He was quickly knocked unconscious by the guards, a great time to test our new medical staff, and then off to solitary for him. Issues like this can not be tolerated in the middle of the night, the prisoners get cranky when they haven’t slept enough. I’ve had the warden schedule some shower time before sleep time from now on.

The new cell block is well under-way. Only a few more hours until the prisoners arrive, I think these guys will be finished by then.

After the midnight showers none of the prisoners seemed interested in sleeping again tonight so I’ve given them free time until morning. Two men have gone back to bed but others are playing pool, making phone calls and jogging in the yard. Perhaps all this extra free time tonight will mean less complaining about work during the day.

Our new inmates just arrived. Sixteen high risk prisoners. And perfect timing, our workmen have just moved the last bed into the new cell block. They completed construction on time but unfortunately they were well over budget. We’re down to $595 in the bank and I have no idea how it happened. They weren’t even able to buy doors for the new cells. And we’re still over capacity! Canteen expansion will have to wait. I think it’s time we cut off future prisoner intake, until we know who can accommodate them at least. I think for now it would be a good idea to put the high risk prisoners into the cells with the doors.

Four of the new high risk prisoners had on them some contraband when they entered the prison. The guards found a pair of shears, a mop, a clipboard and a set of keys! The metal detector flagged them for searches immediately so no harm done. But I can tell already that these guys are going to be trouble. What confuses me the most is the clipboard. What use would it be? Did the prisoner have notes written down with which to blackmail our staff? We’ll never know as that guard that found it had it thrown in the trash right away. Lets hope that contraband will be our only issue today. Some of these men are in here for some very serious crimes and I don’t want any fights breaking out amongst them, or worse, a riot.

Even more contraband was found at lunch time, another set of shears! Where do these guys find these things?

With the budget blown, I’ve had the workmen erect a perimeter fence around our prison using some of the left over materials that were in the storeroom. They’re still being paid and there is no point having them just stand around all day when there are still things they can be doing. Our Accountant has suggested we cut our spending in the kitchen. We currently spend $480 a day on meals. By reducing quantity and variety we can cut that down to $80 a day. With three meal times a day the quantity shouldn’t be an issue, if a prisoner misses one meal then he can eat at the next. And variety? Do these men deserve variety? Lets save some money, at least until we are actually profitable.

Only 8pm and there are a lot of complaints about tiredness. Are we working them too hard or is this just the results of having midnight showers last night? I think we’ll try and be safe and bring bedtime forward an hour tonight. There were a couple of small scuffles between some of our new high risk prisoners and the guards, but that shouldn’t be related to the sleep schedule.

On their way to the showers before bed some prisoners started fighting and smashing things. I think maybe we should skip shower time and send them right to bed. And we’re going to put the whole prison into bangup, all willing prisoners will go back to their cells.

Too late. It has escalated into a full on riot. Some of the men are rushing back to their cells.

All of our guards have been killed or are unconscious. The prisoners are knocking down the front gate. The riot police won’t arrive until midnight, if we can even survive until then.

Just after midnight and the riot police have arrived. Lots of inmates are still rioting.

The riot is now over. Five guards dead. Four prisoners dead. Sixteen people requiring medical attention. Our prison’s valuation has dropped to -$141,000. Much damage has been done. Paramedics are on site. I need a drink.