How Do I Build a Prison?

[A.G.Doren]

Hey there everyone-

I'd like to build a prison. I need some place to put sims that need to dissapear for a few sim years. I've downloaded some stuff from ingesimlogical and other sites, I've read their explanations on how to use the objects, but I really don't understand. Is there step-by-step tutorial anywhere or better yet a functioning downloadable prison that I can study? Or can anyone just tell me how to build a prison. Any information would be a big help thank you.

[M3g7e]

A tutorial would be really handy. I am not an expert on this by any means, but I have experimented a little bit. It helps to build cells facing inward toward a long hall. You can create common areas for prisoners to congregate--you will need the doors on Simlogical for this. There are cell doors and common area doors--you need both. Also, you will want to hire prison guards, which can either live on or off lot, depending upon the arrangement you prefer. To imprison a sim, you will need to use the picture with the blue question mark, find the sim by family and name and incarcerate them. Then, you will have to place the icon--a little silver disc--in their backpack so that they cannot spawn on community lots, for walkbys, etc. It will also write a custom memory of having been imprisoned in their memory. The various prison controllers are found under miscellaneous and are fairly self-explanatory once you start playing with them. One thing I discovered is that sims tend to be fairly adept at learning how to make keys and escape, so it is a good idea to change the locks now and again, especially if the prisoners seem unhappy, which they will be ... Not sure how helpful these ramblings have been. Sorry for how disorganized this post is!

[A.G.Doren]

Very helpful thus far,thank you. If anyone has more to add please do so.

[mangaroo]

If you are asking specifically how to use Inge's mods, please do so in the Simlogical TS2 forums: http://dino.drealm.info/den/denforum/index.php?board=7.0

Keeping the thread open in case anyone has a link to a tutorial or recommendations for other prison hacks.

[cheshirekat]

Are there other prison hacks?

Or are there things that people use in prisons in addition to the Simlogical cc?

I have been mulling over having a prison in one of my hoods for years. But I have to admit I want something simple.

How do people play their prisons? Do your sims get life imprisonment? Do you have a system for making laws and sending sims to prison? What about single sims? Do they lose their homes, as if they moved out? Are jobs lost?

[FranH]

After about 5 years in prison, all my inmates were recently set free under a general amnesty. That means they can get regular jobs (but not a criminal one, that would break their probation, of course!) and they must become law-abiding citizens again.
Most of them have had their marriages break up or founder during their stay in prison, because they did not allow marital visits. Of course the inmates had their share of mental health issues due to this problem.
I had a full-scale prison set up in my hood-complete with a standard prison building (wire razor fences, etc) and no visitors at all. It was all male, and they were in for various criminal behavior-two for being really terrible thieves and con men who got caught during their crimes, one prisoner who was stealing money from his clients, and a murderer.
Because the funding was very low, they did not have fire detectors, so they had a few fires and there was one death. The warden was a real stickler for detail.
The best hacks for running one are Inge's, and if you search this site and others you will find all you need to build your prison with.
If you use Inge's hacks for running a prison, they will make it so the prisoner will not only have a bad memory of being imprisoned, but that they will become unemployed at that time. That means they don't have any income, and the jobs that comes along with the hack will enable you to have a warden and guards who earn money from outside jobs. If the prison is well-run, you will get funding from the state (so to speak). Of course you have the ability to keep your inmates locked in their cells, medicated and force fed, if you're really going to make their lives miserable!

[maxon]

My prison has a set of residents called the Laggs - a sort of set of prisoner townies. When I play that lot, I generally focus on the resident nightwatchman (Danny Morgan) and the visiting wardens (made playable by Inge's mod) who come in during the day and the Laggs do their own thing (which seems to involve an awful lot of arguing and crying). Every now and again, one of my playables from the main hood gets sent to jail. Bert Hick (Mama Hick's feckless husband) has been inside for some time now and recently Franklin Rockefeller was jailed having been caught counterfeiting simoleans. I should really let Bert go - he didn't do much wrong (bum result from a chance card, I think) but he's about to die and I'm torn between sending him home to Mama to have her and the kids wail with grief over his grave or to let him die in his cell and have a lonely grave in the corner of the grounds of Sim State Prison, not to mention a ghost to scare Danny on his midnight rounds checking the cells. My prison has a nice Victorian gothic vibe. Hmmm....

[A.G.Doren]

Are there other prison hacks?

Or are there things that people use in prisons in addition to the Simlogical cc?

I have been mulling over having a prison in one of my hoods for years. But I have to admit I want something simple.

How do people play their prisons? Do your sims get life imprisonment? Do you have a system for making laws and sending sims to prison? What about single sims? Do they lose their homes, as if they moved out? Are jobs lost?

I don't know if they are true hacks but there are cage items that you can download here and sims inside them can't get out and a number of pre-made prisons are available here as well.

[Babahara]

The problem with a prison is that sims who're supposed to be imprisoned still go to community lots :)

I used Visitor Controller to stop it, however it worked it such a manner it was pointless and I took it out. For example, I tried to stop one playable zombie from visiting community lots. Every time she'd come there she'd disappear in blue flames thanx to the Visitor Controller, but the probem was that she still came to community lots, her sounds were quite plainly audible. The same thing happened with one impisoned sim, she was furious with my sim and kept coming to his house. No Visitor Controller could stop that, it could only zap her when she was already on the lot and I could already hear her giggling evilly, like furious sims do. So I concluded that banning sims doesn't really work, which made prisons pointless.

[Blaise Parker]

The problem with a prison is that sims who're supposed to be imprisoned still go to community lots :)

I used Visitor Controller to stop it, however it worked it such a manner it was pointless and I took it out. For example, I tried to stop one playable zombie from visiting community lots. Every time she'd come there she'd disappear in blue flames thanx to the Visitor Controller, but the probem was that she still came to community lots, her sounds were quite plainly audible. The same thing happened with one impisoned sim, she was furious with my sim and kept coming to his house. No Visitor Controller could stop that, it could only zap her when she was already on the lot and I could already hear her giggling evilly, like furious sims do. So I concluded that banning sims doesn't really work, which made prisons pointless.

In my game, with the prisoner tag from simlogical prison set and visitor controller, the sim does not even show up.

ELECTRONIC PRISONER TAG
This is currently in the form of a buyable object, which the Sim must put into his inventory. TwoJeffs has incorporated checking for this in his Visitor Controller. The idea is that any Sim who has one of these in his inventory will not be seen apparently "escaped" and wandering around the shops! Remove this from your Sim's inventory when their sentence is expired.


http://www.drealm.info/simlogical/sl/Sims2Pages/Sims2_Prison.htm

[Babahara]

She had a prisoner tag in her inventory. Well then, it must've been conflicting with something.

[x0xkitkat]

What do you guys send your Sims to prison for? I've seen the hacks, but never set one up because I don't know what if send them to prison for

[mangaroo]

You could send them for kicking over trash cans, stealing newspapers, or fighting in public. There are also several chance cards where the Sim engages in illegal activity.

[maxon]

You could send them for kicking over trash cans, stealing newspapers, or fighting in public. There are also several chance cards where the Sim engages in illegal activity.

If sims use that counterfeiting machine for too long, the police turn up. That's a fun one.

I also jail thieves when they are caught - except that I used SimPE to clone over the NPC thief with one of my playable sims (so they look the same). Now it's the poor playable who goes to gaol, not the actual thief. It's part of her storyline, but she's not pleased to get sent to gaol. She ended up marrying one of the warders. Now, there's a conflict of interest. And, as you say, several of the cards give bad outcomes, specially in the criminal track.

[A.G.Doren]

I just need a place to put sims that need to dissappear for a few sim years. I have a male romance sim that knocks up his teen girlfriend and abandons her. I figure prison is a good place to store him while he's supposed to wandering the jungles of the Samazon or whatever he's doing since he's in the adventurer career track.

[Nalia]

If you don't mind my asking, is Inge's prison equipment sufficient for running an asylum with locked in Sims as well?

[FranH]

Yes..and it works exactly the same. Just put the same hacks in and you're ready to go. I use it for my Asylum, and it's perfect.

[Nalia]

Thank you, Fran!

[girl7007]

Hey there everyone-

I'd like to build a prison. I need some place to put sims that need to dissapear for a few sim years. I've downloaded some stuff from ingesimlogical and other sites, I've read their explanations on how to use the objects, but I really don't understand. Is there step-by-step tutorial anywhere or better yet a functioning downloadable prison that I can study? Or can anyone just tell me how to build a prison. Any information would be a big help thank you.


I downloaded everything I needed from simlogical for building my prison but have no idea how to do a layout so I will know where to put the appropriate tags. Can you help me please

[ieta_cassiopeia]

girl7007, support for Simlogical custom content is provided at Inge's site (http://dino.drealm.info/den/denforu...x.php?board=7.0), as previously stated by mangaroo. For that matter, I do not use Simlogical in my prisons, so I wouldn't know what to tell you about Simlogical's workings in any case. However, I can give you some advice for how to build a basic prison without the Simlogical content. This should allow you to get started on running a prison while you search for an explanation for Inge's system, that you can adapt when you learn what that particular package of custom content does.

It should be possible to build a prison with no custom content at all, provided you have an EP high enough to give you the ability to lock doors (Open For Business definitely enables it, but I'm not sure which of the later EPs came with that facility - some features were available on more than one).

Making Cells Without Custom Content using Open For Business

Make your cells just like you would any other room. Put in a door for each one (locking features work on all EA/Maxis doors and most, if not all, custom ones). Don't worry about locking it yet - until your prisoner is inside, you might as well let it be open for inspection by your guards and interested visitors.

Clicking on a door will give you the "Lock..." menu. You can then pick either "Lock for All Sims" or "Everyone But Me" (with someone other than the prisoner, obviously!) when clicking on the cell door to prevent a prisoner's escape. When the prisoner has completed their term, click "Unlock" and your prisoner is free.

Note that if you do anything to cause a neighbourhood reset, such as installing a new EP, all doors are unlocked. So if you see the signs of a neighbourhood reset, just make sure you put the prisoners back in their place and lock the door behind them. Other than that, nothing can unpick or break a lot using Open For Business locks except the user's whim.

What if I don't have Open For Business?

Trying to build a prison with the base game is a pain in the neck, though you could use tables and the like to block the cell doors off when you don't want prisoners to escape. There are custom content hacks that have alternate locking systems as well, if you don't like either of those options. This is not subject to the neighbourhood reset problem. It's also not conducive to escapes.

General Considerations In Making A Prison

Before you get too far in making your prison, some decisions should be made about what your prison should be like. Ones I can think of that will change how your prison is built are:

- What ambience do I want for this prison? This affects things the same way as the question does for any other building, so I won't go into details.

- Do you want prisoners to be in individual cells, thrown into one big cell or some compromise between the two? Depending on other decisions, a functional cell for an individual prisoner could be as few as 6 squares in size (3 x 2). A cell catering for many prisoners must be quite a bit bigger, though not necessarily 6 times the number of Sims in size (again, this depends on other decisions).

- How will you feed your prisoners? Unless you plan to kill all your prisoners fairly soon after arrival, they will need to eat. You have three main options for this - prisoners self-catering in their own cells, prisoners getting "cell service" and a cafeteria.

For prisoner self-catering, you will need, at minimum, a fridge, counter and a bin/trash compactor in each cell. (In theory, it can be done with just a sink, though given Sim intelligence levels, it's not a guaranteed survival technique). The point of the bin or trash compactor is to prevent the Sims from being blocked from using Unless you plan to allow guards into occupied cells, make sure you pick either the trash compactor (with the base game) or the disposal chute (with Apartment Life). If you have University and would like small cells, the mini-fridge is perfect because it will tuck under your counter and has fewer options than full-size fridges - especially important if your guards have babies on site. This option is the most expensive but requires virtually no maintenance - just replace the fridge when it runs out, or swap it for a (stocked) fridge in an open cell.

"Cell service" requires a table and a chair in each cell, as well as some sort of cooking facility outside the cells. It also requires you to set the lock to block everyone except the food server (probably your guard, unless your prison has a large staff). To operate this, click on your guard once the cell is occupied, then click on the prison door and select "Everyone But Me" in the "Lock..." option list. Then your guard must be told to cook food at appropriate intervals. This food is then served to each place setting.

A cafeteria requires a dining room and kitchen. These must be separate rooms unless you want your prisoners pigging out on junk food when you're not looking. The kitchen door should be locked when not in use. If you want the prisoners to mill around in the corridor for a while while food is being served, then use a lock on the cafeteria door until the food is ready. This option is the most efficient way to serve many prisoners, and offers the opportunity to make prisoners work in the kitchen.

- What will the bathroom arrangements be? Either you need to provide a shower/bath in each cell or have such things in a washing block. There is little harm in leaving it unlocked. The same applies with toilets. If you have University, the cheap shower that comes with it is a good choice because Sims can use it communally.

- What will the prisoners rest on? Strictly speaking, you don't need any furniture for this, as an exhausted Sim will collapse on the floor, but if you plan to impose any kind of work programme on your prisoners, it is a good idea to at least provide something to nap in or upon, if not a proper bed. (Sims can nap on a sofa-type object any time, but they can autonomously fall asleep in food if they have a table and chair, as per "cell service").

- Will there be a work programme, and if so what will it entail? If you have a work programme, you need a room for that with appropriate items - unless you wish to let prisoners have careers and treat that as a rehabilitation programme.

- Will you bother providing recreational equipment? This is optional - Sims can amuse themselves in prison, if they want to do so. The ambience you're looking for may suggest items be provided, in which case remember to leave room for them.

- Does your prison have a uniform? If so, make sure you have a dresser, and keep enough in the budget to buy a uniform for every age group and gender you plan to have in a particular prison.

- Will you imprison pregnant Sims at any point? If so, you need a nursery facility that is not in a cell, or else your pregnant Sim will need a much bigger cell than normal.

- Will your prison be allowed to administer the death penalty or not? If so, you may wish to consider building an additional structure to enable that to happen, or at least to have it happen away from the prisoners who you'd like to keep alive.

Guards

You don't have to have a guard on site, but if you decide not to, remember that at least one Sim must be in the prison at all times, otherwise it will be treated as an empty lot. (Yes, I realise that sounds obvious, but my first prison lost all its furniture because I forgot this basic fact).

If you have a guard (or more than one), remember to make sure they have their own living area, with enough in it to be comfortable. Seeing them nip into empty cells to get midnight snacks is embarrassing. Seeing them try to get into full ones for that purpose... ...well, it's not good for feelings of community justice if the police are envious of the criminals' living standards ;)

Also, ensure the living area is separate from the prison cells. Having a monitoring station or something in the cell area is fine, but it's easier to stop prison escapes if the difference between the prison and the living area is obvious.

Prisoners

Sims you plan to imprison must be moved in. Either the guard needs to ask them to move in or you move the Sim out of their house and into the prison. Unless, of course, you have a hack that provides an alternative method or use the addNeighborToFamilyCheat on cheat (which comes with Open For Business and also Pets, but should not be used to make "object" Sims like the Grim Reaper a prisoner, for game corruption reasons). Once moved in, Sims are easily made into prisoners by simply treating them as such. After they've served their term, they can be moved out using the "Find Own Place" option (preferably after they've changed out of any prison uniform you may have and into some other outfit).

If you're doing a prison without custom content, prisoners will appear on community lots and other places. However, if they have a uniform, you should at least be able to see which Sims are prisoners and act accordingly. They also will not get a memory of imprisonment - but since you will remember anyway, you can make a note in their file.

I have a prison system in my neighbourhood, but would prefer to make that a separate post to avoid it being confused with this sort-of-tutorial.

[Simsica]

You don't have to have a guard on site, but if you decide not to, remember that at least one Sim must be in the prison at all times, otherwise it will be treated as an empty lot. (Yes, I realise that sounds obvious, but my first prison lost all its furniture because I forgot this basic fact).

If you use Inge's Stay Things Shrub and mark the objects on a home lot as "stay after move out", the furniture and everything else considered an object will stay on the lot, waiting the next family to move in.

About the prisoners showing up on other lots - use Inge's prison tag and Twojeff's Visitor Controller for this.
namely, you don't need the entire prison set for this prison tag to work its magic. Visitor Controller recognizes it and keeps the Sims that have it in their inventories "locked up".
And with these two hacks and the OFB EP you can have your prison without Inge's elaborate system which is much more than just a technique to lock Sims up. It's a whole new gameplay feature.

I like your ideas, cassiopeia. I believe when the need arises I'll use it too. Much simpler to play.

Of course, no offense is meant to Inge's mod here. Quite the opposite - Inge's mod is perfect for those that play Maxis careers, since it introduces a career that actually has a meaning in the hood.
For us who play self-sustainable hoods, however, this OFB method is easier.

I'll make an OFB shop on the lot and hire guards, then make them all managers (using Squinge's Anybody Be Manager hack) so that I can control them. And it should work as magic!

Thanks :)

[ieta_cassiopeia]

I'd forgotten about the Stay Things shrub! Thank you :) I also like your alternative method of making a prison. Looks like there are lots of ways to do one, depending on preferences and what custom content each of us has installed.

[Tullulabell]

Also, if you do use the simlogical stuff, there is a section at the bottom of the Prison (http://www.drealm.info/simlogical/sl/Sims2Pages/Sims2_Prison.htm#How%20to%20start%20your%20prison) page on how to set up your prison. If that is what you read and still don't understand it, what I did was just experiment. Print that section out so you have it when you are ingame, and follow what it says, making notes along the way. Or search for prisons other simmers have made and follow their floor plan or download their buildings. But basically, as long as you make cells for the prisoners, leading to a central area, and a cafeteria for them to eat, then use the hacks as directed, you'll get it. Belive me, reading though it the first time, I was confused too, it's better to read through it while in game, so you can access the functions of the objects.

[May93]

I just installed simological.
I have no idea how a cafeteria works. I don't want prisoners to be allowed to cook...
and my resident jailor can't be added to the staff list and keeps using the prison equipment.

Anyone know about this stuff?

[FranH]

On this page:
Sims 2 Institutional Stuff (http://www.drealm.info/simlogical/sl/Sims2Pages/Sims2_InstitutionGeneral.htm)

You will find an INSTITUTIONAL CANTEEN SERVERY, which you can use for the prison's dining room. It has variable settings-which means you can open and close it to keep your prisoners from eating themselves to death.