This Prison Architect walkthrough is divided into 5 total pages.
You can jump to nearby pages of the game using the links above.
Basics
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 10](prison-architect-10-small.webp)
For your building to fully be consider "Complete" and remove the ugli internal view off it & become useable, you must create an entrance. Go to Objects > Staff Door and place one down at the edge.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 11](prison-architect-11-small.webp)
You will have a dozen of flashing electrical lights icons appearing in your building, going on and off. Don't worry about them for now.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 12](prison-architect-12-small.webp)
Now since we are on a large map, we have to think rather big. And to build big, we need money. Now normally you would have to wait for income, but for a quick cash-boost, we can go to "Objects"..
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 13](prison-architect-13-small.webp)
Flip over in our document to the "Grants" tab and see a dozen of missions we can take for some quick instant cash but also for an completion reward.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 14](prison-architect-14-small.webp)
Taking the "Basic Detention Centre" is almost always a standard choice for any newcoming architect as It requires you to build and fulfill all basic duties of a prison.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 15](prison-architect-15-small.webp)
To begin scaling off what room is where and what, click the "Rooms" button.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 16](prison-architect-16-small.webp)
Select "Kitchen"..
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 17](prison-architect-17-small.webp)
Hold and drag the marker down like this.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 18](prison-architect-18-small.webp)
This will tell the game that by logic, "kitchen goes here". It is the place where your future chefs will prepare food for the inmates.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 19](prison-architect-19-small.webp)
Now do the same process for the room space above the kitchen to create a "Holding Cell".
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 20](prison-architect-20-small.webp)
This area is almost mandatory to take in the new prisoners and keep them for safe-holding before a cell clears up.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 21](prison-architect-21-small.webp)
Next step is learning how to make walls. Click "Materials" then "Brick wall". Drop and drag a few lines to create segments of walls.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 22](prison-architect-22-small.webp)
The holding cell will have a requirement to be "completely shut off" while also having an entrance. To accomplish this, simply place a jail door down.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 23](prison-architect-23-small.webp)
Next up is finishing the kitchen. Place a cooker, a fridge and a sink in the destined room.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 24](prison-architect-24-small.webp)
A dustbin wouldn't hurt either.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 25](prison-architect-25-small.webp)
Once done, It should look something like this. Don't worry about the doors. They are just in a "Pre-prisoner" mode.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 26](prison-architect-26-small.webp)
Now it's time to finish the holding cell.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 27](prison-architect-27-small.webp)
A toilet or two along with a bench will accomplish that.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 28](prison-architect-28-small.webp)
Now unfortunately, this game is in alpha. Meaning, It's quite rough around the edges and in this case, the game registers this room as not fully sealed off.. Which it clearly is.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 29](prison-architect-29-small.webp)
The culprit here was the "Room". It was sticking out under the wall and thus, the game counted it as "not sealed".
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 30](prison-architect-30-small.webp)
Removing a segment of room solved that in no time.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 31](prison-architect-31-small.webp)
Now as nice as It is to just have one holding cell and a kitchen for your entire prison, inmates have more needs than that. So we're gonna have to build out quite a bit.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 32](prison-architect-32-small.webp)
Picturing things in your head and then making the necessary changes usually works. But sometimes It doesn't. Planning carefully can save you thousands.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 33](prison-architect-33-small.webp)
Once the builders finish, It will become more easy to plan.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 34](prison-architect-34-small.webp)
A great tool to start drawing out some ideas is the "Sketcher". Bottom middle of your screen, you can draw white outlines of text without actually building anything.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 35](prison-architect-35-small.webp)
Prisoners need a minimum of 2x3 living space. And doing this en-masse can be tricky sometime but once you learn the jist of it, It's easy.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 36](prison-architect-36-small.webp)
Continuing to look at what's needed for a basic holding facility lets you plan ahead. Here, I saved a small bottom segment of the prison to be used as a shower in close proximity to the cells for ease of access.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 37](prison-architect-37-small.webp)
Then I extended the wall leading into the yard a bit to fit a metal detector. Very useful for detecting contraband on prisonmates.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 38](prison-architect-38-small.webp)
Now we got everything scratched off the list.. Except a Canteen. Where prisoners eat. This is always a tricky area to create because you need to make it not impossible for your chefs to go there but also for the prisoners to swarm the place for food every day.
But for now, we're gonna build out a small piece of building where water and electricity will come from.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 39](prison-architect-39-small.webp)
Extending downwards for our kitchen is a good idea.. But we don't need that much space..
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 40](prison-architect-40-small.webp)
So we'll squeeze in the generator and water-works! Prisons are completely self sufficient in this game, save for food supplies and garbage disposal.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 41](prison-architect-41-small.webp)
You don't want a massive electrical generator to be hugging completely with a waterworks station (for obvious reasons) so a few feet apart will do just fine.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 42](prison-architect-42-small.webp)
In the service tab is everything you need to start wiring your services, AKA electricity and water to the prison. You do this "under the ground" or "in the roof" or "in the walls". It means you can only see such services in this special tab.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 43](prison-architect-43-small.webp)
Here I need to wire electricity to my stove and fridge.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 44](prison-architect-44-small.webp)
The rest of the prison needs electricity for lightning as well. So drawing huge lengths of wire is not uncommon.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 45](prison-architect-45-small.webp)
And while you do not need to draw wires to every single hundreth lamp, you do need for them to be in close proximity.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 46](prison-architect-46-small.webp)
Once done, you should have light everywhere!
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 47](prison-architect-47-small.webp)
You can always view the status of your services by simply going back into the tab. Now lets draw some water.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 48](prison-architect-48-small.webp)
We have a whole bunch of shower-heads along the wall so to satisfy the enormous pressure that's going to be put at them during shower hour, we're gonna need LARGE pipes.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 49](prison-architect-49-small.webp)
Segmenting them intelligently, as to not have them be in the middle of a room but in the walls is critical. These pipes are large enough for prisoners to escape.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 50](prison-architect-50-small.webp)
Here we have another unfortunate alpha bug. In the wall segment + , the game cannot properly path workers to place the pipe there. To solve this..
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 51](prison-architect-51-small.webp)
We need to demolish a bit of wall..
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 52](prison-architect-52-small.webp)
Let them build there and then rebuild the wall.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 53](prison-architect-53-small.webp)
Now we need to deliver water pressure from the big pipes to the small ones so they can lead into places such as toilets and shower heads.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 54](prison-architect-54-small.webp)
Simply dragging them across the showerheads like this while making them hug the larger pipes works just fine.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 55](prison-architect-55-small.webp)
Now, we're later gonna have to put toilets in those cell segments so while we are making everything else, we plan ahead to draw the services into the cells as required as well because as you just saw, workers got trouble building in walls.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 56](prison-architect-56-small.webp)
Minimizing the amount of piping required by thinking things through saves you a lot of money.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 57](prison-architect-57-small.webp)
An organized service menu should look like this.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 58](prison-architect-58-small.webp)
For now though, this huge segment of building is nothing but an empty space. We need walls. And quick. The prisoners are just 5 hours away.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 59](prison-architect-59-small.webp)
Due to our planning, placing walls will be childs-play.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 60](prison-architect-60-small.webp)
Make sure every inch of it is covered as even one square off can seriously screw things up.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 61](prison-architect-61-small.webp)
Only about 4 hours left! Hurry hurry, place the doors workers! To rotate before placing objects, press (R).
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 62](prison-architect-62-small.webp)
And as cells are next to showers, we need to start placing out drains pretty much everywhere to avoid a flooded prison.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 63](prison-architect-63-small.webp)
All cells have a couple of needs. 3x2 minimum space, a jaildoor, a bed and a toilet. Place these downs quickly.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 64](prison-architect-64-small.webp)
Now back to the Canteen. We'll extend it just under the shower section.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 65](prison-architect-65-small.webp)
As prisoners will be swarming in here every day, we'll add more doors. All service doors however, as the chefs will need access.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 66](prison-architect-66-small.webp)
This canteen should be sizeable enough. Time to place the required items.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 67](prison-architect-67-small.webp)
The yard is also rather empty. Place down phone-boots, maybe a couple of weight lifting sets here for prisoners to work out.
![Prison Architect Walkthrough - Prison Architect 68](prison-architect-68-small.webp)
The prisoners will arrive soon so hire 2-4 prison guards in order to escort them to their cells.
More Prison Architect Walkthroughs
This Prison Architect walkthrough is divided into 5 total pages.