Prison Manager

Keep them in. Keep them safe. Keep your job.

Prison Manager puts YOU in charge of a prison. Build it on a living map, then run it like the governor (or warden) does: every prisoner and every member of staff has a file, every day brings new decisions, and every year the boss decides whether you're promoted, kept on, or shown the door.

A living prison

Build wings, cells over several floors, kitchens, workshops, classrooms, healthcare, visits halls, yards, chapels and more from ready-made buildings, or take over a working prison. Watch the day play out: unlock, breakfast, work and education, exercise, visits, association and lock-up. Weather, seasons, day and night, and traffic coming and going. Walls, fences, gates, cameras, body scanners and drone detection all change what gets in and who gets out.

Every person has a file

Each prisoner has a face, a background, a sentence, a cell, friends, rivals and debts, and a custody log of everything that happens to them. Hire officers, nurses, teachers, chefs and more. Plan the weekly rota, and deal with sickness, stress, pay rises and misconduct. Follow people after release: housing, work, probation, and whether they come back.

Decisions on your desk

An inbox of real-world calls: parole recommendations, early release on a tag, hospital referrals for the mentally ill, requests for protection, funerals, weddings, journalists and MPs. Adjudications, use of force, complaints and the prisons ombudsman. Drugs, debt, violence and self-harm, with ACCT plans and constant watches. Big events: disorder, escapes, deaths in custody, heatwaves, drone surges and staff walkouts. Unannounced inspections grade you on safety, respect, purposeful activity and preparation for release.

Built on real figures

Violence, self-harm, drug use, staffing, adjudications and reoffending are tuned to published government figures for England and Wales and the United States. A local newspaper reports on you every Monday, and public opinion follows.

A career

Start with a ready-made prison or an empty plot, or take on a scenario: turn round a failing jail, survive the 2024 overcrowding crisis, rebuild after a riot, or open a new prison. Climb from open prisons to high security, move between prisons and countries, and try to reach the top of the service.

Prison Manager deals with serious subjects (violence, drugs, self-harm, deaths in custody and, in some US states, the death penalty). They are handled soberly and never shown graphically.