Penal Colony

[Kesslan]

Hmm. I could sorta see this as an option used by Japan, Australia, various powers in South America etc.

CS just shoots people or enslaves them in mines etc by the looks of things. Lazlo.. probalby has a regular jail system. New West works.. well like the old west but 'new' (Now with more aliens yall!)

Atlantis might do something like this, but I dont see how much more different this would be than the Arena. Then again... it sorta is so it might fly.

NGR likely would kill them or kick em out of the border, Russia probably just kill/expell as well.

China is run more or less by deamons so who the hell knows.

I think more or less you'd need an at least somewhat evil power to do it. Prison islands generally arnt the sort of thing used by a 'caring' society. But not necessarily a flat out evil one either.

[MASTERMIND]

I agree, execution or banishment is easier but it is an interesting idea. What about a manufactured island in one of the Great Lakes? I could think of a few reasons to maintain such a facility though like entities that can't be (or shouldn't be) destroyed (for whatever reason) but are too dangerous to let run loose. I could find uses for such a facility.

Or maybe even a twist on the idea. A location that was a penal colony BEFORE the apocalypse and has survived to this day. The hardy Australians come to mind. The "locals" in this penal colony survive and begin building their own culture. Random thoughts flowing now but I don't want to stray too far off topic.

[Rimmerdal]

Why not make all of RIFTS Earth the penal colony? Perhaps some alien group/race/nation/whatever sees RIFTS Earth as a planet in chaos. Therefore it would be the perfect place to "dump off" their worst criminals/undesirables. As the aliens see it, the prisoners will either be killed by native populations/monsters or picked up as slaves by the Splugies. Either way the aliens don't have to worry about them anymore.

that would be too easy...besides we got enough "undesirables" there called Rules Lawyers.

Seriousluy though, I can imagine Lalzo dumping its crooks in a paticular dimension or an astral prison. Psyscape would likely do this as well.

an Island or massive fortress made on a mountain or raised area of land can work as well. Consider a moat loaded with Skelebots and intellegent land mines/anti-personel weapon systems...

[MASTERMIND]

Why not make all of RIFTS Earth the penal colony? Perhaps some alien group/race/nation/whatever sees RIFTS Earth as a planet in chaos. Therefore it would be the perfect place to "dump off" their worst criminals/undesirables. As the aliens see it, the prisoners will either be killed by native populations/monsters or picked up as slaves by the Splugies. Either way the aliens don't have to worry about them anymore.

that would be too easy...besides we got enough "undesirables" there called Rules Lawyers.

Seriousluy though, I can imagine Lalzo dumping its crooks in a paticular dimension or an astral prison. Psyscape would likely do this as well.

an Island or massive fortress made on a mountain or raised area of land can work as well. Consider a moat loaded with Skelebots and intellegent land mines/anti-personel weapon systems...

Phantom Zone? ALL HAIL JOR-EL!!!

[MASTERMIND]

I would but someone already took the time to build a very nice netbook for Hawaii, hehe.

[Rimmerdal]

The arctic or ant-artic. would work.

[Library Ogre]

Penal colonies only work when it's inconvenient to go rescue the people who are there... meaning you either have to guard them, or put them someplace that it's inconvenient to go to and escape from.

This makes a lot of Rifts Earth a no-go. If your prisoner's allies can't get there easily, neither can you. For most monster races, they can fly or teleport, so getting them to stay there is difficult. The success of Georgia, Australia, etc., was largely dependant upon the fact that once you got there, you didn't really have an option but to STAY there until your sentence was served out, and that you were dependant upon your home country for many goods and services.

[AllMightyRCB]

There should be a prisoner code (rules the prisoners conduct themselves by not actual laws) a prisoner hierarchy, more prisoners than guards, command chain for guards, shift changes, random inspections for contraband, only certain things allowed for prisoners, and limited supply, different security classifications of prisoners based on their behavior (not always based on the crime they committed), invisible microwave fences, guard towers, survellience, razor wire, very harsh punishment for attacking guards, some guards that actually believe in rehabilitation, and some that think it's not possible.

[MASTERMIND]

MrNexx may be right though. A lot of our ideas have gone outside the concept of penal colony and become something else.

[taalismn]

Rifts Australia...I believe the City-States use Tasmania as a penal colony...

[asajosh]

Several interesting points here:
1) if I had to choose Id use the yucatan penninsula for a prison area, just drop people off from the air

2) Atlantis has a ptison even tho they call it an asylum. Aslum.

3) As stated above the best way for magic users to keep prisoners is a pocket dimension.

4) Prisons on Rifts earth are pretty much for critters to tuough to kill at the moment (the Titans for example).

5) Rifts earth itself as a a "prison" is not feasable. Obviously your thinking of the ring of debris in counter orbit and the killer satalites and the orbital community (mutants in orbit!) keeing containment on the planet... There is still dimensional travel too and from the planet by-passing ALL those barriers (...rifts...)

In short, if you cant keep a critter in a poket dimension, reconsidder keeping it at all

[Rimmerdal]

hmm... come to think of it, one can always create a big pocket dimension and throw all the prisoners in.

the movie "the One" (With Jet-Li) comes to mind and actually that could be great place to adventure...

[Rimmerdal]

that would be too easy...besides we got enough "undesirables" there called Rules Lawyers.

On a serious note, I would have to agree with Darkmax. Who would want to pay to maintain it? Of the larger nations in eastern North America, I think only Lazlo, New Lazlo and Psyscape would build them. In these cases they would probably use a pocket dimension or something similar. In the western North America Tryth-Sal and maybe Arzno would. I think Arzno is up for debate, but the Lyn-Srial could have a prison that is set up like a heavily armed school for rehabilitation. In Europe, the NGR could have institutions of this type. Plus, since they have coastline they might put it on and Island as has been previously discussed. As for the rest of the world? No idea.

Janissary Island from Heroes Unlimited comes to mind here...

[DocS]

I see two possible categories for this, there are more, but I didn't think of them.

I call them the 'post-rifts prison and pre-rifts prison'

1) Post-Rifts prison, this is something that someone has set up since the coming of the rifts. Now, the CS has prisons and prison camps, and it's very do-able, but I don't think that's all that exciting.. Check that, add some 'Cool hand Luke-ness' and it could *rock*, but in a very different way than the other ideas.

HOWEVER...

What if there was some sort of powerful megaversial race who set up a prison? You know, like The Promethians or some ilk like that. Rifts would be a great place! Connect via a one-way rift, have a facility of some kind, and even if the prisoners escape, the world is so dangerous that the prisoners probably die soon after escape! Put it in a remote location (rocky mountains, or middle of the jungle), then you flesh it out around the security measures used by this hyper-powerful megaverisial race *and* the horrific innmates who would be there. So what if the prison gets destroyed in a gargoyle attack... what have you lost other than a bunch of guys who were undesirable anyway... I'd have them be some hyper-psionic race, Their prison filled with psi-fields, mind manipulations, and beings whose mere presence requires saves vs insanity.

That idea is ok, but I like the following better.

2) Pre-rifts prison.

What were 'maximum security' prisons like in a world with juicers, glitterboys, and robots? I'd imagine some sort of amazing hyper-automated affair where robots kept the prisoners and the prisoners would be all sorts of enhanced humanoids. I mean, you can't remove MOM implants... but MOM guys do tend to do things that are illegal... of COURSE there would be some special prisons for 'em. Well, Rifts happenned, and this facility would seem to have a lot of things going for it.

Weapons.

Fences

Guards

Medical facilities.

Large number of people willing to survive and who have the sorts of unsavory skills and enhancements to last.

So, now it's 100 years later. Have the Prisoners taken control? Or has it evolved into some sort of 'caste' system, where guards and prisoners are still in this strange relationship 3 generations later. Perhaps people have forgotten that prisoners were supposedly able to 'serve their time' (if all the prisoners were in for 'life', then subsequent generations could think that means prisoner is more like a slave race). Use unsavory ideas like recycled MOM inplants (guy dies, pull out the MOM, wash them, and use them on the next guy). Clans based on old prison gangs, 'cigs' as currency. 'Guards and inmates' has become 'guardians and inmats'

Throw in a bunch of guard robots keeping things under control. Perhaps ARCHIE-3 hacked into this place decades ago, and this place is the 'model' for how ARCHIE would rule humanity (I mean isn't it about time for ARCHIE to start enslaving some humans again!?). Oooh, I like that, I'd write an adventure supplement with that. All the 'guardians' are actually human-looking robots. This aids the caste system since the 'inmats' *believe* the guardians are the better class, of COURSE they are, guardians are immortals, and inmats, no matter how enhanced, eventually age and die.

Sort of play with the human enhancement themes, but in the dark controlling way. MOM inhibitors, cybernetic control implants, could you put mind control drugs in a juicer's IRMSS harness, and use this to make juicers 'suggestible'? How would you imprison and control guys like this? Do the guardians go out and 'arrest' people, taking them into the prison?

It's said that the measure of a society is how it treats its prisoners... so what happens to prisoners.... when there is no society?

[MASTERMIND]

Either way, would the facilities be able to cope with MDC-dealing monsters.

Possibly, there were MDC dealing weapons prior to the Rifts so some facilities would have been built to have that kind of threat. So if a facility was built to handle MDC dealing soldiers I imagine they could handle MDC dealing monsters by no small stretch of the imagination.

[DocS]

Either way, would the facilities be able to cope with MDC-dealing monsters.

Well, the pre-rifts facilities would have to handle cyborgs. Also, depending on how advanced MOM technology was, some of those guys might have had mega-damage capacity.

[MASTERMIND]

Time to deport some trouble makers...

[Giant2005]

The garbage pit dimension from the Megaverse Builder caters to your needs. It has that mad max-esque feel about it, is near inescapable and it makes sense to throw those unwelcome prisoners out with the rest of the trash.

[R Ditto]

Not sure if it qualifies as a penal colony, but Butcher Bay from The Chronicles of Riddick comes to mind.

A nice prison in 'the middle of nowhere' (or at least has a large no mans land around it), security is so tight it isn't funny, and they apparently don't mind shooting ANYTHING that comes anywhere near the place without permission... I got the feeling even an 'uathorized' visitor could get blasted if they didn't show up 'on time', and that any craft that left or arrived when it wasn't scheduled to would get blasted also...

Toss in assorted security measures, locks that only respond to (living) guards, PA, heavily armored robot vehicles, sentry guns, standard issue guard guns only being usable by living guards, etc.

If that doesn't qualify as a penal colony, it would be a good basis for security setup around the area of a penal colony... fulfil the 'hard to get to' part of things, anways...

[finn69]

I see two possible categories for this, there are more, but I didn't think of them.

I call them the 'post-rifts prison and pre-rifts prison'

1) Post-Rifts prison, this is something that someone has set up since the coming of the rifts. Now, the CS has prisons and prison camps, and it's very do-able, but I don't think that's all that exciting.. Check that, add some 'Cool hand Luke-ness' and it could *rock*, but in a very different way than the other ideas.

HOWEVER...

What if there was some sort of powerful megaversial race who set up a prison? You know, like The Promethians or some ilk like that. Rifts would be a great place! Connect via a one-way rift, have a facility of some kind, and even if the prisoners escape, the world is so dangerous that the prisoners probably die soon after escape! Put it in a remote location (rocky mountains, or middle of the jungle), then you flesh it out around the security measures used by this hyper-powerful megaverisial race *and* the horrific innmates who would be there. So what if the prison gets destroyed in a gargoyle attack... what have you lost other than a bunch of guys who were undesirable anyway... I'd have them be some hyper-psionic race, Their prison filled with psi-fields, mind manipulations, and beings whose mere presence requires saves vs insanity.

That idea is ok, but I like the following better.

2) Pre-rifts prison.

What were 'maximum security' prisons like in a world with juicers, glitterboys, and robots? I'd imagine some sort of amazing hyper-automated affair where robots kept the prisoners and the prisoners would be all sorts of enhanced humanoids. I mean, you can't remove MOM implants... but MOM guys do tend to do things that are illegal... of COURSE there would be some special prisons for 'em. Well, Rifts happenned, and this facility would seem to have a lot of things going for it.

Weapons.

Fences

Guards

Medical facilities.

Large number of people willing to survive and who have the sorts of unsavory skills and enhancements to last.

So, now it's 100 years later. Have the Prisoners taken control? Or has it evolved into some sort of 'caste' system, where guards and prisoners are still in this strange relationship 3 generations later. Perhaps people have forgotten that prisoners were supposedly able to 'serve their time' (if all the prisoners were in for 'life', then subsequent generations could think that means prisoner is more like a slave race). Use unsavory ideas like recycled MOM inplants (guy dies, pull out the MOM, wash them, and use them on the next guy). Clans based on old prison gangs, 'cigs' as currency. 'Guards and inmates' has become 'guardians and inmats'

Throw in a bunch of guard robots keeping things under control. Perhaps ARCHIE-3 hacked into this place decades ago, and this place is the 'model' for how ARCHIE would rule humanity (I mean isn't it about time for ARCHIE to start enslaving some humans again!?). Oooh, I like that, I'd write an adventure supplement with that. All the 'guardians' are actually human-looking robots. This aids the caste system since the 'inmats' *believe* the guardians are the better class, of COURSE they are, guardians are immortals, and inmats, no matter how enhanced, eventually age and die.

Sort of play with the human enhancement themes, but in the dark controlling way. MOM inhibitors, cybernetic control implants, could you put mind control drugs in a juicer's IRMSS harness, and use this to make juicers 'suggestible'? How would you imprison and control guys like this? Do the guardians go out and 'arrest' people, taking them into the prison?

It's said that the measure of a society is how it treats its prisoners... so what happens to prisoners.... when there is no society?

the old battlestar galactica show did something similar a long time ago. the fleet found a prison planet where the prisoners and guards were there so long that the descendents were being imprisioned for the crimes of their ancestors and their names were changed to reflect the nature of their crimes. there was robber,adulteress,smuggler,forger etc.