 September 21, 2014 - 12:52am | Below is all that I can find. Please post anymore that you know of. Prisons of the Frontier: Cassidine system, Canberra planet – The 3rd moon is a penal colony. Theseus system, Oedipus planet – This is a large, frozen world with a dense atmosphere of methane, ammonia and carbon dioxide. A monitoring station, Creon, is located on the northern hemisphere. A penal colony, Jocasta Base, is also nearby. Athor system, Yast planet – Solace is one of the more infamous supermax prisons of the UPF, it was made from hollowing out a gigantic mesa in the southern hemisphere of Athor (I) well away from anywhere. Tremedous defenses protect Solace from the outside and crack companies of Star Law Correction Officials man the stations inside. Also, it is not uncommon for Landfleet to have units passing through for desert training staying in and around Solace. If, somehow, a creature could make it through all of the security defenses in place, they would still have the desert to deal with once they got outside. Truly a forbidding place. |
 September 21, 2014 - 8:37am | Are some of these cannon and some fan material? I like seeing this consolidated, just want to know what we are working with and from where as we build on them. -iggy |
September 21, 2014 - 9:06am | They were pulled from the write ups on the systems ~ Fan Magazines. |
 September 21, 2014 - 12:44pm | These all seem to be the "Supermax" prisons for the most dangerous criminals. Any listing of the other prisons? In the US there are so many prisons all with different types of prisoners and conditions that having the PCs sent to a minor one or even doing a court ordered community service (like having to take supplies to a remote base or using their unique/rare skills to assist a community). Maybe this is more of a question of what the justice system in the Frontier is like. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
September 21, 2014 - 6:29pm | Solace is a Supermax prison. The other two are listed as penal colonies. This is the only listing for prisons that I saw. |
 September 22, 2014 - 5:41am | I know of a supermax facility in Colorado that has wards where there is minimal direct interaction between guards and inmates. Inmates remain isolated even while being moved from one room to another via remote doors and movable walls. Food trays are even delivered via dumbwaiter systems. Most of this facility is supposed to be underground. Reminds me of the Buck Rogers episode where Buck went to the underground prison to break somone out. Time flies when your having rum. Im a government employee, I dont goof-off. I constructively abuse my time. |
 September 22, 2014 - 6:02am | I'm guessing these were all fan cannon and I think you missed one form an early SFman- it had a map. (I'm up in Maine for 3 days so I cant check). There was a cannon statemen about asteroids being used as prisons. You should also check the project on Star Law or whatever it was called. I would make the case that the most important super max prison would be on Morgaine's World, Star Law's headquarters is on Prengular and Morgaine's World already has a large "federal" reservation and a moderate or light population it would be ideal for this sort of facility to be tucked away in an isolated area. Prison shuttles would stage through the main Space Fleet controlled star port. Naturally they would also transport prisoners by air from the star port to the prison which gives you a plot hook and soft target for a prison break or prisoner rescue. I would make the case also for another prison out on the vrusk loop of jump links possibly Terledrom or one jump beyond whould have the benefit of a strong local militia but any of the vrusk systems would work. perhaps its not a super max but a vrusk trade house runs a prison as their business and trade and its more for corporate criminals? I would then scratch the super max on Yast and push it to Gruna Garu thus you'd have 3 major facitilties and spread out across the Frontier that sort of cover the whole Frontier regionally. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
September 22, 2014 - 6:48am | "I would then scratch the super max on Yast and push it to Gruna Garu thus you'd have 3 major facitilties and spread out across the Frontier that sort of cover the whole Frontier regionally." Um, yes I understand but this is what I found. I didn't make it - it was in Star Frontiersman #3, pg 5. Currently there is three prisons spread out - Cassidine, Athor and Theseus. Athor is Yazirian and Theseus is Human and Cassidine is different. Rupert's Hole is 95% Human (2.5 billion). Triad is mixed: Population: 30% human, 30% vrusk, 20% dralasite, 15% yazirian, 5% others (8.3 billion). Should there not be another prison on one of the following systems: Fromeltar, Kizk'-Kar, K'aken-Kar or K'tsa-Kar? |
 September 22, 2014 - 7:18pm | Why do they need to be evenly spaced? Two prisons could be right next to each other and still serve two different regions. View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
September 22, 2014 - 8:27pm | Why do they need to be evenly spaced? Two prisons could be right next to each other and still serve two different regions. They dont have to be evenly spaced but I would think that they would space them out. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
September 23, 2014 - 5:46am | Not if they're built by two different companies for two different regions. Even if the same company. Space may seem vast, but when you have an agenda of which rock to use, fulfilling that agenda can be a daunting task. (Especially when you're talking about a colony.) They are not exactly going to get the opportunity to cherry pick from among 100 locations. Likely they will situate on the first rock that meets their needs. The true cherries are going to be reserved for farming, corporations and governmental operations. View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
September 23, 2014 - 3:19pm | Evenly spacing things may work for those city building games but let's do reality. Choosing a prison location has alot of requirements. Isolated enough to keep the prisoners in but with access to the necessary supplies through trade routes. You also have staff. They like to go to nice places sometimes and have families a fact which seems lost on those who make movies. You also need to place it close to your source of inmate supply. Simply high population worlds are going to provide more inmates than a single town colony world. Rich worlds are going to be able to pay for an off world prison while again colonies might just go with "Frontier Justice". I am sure I am leaving some things out but you should get the idea. Once you have all this worked out you get to scrap it and start again when the "Not in My Backyard" Petition arrives from the nearest inhabitated world/moon/space station. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
September 23, 2014 - 5:59pm | Once you have all this worked out you get to scrap it and start again when the "Not in My Backyard" Petition arrives from the nearest inhabitated world/moon/space station. That would sort of make the case for the asteroid prisons mentioned in cannon material (most likely one of the Star Law dragon articles). I created a refurbished Planaron Asteroid as an ore processing station in the Post WoWL period but it could easily have been taken in as a prison asteroid. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
September 23, 2014 - 7:32pm | Good points, Rattraveller. Though the "not in my back yard" petitions are likely to be laughed at rather then force a move for supermax, but a prison colony, yes, because there's a possibility for them to get offworld by their own means. View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
September 24, 2014 - 5:55am | ...Though the "not in my back yard" petitions are likely to be laughed at rather then force a move for supermax, ...
Yes well, that is left up to the individual planetary government. The UPF cannot make a planet build a Maximum Security Prison - that goes against their mandate - "The UPF is not an empire in any sense of the word. Matters of internal government are left to the member planets. The UPF does collect taxes for maintenance of the Star Law Rangers and the Spacefleet, but the United Planets are concerned only with the defense of the Frontier." <KHE pg 48> The UPF is more of a confederacy so, no member planets can be forced to do anything. |
September 24, 2014 - 6:59am | That's not what I was saying. There's nothing in my words that even implies what you read into them. I was saying offworld supermaxes would not be a concern. I don't recall anyone mentioning the UPF as the sole builders of supermax prisons. The UPF isn't going to be the only ones creating a supermax. View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
September 24, 2014 - 5:06pm | Speaking of prisons MERP had a module that openned with a prison escape. Just before the PCs arrived in town a group of prisoners being moved by guards escape into the marshes. Captain of the Guard accuses the PCs of helping at first but relents and since there is a reward being offered there is a ready made plot hook, plus capturing the escapees is a certian proof of innocence. For a SF adventure along those lines you could go with the escape/rescue during transport or a shuttle crashes into a prison and opportunists prisoners make a break. A planet with low or outpost population levels would be more likely to deputize the PCs to bounty hunt escapees, just due to the lack of local resources. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
September 25, 2014 - 6:54am | I don't recall anyone mentioning the UPF as the sole builders of supermax prisons. The UPF isn't going to be the only ones creating a supermax.
Good point! Cassidine system, Canberra planet – unknown, probably Triad. It has the high population Rat talked about Theseus system, Oedipus planet – unknown Athor system, Yast planet – Star Law (UPF) |
September 25, 2014 - 7:06am | Good plot, Jed. That would be perfect for Laco, for example. |
September 25, 2014 - 11:56am | The Yast supermax being UPF does not mean that only UPF makes supermax. It is just one prison. A shih tzu is a dog, but not all dogs are shih tzus. But, of course, if a person not trained in critical thinking had never seen a dog of any kind before, they might assume that all dogs are shih tzus after seeing one for the first time. View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
September 25, 2014 - 1:19pm | The Yast supermax being UPF does not mean that only UPF makes supermax.
Yes you have already covered that. I don't recall anyone mentioning the UPF as the sole builders of supermax prisons. |
September 25, 2014 - 2:38pm | Oh. I missed your saying "Good point". I thought you were providing evidence otherwise. Sorry about that. My bad. View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
September 26, 2014 - 12:18pm | "The UPF is not an empire in any sense of the word. Matters of internal government are left to the member planets. The UPF does collect taxes for maintenance of the Star Law Rangers and the Spacefleet, but the United Planets are concerned only with the defense of the Frontier." <KHE pg 48> Since the UPF is maintaining Star Law and Star Law captures beings and those beings have to be put somewhere then the UPF would be in the prison business. As to the how and where they keep those prisoners alot of that would depend on how powerful the UPF is in your campaign. I would say any place not claimed by planetary governments would be UPF controlled and therefore they could build a prison on some interesting places. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
September 26, 2014 - 12:31pm | "The UPF is not an empire in any sense of the word. Matters of internal government are left to the member planets. The UPF does collect taxes for maintenance of the Star Law Rangers and the Spacefleet, but the United Planets are concerned only with the defense of the Frontier." <KHE pg 48> Since the UPF is maintaining Star Law and Star Law captures beings and those beings have to be put somewhere then the UPF would be in the prison business. As to the how and where they keep those prisoners alot of that would depend on how powerful the UPF is in your campaign. I would say any place not claimed by planetary governments would be UPF controlled and therefore they could build a prison on some interesting places. Plus the dragon article on star law says prisons are handled by a special branch.I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
September 27, 2014 - 9:41am | Yes and Solace is manned by Star Law. |
 October 14, 2014 - 12:03am | So to put my two cents in. I currently work as a Correctional Officer for a State Penetentiary in Washington. As such I have been doing some thinking about a plot for SF. I found a cool Concrete Dome facilities plan online that was a proposal for a CA prison and since it is made of domes thaought it would be a good framework for a future prison. When I am done with some of my current projects I will start working on this. As for locations of prisons, it comes down to many variables. A lot of what has been said even the conflicts may come into play. Location, just like a business is important. A prison is a large business and built like a small city. You need to be far enough with geographic isolation but close enough to supply everything a prison might need. Food, power, water, paperclips, the usual. How to house employee families? Well, it could be corporate owned and they have their own housing or government owned like a military base. If it is government run and in a resonable commute distance, then local towns can supply the housing as well as support personel. Some cities and/or planets may not want one there but another may not mind how many they have for economic reasons. So many options., That is just a quick run down of things to think about. I almost forgot, type of prison is important too. Min, Med, and Max security. There are camps and other work release types of custody. My facility has Min, Med, and Max so I have a good view of each, but this is WA and they are offender, not called prisoners or inmates now, friendly. It has drawbacks but some good points also. I wont go into a debate about it though. It just is. |
October 16, 2014 - 8:28pm | I doubt there would be any government-controlled prisons in a corporate-controlled frontier. View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
October 17, 2014 - 5:05am | I doubt there would be any government-controlled prisons in a corporate-controlled frontier.
I doubt that. Government bureaucracy spawns more government bureaucracy. The presence of a working government almost guarantees that there will be both on the planetary and federal level, not to mention a few cannon references to prisons in context with material abiout star law. However, in a corporate influenced friontier, will corporations have an effect on the justice system? Yes. However, the corporations dont controll the frontier. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
October 18, 2014 - 12:58pm | Do not forget that the UPF is not a government, but a coalition created and primarily funded by PanGalactic, not for governing states, but for protecting the Frontier and corporate interests and keeping the peace. They will certainly outsource to save money. If they taxed the Frontier enough to create a bloated beurocracy, then the inhabitants of the Frontier would no doubt experience unrest on a large scale. There would be no necessity for a beurocratic-controlled prison system. View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
October 20, 2014 - 4:43am | It's an alliance with the power to tax, has it's own police force and military. |
October 20, 2014 - 10:59am | I don't recall that PGC created and funded the UPF. Where do I find this? -iggy |
