Prisons, Jails, and Places of Holding
bastille, big cage, big house, big school, black hole, booby hatch, brig, bucket, bull pen, caboose, cage, calaboose, can, cell, clink, concentration camp, cooler, coop, county hotel, death house, detention camp, detention centre, doing time, dungeon, fish bowl, freezer, inside, Jail, Jailhouse, joint, jug, keep, limbo, lockup, mill, pen, penal institution, penitentiary, pokey, pound, prison, rack, reformatory, slammer, solitary, statesville, stir, stockade, tank, there are hundreds of names and hundreds of thousands of different ones. What are yours?
Every city, town, or large village will have one. So rather than just list it. I want you to describe the location. In addition to the physical description, I want you to include 'flavor text' or bits of description you would give to players incarcerated or passing through the place of holding.
If you have a special law enforcement organization (or other society ) associated with your place, include the link to that society post.
The Rocks
This is the 'dungeon' for a seaside or oceanside castle. Just a stones throw from the wall in the ocean are about a dozen large standing basalt rocks. They have been sheared flat and angled either towards the surf or away from it. On each is a deep iron ring that is check regularly.
A prisoner is shackled and brought to their Rock. There they are connected to the loop and left. Exposed to the elements and pounding surf prisoners are kept.
People normally survive only 14 days on The Rocks. Some have died after two days. The record is 38 days, but it suspected that someone was swimming out and bringing him supplies in the dark of night.
The process for a prisoner is to stay in The Pen, a large room in the undercastle. The next day after their day in court, they are transfered to The Rocks. Surviving and docile prisoners are brought back to The Pen to serve the rest of their sentence. If they 'cause trouble' or they must spend 'X number of visits' or '21 days on the rock', they are cycled back out to the Rock.
Needless to say, very few people break the law or suffer the Lord's displeasure in this region. The punishment is severe.
Note: This tradition harkens back to the days of old and the belief in the local Sea God. This God was known to test mortals and was not known for his mercy.
Thus all punishments in this region are 'short' because if you survive The Rocks, you are divinely blessed.
Of Worlds and Planets
As of this date, there are two penal locations in this sci-fi thread.
This planet is home for the Elaan Center. It is a fairly inhospitable planet that shielded from external access by a set of powerful shield generators Here the most mentally unbalanced criminals (and there are no other kind) who can not be helped by conventional treatments are cared for.
Caught on the Lagrange point between a trio of class A and B stars, Lucifer's Pupil is the center point of the system often referred to as the Eye of Lucifer. Yet even here, in this place snatched from the depths of hell itself, sentient life has found a reason to come.
Small Town Local Jail
Bar fights, petty thievery and "causing a public disturbance" are often enough to attract the attention of the local constable, who will "invite" you to spend the night in a cell before the mayor decides your fate come morning. A cluster of three cells at the back of the constable's establishment, there isn't much to look at here. Four bare walls, grimy with years of filth and grafiti (the latter has been half-heartedly scrubbed out with soap and water, smearing the more offensive words into barely legible blurs) are illuminated by a single candle set in a wall bracket. The single door has a small slit at eye height and a slot at the bottom of the door that is opened at sundown to deliver hardtack and other prison rations, though torchlight from the hall outside leaks in under the doorframe at all times.
The constable gets few prisoners here, and his enthusiasm for having several at once has made him a bit overzealous. If the PCs wear strings with their footwear, the constable will confiscate them, "to keep ye from hangin' yerselves before mornin'". The cell's low cot is stripped of its linnens to keep the prisoners from tying them together to make an escape through the small, barred window to the ground below (never mind that the hole is too small for most men to fit through, and the cell is on the first floor anyway). He will also post a double guard (two relatively inexperienced, "trigger happy" young deputies) to walk up and down the hall all night, a game that they will quickly tire of when the constable's duty calls him elsewhere. If forced to double up prisoners, the constable will try to house the men and the women in separate cells.
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? Responses (10)
This is for the codex itself. This is a perfect idea to have on hand for anyone in need of fleshing out that part of town or city that is usually forgotten about.
This is a great codex, because just how often does the average band of PCs end up on the wrong side of the law? Brings in a more interesting and modern aspect that falls between exile and execution.
Something is wrong with this codex's votes. Two people are marked as voted and Only one shows as a 2.
there are lots of subs like that actually
A solid collection. Votes are so wrong!
Let's see if the votes can be improved...
They can.
Note to self, I need to The Center
Note to the rest of you, Do a submission related to the sub. Or you could just comment or vote.
Useful stuff, especially with how often Pc's find themselves either in prison, or needing to break someone out of one.
Solid, useful submission. I added the smal town prison that I will be using a few sessions from now, in case it will be useful to others.
