A few things here:

1. Is there any material on the penal system in Shadowrun? Whether its in a 4e book or an earlier sourcebook is irrelevant, as long as its something I can look up.

2. If there isn't any published material, or even if there is, has anyone dealt with it before? Perhaps making a scenario where the runners get thrown in prison or just a run involving it?

3. Would anyone have any ideas they would share for a such a run or setting? Or maybe a source for inspiration?

I did a quick search but didn't come up with anything, if there is a thread covering this just point me to it and I'll ignore this one.

Yes. State of the Art 2064 details the prison system very well. Makes it playable and interesting, totally worth it.

I played (briefly) in a campaign that started in prison. It had your typical Oz feel to it, but the interesting twist was that it was an Aztlan prison. Prisonners went on forced labour manually collecting magical reagents (which some book, somewhere, mentions Aztlan is big on), Lots of great ideas possible.

One thing though, is that mages are absolutely fucked in prison. Like, they gotta do WHATEVER it takes to get the fuck out of there. Insanity comes quickly. If you're REALLY lucky they may just stick you in permanent VR, but even that will take its toll. And if you're in a normal prison, it's a matter of weeks before the magemask destroys your sanity.

Thank you very much, I'll look into this.

Out of curiosity, how did the runners in the scenario you played escape the prison?

They didn't, we played like 2 games.

But the idea, as is also suggested by SOTA64, is not so much escape as accepting a sucker deal from a Johnson that knows you'll do anything to get out of prison.

But you could escape, I suppose. It would mostly revolve around having the right connections (bribed jail guards, friendly jail gang bosses organizing distractions, outside help waiting for you) and hacking the system. By 2070 jails are super automated. With a few schematics and access to the right places at the right times, you should be able to make the system let you go, really. Well, in any case, it would be a solution the GM and Players would agree on. It's a plot thing really.

Interesting, ok.

Sounds like most runners would be screwed over for a little while after they get out unless they're in really good with their contacts.

And remember, don't drop the soap (Which is really hard to do as it's liquid and comes out of dispensers from the wall.).

"Oh, and we here at Lone Star Correctional Institutions want to thank you all for the test subject for AztNat Body Lotion, which will now not be going onto the market due to causing baldness in Trolls and Dwarves."

Better than the one which causes hair and gender loss.

I can see magical individuals being thrown into the same jail and it being guarded by a combination of mages and powerful spirits. Heck I can even see more unorthodox guards being used like vampires that are used to make examples out of trouble makers. They may even have other guards that mimic Dementors from the HP series. In any case an awakened prison would have a huge background count making it near impossible to use magic effectively.

As a breakout idea, it would be a good time to introduce your TM to the group. I imagine that any hacker in the group would have all their kit taken from them. A TM that has hidden their abilities would still be able to manipulate the prison security system and help the team escape.

why bother with all that elaborate stuff? Just throw a bunch of mage masks on them and whatnot and in solitary confinement with periodic checkups by the staff mage, and has mentioned before at a place with a background count works also. Much cheaper than hiring a whole bunch of wierd and special paranormal guardians.

Or just keep them chipped in BTL VR and wait for them to burnout.

Somewhere I have list of "Cool ideas that work great in books and just suck in an RPG". And locking the players up is one of these. Nobody will usually have fun, as the players are busily trying to escape and the GM is trying to get somewhere that the players don't care about because they just want to escape. And they will make the GM describe stuff in great detail as they try to figure out how to escape....

I have to agree with the caviot that it works as a one-shot run or a very short story arc.

I have to agree with Kzt. If you want to start a game of fugitive, starting the players in prison is an idea.

The players need to escape to start the campaign. If you are looking for some sort of campaign from inside the prison, it will be hard to get buy in from the players.

With that in mind, having the players interact with the other inmates in an attempt to escape, and building their characters with incarceration as the plan, everyone gets a Criminal SIN, perhaps enemy law enforcement or something.

How many BP do you get for incarcerated?

I'd rule none, because it is an universal campaign condiction.

There would have to be something to compensate for the fact that all of the magic and cyberware has been disabled

The more I think about it, the more unpleasant a 2070 prison sounds. Remind my technomancer that he doesn't want to go to the big house ;0

Does giving you Bubba the love Troll as a free contact and cellmate count?

Wait I have Bubba as a contact... count me in. I can live selling myself for a trolls protection at least my PC could.

Aye, but can you live with the physical damage that comes from "buying" Bubba's services?

Now, come on, Bubba is a Gentle Lover. He uses the SOOTHING Hoop Lube.

...

Frag, the fact that he uses Hoop Lube at all is proof he's a gentleman with his JoyToys.

Exactly its most likely worth it for my orc tm really hes tought but bubba well he's got a rep.

>>> Uh-huh, then how come do the guards have a betting pool on how long each of Bubba's cellmates last, similair to when they threw a bunch of trogs and daisy eaters together? <<< -Bubble Butt

Well I'll have to bribe him not to kill me them that'll work XD. A tm can make life quite nice. What extra food how ordered that oh well its here. plus its all done by drones so its even less likely that a good tm will get found as long as they dont hack too much.

There is a "fun thing" they do in Thailand with prisoners. Sometimes they would make this bamboo ball, they would drag a prisoner they didn't like and put him inside the ball. They would then take an elephant try to teach it to play football, after a while the elephant would get annoyed with shuffling around the ball and would stomp on it. Turning the screaming prisoner into silent crushed mess.

Just one of many things prison guards do.

I still wonder why there are all these piss and vinegar stories about escaping. You add 30kg chains to a person and squeeze 10 people into a closet for 23hrs and 55mins. You do everything according to a whistle for five minutes of your day. You eat crushed roaches since that is your only source of protein. There is a bucket in a corner.

Well i'd presume it's because nothing drives you to escape like horrible conditions and if the conditions arn't horrible then you've got nothing to do but plan your escape.

Personally outside of how badly it would kill any ability to roleplay it, i'm suprised all prisions arn't handled in VR. Psychotropics to ensure rehabilitation lack of ability to escape. That sort of thing.

Other than the expense of keeping people in VR 24/7. Sure, it's cost effective on a minority group like magicians, but for the masses of Criminal SINners, DUIers, Drug Dealers/Users, and so on, all the equipment and upkeep would be too prohibitive at the very least.

As well, they're responcible for the condition of the prisoner when released (While he's inside, he's Corporately Owned if the Jail is owned by a Class-A Corp or better. Like, say, Lone Star. Or Ares Correctional Facilities.).

If they're stuck in VR all the time, muscle atrophy wouldn't allow him to leave by his own power, and having a bunch of stick figures crawl out of a prison after locked in a hell inside their own mind would not make for good Trid. Even if we're talking about a bunch of Ex-Cons. Some bleeding heart politico is going to get up in arms about it, and that's Bad For Business.

As for coming out with no hair (Or sex), being victims of prison rape, and the occasional shivving. Well, that's been part of the prison system since Day One. Can't really get worked up about that.

Gradual use of Psychotropics, however, would make for excellent non-recidivism even in cases which are considered untreatable today.

Just remember that when you pick up your buddy at the joint and hand him back his Ares Predator you've been holding and keeping safe since he went in, and suddenly he screams out as if it was a hot brand, and crawls into the trunk, sobbing.