[Suggestion] Allow prisoners to sleep even with high needs

[gsuberland]

When my prisoners have a high need for a few things (e.g. family, recreation, exercise) they don't sleep. This causes a vicious circle, where they get pissed off, increase their sleep needs, then go to the yard, reduce one need, but then sleep and the other needs build up. It becomes almost impossible to clear all the needs down, no matter how much free time you give them.

In reality, a prisoner would sleep anyway. Can we change this?

[Hessen]

I've never had a problem clearing prisoner needs (even in large prisons with 200 prisoners), between this and your other thread, I think you might be doing something wrong :p

Although I agree that during sleep time, if they have any sleep bar at all, they should use that time to actually sleep, instead of complaining.

[Guvnor]

Gsuberland,

Take a look at the regime I use and my comments in this thread... http://forums.introversion.co.uk/prisonarchitect/viewtopic.php?t=716 The main point I am making there is that my prisons became easier to manage once I discovered giving prisoners free time in the middle of the night.

As to your main point, I agree with you 100%. It is very frustrating to watch a prisoner head to bed, and be so mad about something that he stays up all night bitching about it. As an aside, do you put phones and TV's in your canteen and your yard? This helps.

Guvnor

[gsuberland]

Yeah, got them in the common room and canteen, and phones, benches, weightlifting stuff, in the yard. Got loads of benches everywhere, too.

[DonkSpirit]

Building a common room is pointless, since they don't use it in this build. Try to put a TV in every cell and a bunch of TVs in the holding cell. I never experience any problems (like riots) with my prisoners, because of this.

[xander]

I think that the issue is that prisoners don't currently react to their environment in an intelligent manner. Suppose that a prisoner needs family, sleep, and food. If he is locked in his cell at night, he should be sleeping, at least until he no longer needs sleep. The fact that he also needs food and family is unfortunate, but he can't do anything about it. He should take care of the things that he can take care of, and worry about the other things later. On the other hand, if a prisoner needs family and food, but does not need sleep, let them stay up and complain.

xander

[Phydaux]

Sometimes you can't sleep. If you're really hungry, or very homesick it can keep you up.

[koshensky]

This is something I didn't quite get about the ai as well. Whilst I appreciate their needs, if I tell them to do something then they should do it. I agree with xander that they should just put up with it. The same thing bugs me about eating time. Whilst everybody has different food needs and hunger levels, they should just acknowledge that if I give them food they should eat it rather than whining about wanting a shower. If after several days of not being given time to shower or eat, then (and really only then) should they start to externally complain about their needs.

[xander]

Sometimes you can't sleep. If you're really hungry, or very homesick it can keep you up.

Then maybe sleep will be less effective. But it still seems like they should try to sleep if they are tired.

xander

[Hessen]

If we keep forcing them to eat, can we make them fat?

[Ste881]

That's an interesting thought hessen. Should a prisoner constantly eating and taking no exercise change body type and become fat? or one that works out constantly become muscular?

[Cooper42]

Whilst I appreciate their needs, if I tell them to do something then they should do it.

Which kind of misses the point about a "bullfrog esque" management game.

Think back to Dungeon Keeper. Half the game was keeping your minions under control as they indulged their whims and petty squabbles.

If a prisoner is locked in their cell but is unhappy, they'll complain and make a fuss and stay up.

Beyond simply homesickness & huger keeping you up, it's not unthinkable that a prisoner would stay awake on purpose in order to cause a fuss.

Part of what makes these kinds of managements games is that individual AIs do not act like predictable, mindless automotons that do whatever you ask them to.

[DaveP]

I'm with the above -prisoners making a racket at night is part and parcel of the world they're in

What I do think is missing, however, is the option for guards to subdue those prisoners -whether it's coming in to their cell and making them 'comply' with regulations, moving them to another cell, or just giving them a hiding.

Don't satisfy your prisoners needs, they stay up at night, you give them a beating to shut up then the prisoners grow more animosity to the guards. Gotta keep the balance

[Hessen]

If a prisoner is shouting and screaming in the middle of the night because he's hungry, he's more likely to get a beating from the other prisoners for keeping them awake than from the guards.

Which I guess leads to another suggestion, should a prisoner complaining affect other prisoners? (waking them up, annoying them etc.)

[christopher1006]

If so then I want my gaurds to have a "turn back to suspicious activity" button if some guy has been complaining all night and I notice a prisoner in another cell made himself a shank.