Redesign of holding room

[Kyet]

 

Remember our old friend, temporary holding?

Not much to look at, hunh?

 

• Only one big cell. No separation.

• Little visibility. People put in here tend to get stuck in here for awhile, as nobody checks on them.

A toilet which is never used but does serve as a convenient hiding place.

All in all, it looks bad, and isn't useful.

 

 

Now, meet my redesign:

 

Or, annotated:

 

Basic ideas:

 

• Two holding cells, surrounded by reinforced glass windoors. Each cell has a chair, locker, mounted flash, etc.

• Reinforced windoors allowing exit (once timer is off) to a central room with a button/door that allows exit to sec lobby.

East half of the room is behind sec-only doors, and functions as observation area.

 

 

Here is how this is better:

 

• Auto-release. The button opens the door on the left, allowing any prisoner not currently locked in one of the two rglass cells to walk out at any time. So, to keep prisoners in here you must set a timer, so the rglass doors are sealed. That timer should be 10 minutes (because you'd never hold anyone longer than SOP allows without charging them - right?). Once that timer is up, and you can no longer legally hold them, the reinforced windoors open, and they can use the button in the middle to open the door on the left and walk out. With this setup, you're guaranteed never to violate SOP by holding people too long, because if the timer runs out it lets them out automatically. Bonus: the elapsed time from the cell timer can also be used to deduct that time from their actual sentence - no longer do you have to guess how long they spent in interrogation.

• This room is right next to the detective's office, so the detective can see in, and this encourages the detective to get more involved in the processing of prisoners - ie: presenting evidence before sentencing. The detective has a new button on his desk to close shutters on these windows if necessary, so prisoners in processing can't always see his office.

This has two mini-cells you can use to hold prisoners separately. It also has its own lockers, linked to the timer, so you don't have to worry about prisoners resisting out of their cuffs while you question them. You put their gear in the locker, right? So long as you do that, they can't easily break the windoors, and they're stuck. The lockers, of course, like cell lockers, auto-lock when you activate the timer and auto-unlock once the timer runs out.

This holding/processing room can also serve a second function: "nice" cells. Suppose you have a prisoner who is in on some minor crime, and sec is busy with bigger things. Or suppose you have a prisoner who is co-operative and you don't really want to brig them, but you have to. Or, suppose you want something you can offer them (nicer cell) in exchange for a quick confession so you can process them and move on to other sec matters. Give them one of these cells, with an appropriate timer. They're nicer for the prisoner than normal cells because they can get their stuff and leave by themselves at the end of their sentence, and it is easier for them to have visitors (through the windows) than with most cells, since you can see into them from the brig lobby. It also helps sec - now sec can focus on dealing with the big threat rather than having to let out people brigged for petty crimes.

That said, these cells do have a few features specifically designed to handle "not so nice" prisoners you might get in interrogation. One of these is that there are no lights within the cells. The tube light in the room is placed so that prisoners should never be in a position to smash it, because the right half of the room, where the light is, is sec-only. Another is that all the windows have electrified grilles in them, so breaking out isn't as easy as you'd think, especially when the suspect's tools are stowed in the locker. A third is that locker versus chair position is determined such that you can easily shoot a prisoner with disabler beams from outside their cell - lockers do not block shots by default. Another is that unlike the normal holding or interrogation room, there are wall-mounted flashes built into the cells, and they're linked to the timer consoles, so AI/borgs can activate them remotely too if a prisoner is trying to break out.

 

 

Comments?

 

[saywat_the_15th]

 

Wow, this actually looks friggin sweet.

Only thing that bothers me is the C1&C2 door button, that poster on the wall behind the button could be removed and button located at the right side of that wall.

 

[Coldflame]

 

I like the look of the new area but I'm not sure it's in-line with the use of the holding cell. Usually it's not used to keep people waiting to be processed (they're left waiting in processing for better or worse)

 

The holding cell usually sees use during riots/revolutions when there are simply too many people being arrested to deal with.

 

[Plotron]

 

The holding cell usually sees use during riots/revolutions when there are simply too many people being arrested to deal with.

These proposed holding cells have a maximum capacity of two people.

 

I do like the timers and the windows to detective's office, but I'm still afraid that people may set the timers and still forget, effectively brigging the guy for 10 minutes with no evidence presented. SoP is SoP, but who is going to ensure (and not forget) that it is FOR PROCESSING, not an actual prison cell?

 

[Coldflame]

 

The holding cell usually sees use during riots/revolutions when there are simply too many people being arrested to deal with.

These proposed holding cells have a maximum capacity of two people.

 

I do like the timers and the windows to detective's office, but I'm still afraid that people may set the timers and still forget, effectively brigging the guy for 10 minutes with no evidence presented. SoP is SoP, but who is going to ensure (and not forget) that it is FOR PROCESSING, not an actual prison cell?

That's my point- this design doesn't facilitate use for imprisoning larger groups, which is the only use the current hold cell sees.

 

[Keroman]

 

I use temporary detainment whenever someone's already being questioned in the processing room (which should really happen in the interrogation, room, but meh.)

 

Since rev has been removed it's less likely for there to be multiple people waiting for sentencing. Only once in the last few weeks have I had 3 people in temp detainment at one time. If the security team makes better use of the space they have this redesign should be plenty.

 

[tastyfish]

 

I use temporary detainment whenever someone's already being questioned in the processing room (which should really happen in the interrogation, room, but meh.)

 

Since rev has been removed it's less likely for there to be multiple people waiting for sentencing. Only once in the last few weeks have I had 3 people in temp detainment at one time. If the security team makes better use of the space they have this redesign should be plenty.

 

There are still spontaneous protests about once a month due to comdomry, or just people self-antagging, etc and it would still be nice to have a place to hold at least 10 people or so.

 

This holding/processing room can also serve a second function: "nice" cells. Suppose you have a prisoner who is in on some minor crime, and sec is busy with bigger things. Or suppose you have a prisoner who is co-operative and you don't really want to brig them, but you have to. Or, suppose you want something you can offer them (nicer cell) in exchange for a quick confession so you can process them and move on to other sec matters. Give them one of these cells, with an appropriate timer. They're nicer for the prisoner than normal cells because they can get their stuff and leave by themselves at the end of their sentence, and it is easier for them to have visitors (through the windows) than with most cells, since you can see into them from the brig lobby. It also helps sec - now sec can focus on dealing with the big threat rather than having to let out people brigged for petty crimes.

 

I'm not sure I understand this since it's objectively smaller and less furnished (steel chair instead of a bed) than a normal brig cell, while having a window to the lobby equivalent to Block A's cell 1 & 2. The AI can let out released prisoners if they're overrun and there isn't a warden. (If there isn't either, the round is probably low population, and then there's rarely more than 1 or 2 active criminals at a time).

 

All of the other points for the design seem to be centered around the warden not paying attention or security forgetting to process people, which does unfortunately happen sometimes, so I'm not sure what my opinion on those points are. I do agree that the old design was wasteful space-wise with the useless bathroom and massive north part that didn't have a real (at least, used) purpose, and that it had poor visibility.

 

What would people think of a compromise of the two uses of the area, in which you used your proposed revised design, but with the cells being expanded to 3x3 so there's a combined 18 (16, if accounting for lockers) squares of space in the cells, accounting for a small-moderate riot, while still giving two separate holding cells?

 

[Kyet]

 

v2 Screenshot:

 

Changes in this version:

 

• Added an additional cell in the bottom right. This increases capacity to 3 solo cells plus another 1-2 can be put in the top right area (which I am adding chairs to).

• Dropped down to one camera, from two.

Dropped down to one set of vents/scrubbers, in the central area. I was concerned the previous setup might provide uneven pressure and/or potentially over-pressurize cells.

Fixed placement of light switch, door alarm, and fire alarms.

Removed the stupid poster.

 

 

This room is designed to replace the main processing area for most prisoners, enabling them to be processed while somewhat split up, and with a timer to prevent them being held forever with no charges being filed. It is not intended to be a place to mass-brig people after riots. It can handle, I'd say, 3-6 or so people brigged that way, but if you want to brig a large number of people for a very short time all at once, I'd want to design a completely new room for that.

 

 

Potential issues & opportunities for further improvement:

 

• Might replace the exit door with an exit chute, which would prevent prisoners from taking the lockers with them when they leave. Not essential, though.

• Might move the light on the left door so it isn't over the doorway.

Might add a second set of shutters so that cells can be isolated from brig lobby. Currently, I lean against this.

Would like to find a way to make the screens always rez on top of the grilles/glass.

Might replace western walls with rwalls.

Might add a garbage disposal unit to the room. Currently disinclined as there is one in the equipment room next door.

Might replace some of the rglass windoors with rglass walls. Unsure if the loss of mobility would be offset by a gain in strength.

I need to test whether the fire alarm works correctly in this setup.

Might place a table with a basic medkit in this room, considering how often prisoners and/or officers come in injured.

 

 

[Spacemanspark]

Quite honestly, I think we should pull a Goon and have floor disposal units in the brig. Jump in when the timer ends, and it sends you outside of the brig.

[Professor Cupcake]

 

Quite honestly, I think we should pull a Goon and have floor disposal units in the brig. Jump in when the timer ends, and it sends you outside of the brig.

This sounds pretty cool, actually. Especially when considering the sabotage potential.

 

[alexpkeaton]

 

I think the floorplan could even be increased here, to include the starboard half of the entrance to sec. Move the reception booth (maybe new Warden's office to encourage actually processing prisoners) to the middle of the port side wall with a desk/windoor to public access, and with a windoor dumping out starboard into temporary detainment. One cell fore and aft of the Warden's desk, hallway running fore-aft next to that with a dedicated entrance to sec for prisoners, and then two interro areas running into the detective's office. Then perma can get a massive overhaul now that you open up the current interro room's footprint to the floorplan.

 

So, under this floorplan, a prisoner is brought in the prisoner entrance, dumped in an interro room or holding cell. The officer tells the Warden, who's right there, the crime, the Warden then takes custody of the prisoner, moves him or her to the brig through the forward entrance into the sec hallway, and books them for the crime.