Tunnels before prisonners?!

[Djikiel]

Hum it seems odd that as soon as I make the intake level above 0, I get information about tunnels, even if don't have any inmate yet.



Is there a reason I missed?

[BroonCoo]

Dogs get false positives the same way metal detectors do.

[MMZ>Torak]

Dogs get false positives the same way metal detectors do.

This.

The dogs seem to find the water pipes frequently. Wait until there are several little flags in a small area then search.

[perryliu97]

Personally, I build perimeter walls around the entire prison, and leave 4 "gaps" in between (North, east, south, west). Make sure the inside area is still counted as secure.
I then spam the gaps with dogs. The poor prisoners and their futile attempts...

An alternate method involves the use of the same perimeter wall design, but with an additional perimeter wall surrounding that. For this particular wall, make sure that there's an actual gap somewhere, so it still counts as the outside. When prisoners dig through, they'll assume they're free and run above ground, towards that one gap in the perimeter. Spam as many guards as needed.

[metalbunny]

My dogs like to find the electric cables that go out the front of the prison to the road gates and servos.

As for the perimeter walls: I have double perimeter walls all the way around with a 2 square gap (except for one short section where the prisoners luckily have yet to realize there's only one wall). Ever since the tunnels were put in I also have the cells searched as part of the penalty for everything a prisoner is caught doing.

The annoying part of the dogs flagging the same spots all the time is that after a while you start going "yeah, whatever" when you constantly have the alert come up. Then suddenly the alert comes from a different corner of the screen and you go "wait a minute...".

Oddly enough: My medium sec guys are really fond of digging tunnels. They love their tunnels. And they always come from the same damn cells in the middle of the block despite moving the prisoners around (that could be a bug but I'm not sure). Meanwhile my 300 unhappy max sec guys never dig. I've had two tunnels in max sec after 60 or so hours and they were both one-man jobs. And lately all the tunnels end right at the first perimeter wall after I put up the second wall. It's like they just give up when they get that far.

[perryliu97]

Oddly enough: My medium sec guys are really fond of digging tunnels. They love their tunnels. And they always come from the same damn cells in the middle of the block despite moving the prisoners around (that could be a bug but I'm not sure). Meanwhile my 300 unhappy max sec guys never dig.

From what I've gathered, intelligent prisoners with high freedom needs are more likely to dig tunnels. Intelligent prisoners are more likely to be amongst the medium and low security population, while the particular cells you've mentioned may somehow result in lower freedom. For example, a prison with a weird layout may mean that certain cells are further away from further objects, making it harder for prisoner in those cells to satisfy their needs. Maybe.

[metalbunny]

Well, no one passes my education programs, but then I mainly have max sec in this one prison because it seemed more challenging ...

I don't know if this is a weird layout...but the tunnels are always in this one area.
http://i.imgur.com/cHQvcEK.jpg
It's not a perfect layout, but it works semi-decent and no one escapes. I do have prisoners complaining about exercise despite having weight benches everywhere and only a fraction of them being qualified to work (plenty of time for exercise). They complain about family, despite there being phones everywhere and I have a capacity for 50 visitors at a time (I even built separate visitation for max and medium because they always ended up fighting otherwise). And then there are some who complain about security, which I honestly don't know how to deal with when the troublemakers are the specials who don't care about guards or being shot.

[perryliu97]

Stuff

For the tunnels to the right, they might have to pass through less concrete walls or other obstructions. That may explain why the room to the left just digs out of the building, rather than go through the concrete shower, which takes longer to dig through. As for the right-most rooms, since the corridor leads to another room, I assume there may be obstructions that make digging tunnels from those rooms harder, such as doors? Also, check your pipes. It's easier for prisoners to follow the pipes out.

[Sumurai8]

Well, no one passes my education programs, but then I mainly have max sec in this one prison because it seemed more challenging ...

I don't know if this is a weird layout...but the tunnels are always in this one area.
http://i.imgur.com/cHQvcEK.jpg
It's not a perfect layout, but it works semi-decent and no one escapes. I do have prisoners complaining about exercise despite having weight benches everywhere and only a fraction of them being qualified to work (plenty of time for exercise). They complain about family, despite there being phones everywhere and I have a capacity for 50 visitors at a time (I even built separate visitation for max and medium because they always ended up fighting otherwise). And then there are some who complain about security, which I honestly don't know how to deal with when the troublemakers are the specials who don't care about guards or being shot.

Put flooring in your hallways. Choose one of the floor types with moving speed "fast". This will allow your prisoners to reach things faster (or your guards moving faster to catch trouble makers). What I eventually did was marking hallways as common rooms and putting 2 telephone boots and 2 tv's at the end of every cell block.

What might also be a trouble is that your medsec prisoners have easy access to tools/an easy way to get them to their cells without being spotted.

[metalbunny]

...

Put flooring in your hallways. Choose one of the floor types with moving speed "fast". This will allow your prisoners to reach things faster (or your guards moving faster to catch trouble makers). What I eventually did was marking hallways as common rooms and putting 2 telephone boots and 2 tv's at the end of every cell block.

What might also be a trouble is that your medsec prisoners have easy access to tools/an easy way to get them to their cells without being spotted.

Well, I have metal detectors on every path from the workshop and the canteens, so if they do get tools they get them somewhere else. I did however realize that the cleaning cupboard is actually in the middle of their block with a normal door... Forgot all about it even being in the game, and I think originally it was actually outside the block before I started expanding.

I don't have pipes and wires going through the outer walls in the cells, though. I keep the big pipes in the hallways and hook everything else up with small pipes. Always done it that way because it made more sense.

But like i said: The tunnels don't cause a problem, they just always seem to appear in the same area. I can't even remember having an escape in this prison. They never make it outside the walls before being caught. Ever since tunnels were added they also never seem to try for a run out the front door anymore. Guess they prefer digging to make it past several gates and guards.