Kerbal Space Prison?

[MedwedianPresident]

Has anybody ever tried to build an orbital high security prison in KSP? High-tech torture labs could be added to it...

[ZooNamedGames]

Well I can make a station easy... But security? Possible... Biggest issue is without something/one attempting to escape, how can you test your security? The structure? 

[MedwedianPresident]

I saw pictures of somebody using landing legs to obstruct hatches.

The simplest form of "space prison" would be just a couple of hitchhinkers containing prisoners, with their hatches blocked and no RCS and no means of propulsion, launched into a high orbit and left alone. Docking would be prohibited except for resupply missions.

Theoretically, one can create a mining work camp on the Mun.

 

Or how about a high security prison for dangerous lifetime and death row inmates on Eeloo?

 

Somebody should make a story or a cinematic of Jeb being sentenced to death and somehow escaping his prison.

Maybe a prison with a special space cannon designed for shooting kerbals sentenced to death to their death (either impact or escape trajectory).

[MedwedianPresident]

What do you think would be the better execution method? Cooking using an engine? Crushing? Shooting a kerbal into an escape trajectory using a cannon?

[legoclone09]

44 minutes ago, MedwedianPresident said:

What do you think would be the better execution method? Cooking using an engine? Crushing? Shooting a kerbal into an escape trajectory using a cannon?

Mass Driver (or whatever Danny242 uses).

[MedwedianPresident]

Hm...I imagine a story where Jeb is sentenced to death and put into a prison in Munar or Minmus orbit. He is shot towards the surface or just deorbited using a cannon or an EVA seat to which a SRB is strapped, but manages to regain orbit using his jetpack and/or is rescued by Bob and Bill.

[Crocket]

I had an awesome idea for a prison a while back: The Block.

The Block would be a Mk3 Crew Cabin with all windows and ports shut positioned as low as possible in the Joolian atmosphere (this was or used to be possible, there's a video somewhere of someone landing about 400 meters below "sea level" on Jool). The only docking port would be for The Shuttle, a 1-occupant robotic rocket to transfer one prisoner at a time in and out.

[ToukieToucan]

8 hours ago, ZooNamedGames said:

Well I can make a station easy... But security? Possible... Biggest issue is without something/one attempting to escape, how can you test your security? The structure? 

Well wouldn't escaping mean certain death, either staying in orbit and die due starvation or burn up in the atmosphere. even when surviving reentry the impact would kill him.

Edited August 9, 2016 by ToukieToucan

[ZooNamedGames]

55 minutes ago, ToukieToucan said:

Well wouldn't escaping mean certain death, either staying in orbit and die due starvation or burn up in the atmosphere. even when surviving reentry the impact would kill him.

Well in reality that's a yes (granted if a 3rd party launched a rescue vessel then he might survive. Granted this is KSP, the prisoner can just deorbit the station using the trick of using his RCS jets being refueled by reentering a crew pod. Noting the security, that will likely survive reentry (especially Kerbin's very mild heating), then the terminal velocity of the vehicle will be slow enough that just a millisecond before impact of he EVAs, he'll get blasted away and survive. 

This has all been done before in KSP.

8 hours ago, Crocket said:

I had an awesome idea for a prison a while back: The Block.

The Block would be a Mk3 Crew Cabin with all windows and ports shut positioned as low as possible in the Joolian atmosphere (this was or used to be possible, there's a video somewhere of someone landing about 400 meters below "sea level" on Jool). The only docking port would be for The Shuttle, a 1-occupant robotic rocket to transfer one prisoner at a time in and out.

It used to be possible. Note the past tense. Try it now and the craft will explode. 

Better suggestion is to put the station on a slowly decaying orbit that initially just barely enters and escapes Jool's atmosphere. Every few orbits an unmanned probe docks and carries it back up to a safe decaying orbit. Any attempt to escape and they let it burn up. This IS possible in KSP.

[katateochi]

Way back when there was a bug resulting in cloned Kerbals, I considered setting up a penal colony on Eve for these identity thieves. Never got round to it, but the idea was to have a base and just parachute the convicts in, in small landers without any fuel or engines (and the same for supplies for them). They'd never be able to leave the surface with the gear they had at their disposal and the supply drops wouldn't provide any means of escape. 

22 minutes ago, ZooNamedGames said:

Every few orbits an unmanned probe docks and carries it back up to a safe decaying orbit

This sounds like a possible vector for escape. If the prisoners somehow managed to take control of the probe or board/cling-on to it. 

[ZooNamedGames]

2 minutes ago, katateochi said:

Way back when there was a bug resulting in cloned Kerbals, I considered setting up a penal colony on Eve for these identity thieves. Never got round to it, but the idea was to have a base and just parachute the convicts in, in small landers without any fuel or engines (and the same for supplies for them). They'd never be able to leave the surface with the gear they had at their disposal and the supply drops wouldn't provide any means of escape. 

This sounds like a possible vector for escape. If the prisoners somehow managed to take control of the probe or board/cling-on to it. 

For what gain? The probe would only carry enough DV to lift the orbit, not enough to go anywhere.

Id have the station in a 45° reverse Joolian orbit making an encounter with any other body nearly impossible especially from EVA as it would require too precise maneuvering from an EVAd Kerbal. 

[Tex_NL]

Old but relevant:

 

[OrbitalBuzzsaw]

Did this once, in Outer Kerbin Orbit, was a HitchHiker surrounded by metal plates with some OXSTAT panels and a drone core

[tomf]

The Mk1 crew cabin can hold 2 kerbals but only has hatches at the nodes making it easy to build over them. They could make great cells.

[MedwedianPresident]

Another idea would be dumping some capsules or kerbals into the moholes on moho. Could theoretically also be used for the storage of secret weapons.

Basically, first, a large circular platform is slowly lowered into the mohole until it gets stuck and becomes stable. Several Hitchhinkers or other capsules with prisoners are lowered using landers which only have a very small amount of fuel, only enough for a smooth landing on the platform. Regularly, supplies are dropped this way. The only way to get out would be a small lander usually kept at the surface, which is only used if a prisoner REALLY needs to be taken out (for example if he needs medical help). Security cameras are put everywhere and the prisoners are made to do mandatory exercises or some other thing that is not fun all day. They will wear electric shock collars or pain-inducing implants to prevent dissent.

Theoretically, a mohole is one of the safest places in the whole Kerbolar system. No or only few guards will be needed directly at the site either; however, a small base located in the immediate vicinity of the mohole operated by the police will be responsible for supplying the prisoners with food, water and oxygen.

Edited August 9, 2016 by MedwedianPresident

[pandaman]

Just use a row of Mk1 inline crew cabins and put a fuel tank on each end.  There ain't no gettin' out of that 

[Scarecrow]

I wouldn't have thought it necessary to block the hatches.  Make sure the station/prison has no propulsion, so it can't go anywhere, and make sure there are no space suits left lying around.  How would anyone escape such a situation unless they managed to flag down a passing space ship? 

[Randox]

I don't see why you would need to block the hatches. Just deprive the prisoners of space suits and an interior route to the docking hub. This allows you to add new prisoners, and to release them when their sentence is up (or maybe they successfully appeal their conviction).

In fact, you don't even need to isolate the prisoners internally (from administration/security, since presumably we aren't just locking people in a cage and forgetting about them, but running an actual prison), since that could require the use of incapacitating gasses just to conduct safe entry into the prisoner section. As long as there is a policy in place that all docked ships much detach immediately in event of a situation, even if prisoners take over the prison, they can't possibly escape. This is the idea behind Alcatraz, except even if you got a spacesuit, you still can't go anywhere without a ship. Presumably the prison would be assigned at least one or two armed patrol vehicles to defend it from this kind of rescue attempt. The connection between the prison and administration sections should also be easy to isolate, such as running it through a cargo bay that can be kept open to space whenever it's not being used.

 

I don't think I'll build such a thing in KSP, but I might build a prison ship in space engineers sometime. That...could be interesting.

[GoSlash27]

Heck, you don't have to lock them up. Just drop them on Eve with habs and drop them supplies. They're not going anywhere. The Soviets used to do this in Siberia and the Brits did the same in Australia. Not being political, just historical

Best,
-Slashy

Edited August 9, 2016 by GoSlash27

[The Optimist]

Just drop em in the middle of a arctic circle forest and put them to work mining that precious rocket fuel 

[Kertech]

Accidentally did this:escape trajectory from the solar system with no fuel left and no hope of encounters, Jeb was lost this way in an early save of mine.

 

Only problem is letting them free once their sentence is done

[Fearless Son]

21 hours ago, MedwedianPresident said:

Theoretically, one can create a mining work camp on the Mun.

 

20 hours ago, legoclone09 said:

Mass Driver (or whatever Danny242 uses).

Putting these two together, and we get "The Mun is a Harsh Mistress", by Robert A. Kerman.  

[Greenfire32]

Considering a prison only exists to keep someone from going somewhere and since we can't survive in space...all you'd need is a Mk1 capsule with no engine and...space prison...

[MalfunctionM1Ke]

I put one on Minmus and named it Spacecatraz. I also knocked off all engines from the Base so nobody could escape.

It was later when I realised you can get into orbit of Minmus with the EVA-Suit

Edited August 9, 2016 by MalfunctionM1Ke

[DMagic]

From way back in 0.21 or 0.22 - Kerbal Prison Architect:

 

Edited August 9, 2016 by DMagic