The prisons currently do 2 things, ether use convict labor to generate a measly $5 or to re educate the inmate to respect El Presidente more.

A possible third option would be to “re-educate” the inmates to detest a particular faction of El Presidentes choosing over time.

For example, let’s say there’s an inmate in the prison who is a hardcore religious faction supporter. If the option is chosen to “re-educate” the inmates against the “religious faction” the inmate would over time broken down from hardcore into a strong supporter, then to a moderate supporter then eventually a detractor. And upon becoming a detractor he would become a moderate supporter of a random different faction to fill the void.

The down side could be that losing respect with the intellectuals, losing respect with the faction you have the prison working against and losing respect with the family members of the inmate.

Better yet, let an edict be created that installs a mind control drug auto-injector that effectively renders all citizens into zombified/obediamt servants. This would really cut down the time wasted in searching for the few individuals that might cause some sorta trouble like protesting.

Interesting idea. However, for me currently the way that the prison works in Tropico 3 means that I never use the building at all. Perhaps a good way to make it actually useful is that in addition to the political prisoners that you order the police to bring in, the prison will also be use to lock up normal criminals brought in by the police as well.

(30-07-2011 02:58 AM)chankljp Wrote:  Interesting idea. However, for me currently the way that the prison works in Tropico 3 means that I never use the building at all. Perhaps a good way to make it actually useful is that in addition to the political prisoners that you order the police to bring in, the prison will also be use to lock up normal criminals brought in by the police as well.

It already been implemented for T4

There should be real convict labour , the inmates help with construction of buildings and have a risk of escaping.

I think they should generate more money, so you could use prisoners for money generation. Right now it is only there so the prison pays for itself.

Another option would be cleanup labor, making the prisoners help cleaning up dirty areas from the island. Each prisoner reduces the pollution globally present by some percentage or the pollution around a prison is cleaned whole for a full prison.

(31-07-2011 10:50 AM)UsF Wrote:  I think they should generate more money, so you could use prisoners for money generation. Right now it is only there so the prison pays for itself.

Another option would be cleanup labor, making the prisoners help cleaning up dirty areas from the island. Each prisoner reduces the pollution globally present by some percentage or the pollution around a prison is cleaned whole for a full prison.

Please, no prison society. Tropico is not a penal colony!

Although it'd be an interesting scenario to take prisoners from other islands.

(31-07-2011 10:50 AM)UsF Wrote:  Another option would be cleanup labor, making the prisoners help cleaning up dirty areas from the island. Each prisoner reduces the pollution globally present by some percentage or the pollution around a prison is cleaned whole for a full prison.

yah that's a pretty cool idea! the "cleanup labor" could turn the prison to act as a garbage dump with almost the same coverage area.

Instead of having different work modes for the prison, here is an idea that I have for all the other suggestions:

Once you built a prison, you will unlock a set of buildings that the prisoners will be send to work in (with the prison being the new housing unit for the individual citizens that were arrested). For example:

- Convict labor factories/mines/farms: Work just like their normal counter part, but you will not have to pay the workers. However, the productivity will also be about 50% lower compared to a normal factory/mine/farm.
- Re-education center: Change the political faction that the prisoner belongs to. Include 3 work modes: Making the person join a faction, making the person quit a faction, and finally turning them into a Loyalist.

Convict labor...sweet.

I would love to see orange jump-suited chain gangs building my new luxury condos for the Titans of Tropican Industry!

Convict leasing in the United States can be traced to the Reconstruction Period (1865–1876), after the end of the Civil War. Farmers and businessmen needed to find replacements for the labor force once their slaves had been freed. The constitutional basis for convict leasing is that the 1865 Thirteenth Amendment, while abolishing slavery and involuntary servitude generally, permits it as a punishment for crime. Crimes arbitrarily "trumped-up" and charged.

But for Tropico gameplay, it is simply yet another device for El Presidente to make money by selective use of his ensnared population. After all, they have no free will and no ability to escape the island. Nor the ability to kill El Presidente and mutulate his beautiful body.