Busted!, Roleplaying PC incarceration Options

[Abstruse]

Has anyone ever tried running a campaign in a prison? The whole team gets busted at the same time, and they go up the river Instead of just saying "You were in jail for 12 months and now you have to start rebuilding your rep and contacts," has anyone ever roleplayed those 12 months? Gang wars behind bars, the little cliques that form, the complications and rewards of finding stuff you're not supposed to have, etc.

The Abstruse One

[Fygg Nuuton]

its never a good experience getting busted when your sinless and have alot of illegal spells, weapons, cyberware and armor :(

[Bearclaw]

I need a SR prison layout. Does anyone know where to look? Two PCs are in prison. Their players have new characters, but the other PC's have decided that they can't just be left there.
So, they've to to go into Pueblo, break two "terrorists" out of prison, and get back to Seattle in one piece. This'll be fun :D

[Black Isis]

For something interesting, try looking for the ancient Sub-Attica supplement for Cyberpunk that was done by Lucien Soulban, the same author that did the underwater section of Target: Wastelands, which features a giant underwater prison colony.

[Siege]

You may have a hard time finding actual maps of prisons (for semi-obvious reasons), but historical maps should be relatively easy.

Your other option is to fake it -- use your imagination to lay out the compound, adjust the security response for the level of prison and carry on.

Guard towers, chain-link fences with razor-wire, reinforced gates, maybe a chopper pad -- inside, cell blocks, cafeteria, adminstration, laundry, medical facilities and so on.

-Siege

[FlakJacket]

If they were only in for a year, wouldn't they go to jail instead of prison? IIRC, there are a couple prison/jail guards floating round the boards so you could ask them stuff.

[Adarael]

[BitBasher]

Well since you asked, The maximum stay in the Clark County Detention Center here is theoretically one year. as long as you aren't a serious escape risk sentences of one year or less are most of the time spent in the jail, yes. Most of the time a month or three passes before the trial and sentencing, then another chunk of time for appeal (if appropriate) then someone usually only has 6-9 months left because incarceration prior to trial still counts off their sentence. IE, spend 3 months in jail then get sentenced to 6 months and you do another 3 months then get out. 6 total.

In special circumstances you will be transferred to a prison but usually only for longer sentencing, and definitely only after you are convicted.

[Boondocker]

I'd imagine that magicians would be treated as 'escape risks' in the 2060s.

[Fygg Nuuton]

most shadowrunners would be considered ascape risks. magicians, adepts, street sammies especially

[Sepherim]

There is really a problem when it comes to Awakened characters. Either you keep them completely drugged all the time, or they can start playing with everyone's mind. Of course, you can prevent them from sumoning, but not from spell using. Of course, you could fill the whole prison with awakened bacteria or such things, but it would cost too much.
This means that playing such an Awakened character might be a whole piece of ****** (whatever you might rather), or you might be too powerful.
Can anyone come up with a solution to control them (and forbidding the mages from taking mind control isn't an option, since the prison has to be logically safe, so it should be able to deal with such mages) without turning them into an unplayable character?

[BitBasher]

According to Lone Star, mages in custody have it the worst, they are kept drugged and magemasked for the entire duration of their imprisonment time, from arrest to release unless theres a specific reason otherwise.

Sammies get screwed too because all illegial cyber is removed after they are found guilty, and th inmate is charged for the medical procedure to do so. The ware can then be purchased secondhand and installed in cops who want it.

Adepts with no casting abilities pretty much own the prisons...

all info is from the Lone Star Sourcebook.

[Kanada Ten]

Datajack + Simsense Feed. While the chip is jacked in they are useless, but the rescuers need only remove the Chip (probably integral).

Ares has a "Space Prison" to keep mages in a Mana Warp.

In my games I invented a Scorching focus that when placed on an Awakened it "virtually" reduces his or her Magic attribute by the focus's force.

[edit]
This site might help you out with design.
List of Federal Prisons in the Southwest.
Surviving Prison
California Prison infor and ariel view (small)
I couldn't get to the Arizona one.
Small map, right nation.

[Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_*]

[BitBasher]

BTW a prison CANNOT force cyberware implementation or deliberately permanently lower a magic attribute, as it was found as being "cruel or unusual punishment".

[Kanada Ten]

[BitBasher]

I'm 99% positive I can when I can dig up that book, tomorrow at the earliest.

[Abstruse]

Problem. Lone Star has extraterritoriality. UCAS laws and rights mean precisely dick when you're in a Lone Star prison since you're not longer on UCAS soil. They can do whatever they want whenever they want to you.

There are still federal, state, and municiple prisons and jails, but in many cases, some corporation has bought them. Lone Star owns a ton, Knight Errant owns a couple at least.

The Abstruse One

[krishcane]

Yes, but their contract with the government surely spells out the treatment of their citizens. The government is constantly trying to prevent the corps from owning everything -- although they mostly lose -- and they would surely negotiate controls into the contract. At the very least, the corp should not be able to profit off the prisoners that they're being paid to keep (ie. use them for medical experiments, force them into slave labor, etc.). Unless, of course, that's part of the contract, but in that case the municipality hiring Lone Star should get a discount on their services.

That's the time it could get really, really grim. Lone Star says, "We're raising our prices, and there are no competent competitors here." Metro area says, "We can't afford that!" Lone Star says, "No problem. Simply sign this agreement that gives us the right to generate profits with the prisoners, and we're even."

--K

[Game2BHappy]

[BitBasher]

[Abstruse]

If you're SINless, you're not a citizen. Therefore, you don't have the rights of a citizen. Therefore, I can put anything I want in your skull because you're not a citizen. Guess how many runners choose not to have a SIN...

The Abstruse One

[Fortune]

[BitBasher]

SINless are definitely citizens, in fact they are by definition "Probationary citizens" that do not have the rights entailed by full citizenship, but they are still subject to all laws, and consequently protected by those same laws. It is definitely not legal to murder someone because they are sinless.

They don't have NO rights, they just don't have the same rights.

[Person 404]

On the other hand, the SINless don't pay taxes, and hence contribute to neither the city nor Lone Star's coffers. Plus, the SINless don't technically exist (as in, there are no records of their existence), so if they disappear, there's not really any way to prove that they were there in the first place. So, murdering a SINless bum in the middle of downtown will get you in trouble. Murdering one in the barrens probably won't.