Ny benefit to accepting high risk prisoners

Success in reform programs is defined by two factors - a prisoners understanding of a subject which you can not change and also a prisoners concentration on their studies, which is related to their needs. Understanding is specific per prisoner, some prisoners are as you say not academic enough to do well in basic/general education courses.

You've already identified that suppressed prisoners do worse in programs because they are less willing to learn. This means it is helpful to keep armed guards away from the classroom areas. Similarly, the more general sense of law and order there is within your prison the less punishment will be dished out (which adds to suppression). Keeping a safe, well guarded environment will keep the demand for weapons etc. low.

The remainder of prisoners needs must also be kept as low as possible to maximise a prisoners concentration:

• Keeping prisoners well fed
• Allowing time for prisoners to shower, exercise and use toilets
• Dealing with drugs and alcohol in the prison - intoxicated or detoxing prisoners will not concentrate on their studies well.

One way to minimise prisoners needs before taking them to courses is to allocate a 2 hour block of free time before the reform program is scheduled. Hopefully this gives prisoners freedom to reduce whichever needs are bothering them most before they have to sit down and learn.

The final factor, outside of the understanding and concentration values, is attendance. It goes without saying that if prisoners aren't in the classroom for their sessions, they wont stand much chance of passing. Prisoners might not turn up because they are in a foul mood, are locked in solitary/lockdown or are injured or unconscious.

By keeping your prison calm and safe by keeping your prisoners happy you will maximise your chances of having prisoners pass general education.

At the most basic level the profit from making license plates or superior beds is simply retail price - materials cost.

License plates use $10 of sheet metal to make 2 plates which sell for $20

Trees cost $100 and produce 2 superior beds sold for $800

Although the profit margin is greater it requires more investment (both time and money) to get to the position of producing beds, and this is where it becomes more difficult to calculate if it's worth it.

Both plates and beds need a workshop and for prisoners to complete the workshop safety induction, so we can discount those costs.

You also mention a forestry

... requires the attention of non-prisoner workers which need to be paid.

Metal deliveries have to be removed from the trucks by Workmen, so some paid staff are required, but if your delivery area is inside the prison prisoners will transport the raw materials to the workshop during working hours.

For a Forestry you still need workmen to get the saplings off the truck, but you also need Gardeners to plant them. The Workman are needed again to chop down the trees, so the additional staff required are Gardeners plus the wages for all staff involved while they are performing these tasks. Discounting the Workman from the equation each Gardener will cost $500 + $100 per day, and to be efficient you are going have to hire at least 5 (IMO)

I'm not going to add in the cost of an additional workshop building, as you could replace presses with carpentry tables. Saws, Presses and Carpentry tables all cost the same ($1500) although carpentry tables do take up slightly more space. The problem is the game will nag you that the workshop is not "complete" without a workshop press.

To summarise:

Prisoner carpentry training - $?? Can't remember if there is a charge, since you
                               have already hired the Foreman
Carpentry table             - $1500 each
                               (can be offset by not buying workshop press)
Gardeners                   - $500 + £100 per day per gardener
Tree                        - $100 each (takes time to grow)

So (in a simple calculation) the biggest cost is the additional labour required by the Gardener, compared to license plates.

I don't know how long it takes for a tree to grow but for the purposes of showing a calculation let's say it's 3 days:

Profit = 2 Beds   $800
         - Tree   $100
         - Salary $300 
                  ----
                  $400

Where salary = Gardener $100 * 3 days

I'm not including the Workman salary as he's always required if you are producing license plates or beds.

So there's still a good profit to be made from making beds and there are economies of scale. Once you have a large enough forest and enough carpenters to be working on lots of beds then it will make more money than license plates.

To answer you question "is it worth it?", I'd say yes. Not only financially but also from the fun in playing the game and using all the features.

Additionally, in the blog post for Alpha 18 Chris said

In future alphas we’ll be making use of this furniture

Although I'm not sure this will be of much use given how long it takes to get up and running making beds. All my prisoners will be sleeping on the floor for weeks before the first bed is produced :)