Super Prisons

[Armitage]

I was working on notes for my campaign (our world + superhumans 10 years ago) and I was looking at my material for Blockhouse.

It's basically Stronghold, but run by multiple countries and placed in the middle of Greenland. But then something occurred to me.

I realize it's a genre trope, but is a prison like Stronghold really practical?

From an economic standpoint, wouldn't it be more efficient to upgrade existing Supermax facilities to hold supervillains rather than create a new prison from the ground up?

And then there's the inevitable "villain escapes and starts releasing other inmates" scenario. If it's a choice between one prison holding 60 supervillains and 1 of 12 prisons across the country,only holding 5 supervillains each, I know which I'd rather deal with.

How has everyone else dealt with this situation?

[Publius]

Re: Super Prisons

 

I agree it is an interesting problem. However, if we look at similar (though certainly not identical) phenomenon like Supermax Prisons, Prisons for the Criminally Insane etc. we do see parallels.

 

Basically, if it is a trope of the genre that you wish to add, simply work backwards. Maybe at first the various nations did as you suggest: retrofitted existing facilities and whatnot. Then consider what sorts of problems or issues might arise from that situation, forcing a response which is essentially the Super Prison Trope.

 

Example: In the early days, the prisons were simply retrofitted, but eventually the practice was brought down by economics. More and more of the budgets of these prisons became tied up with the super-criminals, and the rest of the prison populations suffered (or alternatively, the conditions became so problematic that legal actions took place on a massive scale, whether these played out or not doesn't matter as they tied up the legal system and thus wasted considerable resources.) Likewise, many of the prison riots were begun by the super-criminals breakout efforts, machinations and whatnot, making their mere presence in the conventional prison system problematic.

 

This is just one example, there are any number of reasons that you might come up with and I think most of them are valid in that you as the GM are determining how your Universe works. It could be because of some spectacular breakouts from the flimsy retrofitted cells, a single instance that captures the public's attention, the creation of a multinational effort designed to concentrate the problem etc. etc. some of these will make more sense to you than others. Select one that you deem appropriate.

 

Another thing to remember is that the reponse (in this case the creation of Super Prisons) does not have to be a "better" response in the overall scheme of things. The list of policy changesthat have turned out for the worse grows every single day. But these changes are often instituted by pressure, so find pressure points and some trigger that would give rise to the super Prison. For instance a Super-Genius that has a revolutionary new way of containing superhumans that is cost-economic when done in mass-scale i.e. a row of cells with similar power-dampening characteristics requiring a whole different way of construction, power-supply et al.

[JackValhalla]

Re: Super Prisons

 

A small point in addition. Perhaps the supervillains were all secluded away from human prisoners for the protection of the human prisoners. You lock one radioactive superhuman in a normal supermax facility, and even if he's contained every prisoner there is going to file a lawsuit against the state, hazardous living conditions and whatnot. Or you put a superstrong berserker in, and every guard working that section is going to need hazard pay.

Or perhaps the retrofitting required would be so extensive, so pervasive, that it is actually cheaper to build a new facility. You'll need new walls to hold up to immense pressure, energy dampening fields, remodeled plumbing to contain stretchers and shapeshifters, constant human and mechanical supervision, alarms that contact the SWAT and the nearest group of sanctioned superheroes, medical and dining facilities for a wide variety of physiologies... it may be far cheaper to arrange all of these conditions in one location, rather than trying to modify existing prisons. Also, the renovation of any prison is going to require that prisoners be moved around while changes are underway, and that causes a suite of problems by itself.

[Stone]

Re: Super Prisons

 

As far as the escape problem, you could always move the prison to Antarica. While some villians could survive the bitter cold and get away, most could not. That alone could prevent mass escapes.

[Kevin Schultz]

Re: Super Prisons

 

You could also go with a hybrid plan - maybe state pens do have a row for 'meta-active' individuals, but only those that can be constrained with conventional means and/or have common-enough powers that the prison industry (as it were) can mass-produce restraints for them.

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: Super Prisons

 

IMO partly depends on how effective they are.

 

If you have revolving door superprisons, spread 'em out. One or a few escapees won't free 30 villains at once. More, smaller breakouts.

 

If you have effective superprisons, concentration is good. You can put it in an isolated area instead of near populated areas like most prisons. You can have the best technology, etc. because it's cheaper to do so at one place than at many - twenty battlesuits at one spot is better than one at each of twenty places. You can have the military response worked out (aided by the location) and have regular drills and established protocols. You can cover more angles, again aided by the location, have restricted airspace, etc. Hero teams only have to pay a few points to have the prison as a fixed location for the base teleporter. All of these things together means that breakouts when they happen are big, but succeed much less often.

[Metaphysician]

Re: Super Prisons

 

A relevant concern is roughly how many superhuman prisoners exist total within the area covered by the prison, which probably roughly tracks with the number of superhumans within the setting. If superhumans are rare enough, customized individual prisons might be the favored choice, especially if superhumans are powerful ( like in a world with only about a hundred supers, but all of them are 600+ points ).

 

If superhumans are extremely common, then multiple prisons or super-annexes may be unavoidable, though this works easier if most of them are easily restrainable, for whatever reason.

 

In addition, the type of restraints available matters a big deal. If all superhuman powers can be shut down by a walkie-talkie sized device transmitting on a specific EM frequency, then super-annexes are perfectly viable. If every single superhuman more or less needs customized restraints, with no way to inherently negate powers, not only would specialized prison/research centers be needed, but their would probably be alot more public support for capital punishment of supervillains.

[Narratio]

Re: Super Prisons

 

Do not forget the mind numbing side of bureaucracy. The above comments give rise to 'typing' of metahumans. We routinely call them Bricks, Speedsters etc. But there are power grades we also recognize. In any game it isn't going to be long before the governments /FBI etal do the same typing. At which point everybody (in the governments statistical eyes) gets pidgeon holed. Prison XXX becomes rated to hold Bricks grade 1 to 3, Martial Artists grade 1 to 5 and Speedsters grade 1 to 2 but not higher. Metahumans outside those grades or (point ranges) have to be held in Prison YYY.

 

You now have a rationale for constructing a Stronghold or Blockhouse.. But, as it's designed to hold the big boys, small time crooks won't, or shouldn't be found there. Of course, if a bad guy gets mis-typed by the FBI or whoever, Oops.

[mojo_bones]

Re: Super Prisons

 

I have dealt with it much like Narratio talked about. There are a few Stronghold style prisons in the US (I haven't done much with teams outside of the US), and those are for the "Big Boys" at it were. Any villains that seem to be able to be contained by more conventional means are sent to Super Max prisons. In my campaign, however, the knowledge of the existence let alone location of the Stronghold prisons is pretty secret.

[stmichaeldet]

Re: Super Prisons

 

I destroyed Stronghold in my campaign a few months back. Had to. The players had put too many of my favorite villains in there (damn their ruthless efficiency!), and they were itching to get out and get on with their plotlines.

[Metaphysician]

Re: Super Prisons

 

Thats not a bad idea, actually. If some major event is coming up, have a major power blow open the superprison. Great for distractions, or possible short term recruits.

[stmichaeldet]

Re: Super Prisons

 

It's a classic schtick. Batman gets Arkham or a prison (or both, if it's a really big event) emptied out at least, what, once every ten years or so?