Diary of a Prison Architect – Evening 2, Cell Block A

Dear Diary,

I love a long lunch. Well, back to work. Everything seems pretty calm right now, there were a few minor incidents this morning but right now everyone is enjoying a little yard time. One of the issues this morning was a prisoner getting hold of some contraband. A guard spotted him before anything happened and gave him some time in lockdown, not a major incident but we may need some metal detectors to scan for this kind of thing later.

I’ve taken on a contract for a 15 person cell block. It grants $20,000 now with an additional $10,000 on completion. We’re doing well for money right now but these lucrative government grants won’t last for long. The Warden is currently organising a foreman for us who can then help us set up some prison labor. These guys will be stamping out license plates before long.

Our first cell block is planned out and ready for construction. It will hold 16 prisoners comfortably and will have it’s own showers and common room. The workers should have no problem completing construction before our next load of prisoners arrive tomorrow morning.

Whilst waiting for the cell block construction to finish up our Foreman arrived on site and got himself set up in the admin building. He’s going through the paperwork right now to get us approval to use our prisoners as unpaid labour. I imagine there are a lot of permits and waivers to be signed.

It’s getting dark and construction is nowhere near finished. there are going to be some unhappy people in the morning if there a re no cells ready to move into.

I’ve noticed the guards I have hired are quite aimless at times. They wander the yard whilst the prisoners are having their meals. And there really should be at least one man stationed at all times by the front gate. I’ll have the Warden hire a Security Chief to keep watch on the watchers.

The prisoners are having a very peaceful night. I think everything is running pretty smoothly, I don’t hear much yelling or anything at least. Our new Security Chief will be able to get a better read of the group once he arrives. It may pay off later as well to hire a Psychologist who can better analyse individual inmates.

And speak of the devil, the Security Chief is here. He’s already started drawing up some plans for staff deployment. He didn’t seem impressed with the current organisation of the staff but I can’t argue with him there. i look forward to seeing his recommendations in the morning.

Oh these guards really are useless. Construction of the new cell block had not yet finished and prisoners were already using the showers. this area really should be off limits right now.

We’ve received our second batch of men and the Chief tells me that things are really starting to heat up. All it takes is a few men to reach their boiling points and a full scale riot could kick off. I’ve had the Warden schedule some extra free time immediately after breakfast so that our guests can just chill out for a while.

It’s been a long night. I need a break.