Quality of Life Improvements: Warden & Their Rowdy Bunch

[Skull132]

Okay, so I was thinking. And bouncing ideas off of the folks on OOC.

Subject: The Warden

Purpose: Make his life easier, thus making the life of the inmates easier

Preface: This assumes that we are going to attempt the communal brig design Because people are swayed by prefaces, let's just say that I like these ideas regardless of brig design, and want input. *nod-nod*

Ideas:

• Have each cell timer paired with a prisoner jumpsuit
  
  (The pairing can be modified from the cell timer)
  
  This will enable:
  
  • Designation of inmates
    
    If you have each cell assigned a numeric or an alphabetic designation, then we might be able to code in an overlay for linked prisoner jumpsuits. That way, identifying prisoners becomes easier and can be done faster by security personnel. This will hopefully make it easier for them to find the right one from the bunch and manage them.
  • Return alarms for inmates
    
    Since the brig is going to be centrally open, and any one inmate can walk from his cell into the general cell area, it might become important for them to know when they should head back into their own cell (for out-processing, for example). Two instances of enabling this: if the timer reaches 30 seconds, the prisoner wearing the jumpsuit gets a small message that informs them of their remaining time and prompts them to head back into their cell, in preparation for out-processing. The second is to add a button onto the cell timer's interface that allows you to summon the prisoner assigned to that cell.
    
  • Some fucking around on the inmate's side as well
    
    If the cells and jumpsuits are designated with only numbers or letters, then names become less important. If sec is unobservant enough, you can swap suits and get out faster, depending on the situation. Instead of having your name noted down on your cell's timer, you are now just known as inmate A. If sec didn't bother noting your ass down, just find someone with a shorter time, switch jumpsuits and out you go faster.

[*]Give the warden a screen which has visual indication of each cell's status

A list of cells, followed by their status in colour code (green - open, amber - soon to open (30 seconds or less), red - occupied).

[*]Maybe give the warden a PDA alert for when cells are about to open up

Immediate clarifications:

• Location tracking will not be on the cards. I do not want the suits to give back more info than they already do with suit sensors (at which point, you still need to stroll away from the brig to check a CMC). You could be on the butt end of nowhere, but if your cell timer is still running, then it'll report the cell as occupied.

 

The "Why": Well, here's my thinking. More information can lead to faster processing. If the warden is alerted to cells being opened, they can hopefully release you faster, and gain situational awareness faster.

[Jamini]

The whole system still seems like a ton of extra work, and totally unfeasible for smaller crimes.

The communal brig, no matter HOW you cut it, only works if two things are true.

1. You only brig for major offenses.

-This means you use FINES and WARNINGS for low-grade vandalism, hooliganism, and the like. 5minute sentences need to not be a thing for communal brigs to work. Hell, even a 10 minute sentence is ridiculously short for communal brigs. Basically, anything under 20 minutes needs to completely be thrown out the window.

2. You have a warden who is 150% competent.

-Managing multiple prisoners who WILL be consistently fighting both each other and you, including permabrigged prisoners (who will constantly try and escape), all while handling the processing in and out of other lower-grade criminals is extremely taxing. To the point where it is several STORIES of difficulty above having a proper cell system.

Really, communal brigs do not work. I've seen them in action, I've talked to people who have seen them in action in other servers. Ultimately, they are a failed concept. We should really just throw out the idea completely and focus on what we know works in this instance. No matter how many gagets or gizmos you add to try and make the failed concept work, in the end of the day it is just not an idea that works well or at all.

[Guest]

Id just like to note that prisoner jumpsuits are locked at max setting, not that its important. I dont like this Brig idea for the reasons stated by Jamini

[Skull132]

Well, consider. This is not really to discuss the communal brig idea. I want to toy with that for a bit.

I just want input on these ideas as they are. I suppose I'll modify the original thread.

[Jamini]

I don't object to alarms on jumpsuits and visual indicators that cells are about to open. So the concept is fine I suppose. I'd like to see how you developed it.

My main objection is just to communal brigs. In my experience they work poorly or not at all.