Well, basically, I started the game, read the CEO's letter, got the grant and built the requirements for the holding cell, but it won't let me designate it. Why not? Its happening for my canteen, too.
I cant build holding cell kitchen or Canteen help!
prison-architect
Related Solutions
I don't think there's any upper limit on how many prisoners a holding cell can hold. For the most part, it's meant to accommodate prisoners on a temporary basis while the guards are figuring out what hole to stuff them into. That said, it actually works quite well as a semi-permanent cell for the dozen inmates currently without a personal cell.
As long as their needs are being met, they won't riot any quicker than prisoners with their own cell. The only difference is if they start complaining, they have more of an audience, and their need for defense and [dev]weapon will go up, to protect themselves from the crazy dude who won't stop yelling. So throw some metal detectors along the path from your kitchen to your holding cell, and the worst that will happen is your cell floor will be littered with knives whenever you get new inmates.
Personally, my Holding Cell is 12x12 (including walls). I've thrown four benches, and two toilets into it. For some reason, the prisoners use it as the common room, as I've added some TVs and about a dozen beds to it, to facilitate the semi-permanent status of the inmates. Right after the Sleep activity, there's about an hour of Free Time. Most of my inmates with their own cells make a beeline to the holding cell...and take a nap. So, there's roughly three dozen prisoners in there at that point, and as long as nobody's complaining, there's no negative effect that I've noticed
This behavior is caused by cell quality : some prisoners do not diserve any cell based on cell quality and their behavior.
When you go to "Policy" tab you can choose to enable or disable the cell quality ratings.
This is the description on hoover :
Use Cell Quality
If enabled, Prisoners will only be assigned to a cell of a quality they deserve, based on their behavior. Poorly behaved prisoners will never be assigned to a high quality cell, even if there are no other cells available.
If disabled, prisoners will be assigned to any cell regardless of quality, but but prisoners in cells of lower quality than average will be more resentful. Prisoners will still be upgraded to higher quality cells if they behave well.
You have a few solutions :
- Disable the Cells Quality Ratings
- Build new low quality cells
- Downgrade you cells quality (remove windows, TV, bookshelves, chairs...)
- Wait until you prisoners behave better and deserve a better room (bad idea, they will fight a lot if they are unhappy in an holding cell).
Related Topic
- Prisoners are leaving the holding cell
- Limit to the number of rooms of a given type in Prison Architect
- Why can’t I build a pipe here in Prison Architect
- How to get a janitor to clean a prison cell
- Why aren’t there any books in the prison library
- How to make fearless deadly stoic volatile prisoners do their time
Best Answer
They need to be indoors. You're going to need to build an actual building using the Foundation tool. Indoors is a requirement for many of the rooms, with only a few exceptions (Solitary, Storage, Yard, and Kennel, among them).