![prison architect prison architect](https://www.gamerroof.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Prison-Architect-Psych-Ward-Wardens-Edition-PC-Version-Full-Game-Free-Download-1200x900.png)
It was a little disheartening to see violent crimes disproportionately represented in the imaginary prison register particularly considering I had chosen to accept mostly minimum-security prisoners (I couldn’t bear to build either build solitary cells or the electric chair – which are both possible within the game). At one point in the game, a phone icon flashed up to alert me to a particular inmate’s family history – she had had a child with an ex-husband, who she had brought into prison after committing a murder it even had the dates of birth of all her family members. The digital inmates also had little thought bubbles that popped up (a picture of a family with people surrounded by a heart was surprisingly poignant).
![prison architect prison architect](https://tabletadam.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/prison-architect-download.jpg)
On the one hand the prisoners all had name tags hanging off them (named after the KickStarter donators – those who’d donated generously had their face put on a convict, a dubious honour).
![prison architect prison architect](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/UXrmp9F0uMY/maxresdefault.jpg)
The perspective the game took towards the convicts was an interesting combination of personal and impersonal. Suffice it to say, that notwithstanding a knowledge of both radial and barracks prison design – my prison grew up rather haphazardly, – with a vague desire to have “good” places (for family visits leisure time yard time) on one side of the site and “bad” places (prison cells) on the other – mirroring my mixed feelings about playing a game for ‘leisure’ to create a punitive institution. Perhaps, this is a logical result of a ‘top-down’ playing perspective, where the walls are lateral lines, rather than vertical blockades. Yet, the game was remarkably unaware of the importance of ventilation, light and minimum size requirements (all well-established by the 19th century), demanding primarily the inclusion of furniture to equate to functionality of the room. Either set of objectives saw prison architecture as the basis for these kinds of changes to the prison regime (an accidentally Foucauldian perspective). I opted to try and construct a prison that would help prisoners, within the constraints of the game (and within the constraints of the prison system itself). The funding came from government contracts that had certain stipulations – whether to create a more secure prison (build a certain number of solitary cells hire more guards etc.) or to construct a prison that would improve prisoners’ lives (build a family room for prisoners’ with babies, hire doctors and counselors etc.). With T-21 hours till the arrival of my first batch of prisoners, I needed to acquire finances to build the prison. Then again, my digital workers worked round the clock, with no rest (and very low energy read outs), so I ended up feeling they represented a rather “un-free” workforce anyway. I was pleased that my workers were ‘free’, not convicts drafted in to build their own prisons as they did in colonial Australia. I started doing what accompanies every penal establishment I’ve come across in the archives – deforesting the surrounding area and selling the timber for money. What follows are some reflections on playing the game from my own perspective as a historian of convicts and prisons. Over time I realized that superintendents didn’t exist in a bubble – their actions are only relevant in the context of the orders from above, the politics of the time and the great personal strain involved in managing large numbers of staff and inmates. In my work on carceral islands in colonial Australia, I have found it difficult not to demonise the brutal superintendents, and feel sympathy for those who allowed a little latitude into the prison regime for the benefit of the prisoners. Nevertheless, it struck me that a computer game might be a good way ‘in’ to the perspective of prison management.
#PRISON ARCHITECT FREE#
After all, I spend enough of my free time (and his!) thinking and talking about convicts. When my other half pointed out that there was a computer game where you could run your own prison, he probably didn’t think I would actually play it.