Prison Architect's Second Chances expansion brings rehabilitation to the fore
Out on Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, and PC in June.
Incarceration sim Prison Architect is turning its thoughts from punishment to rehabilitation with arrival of its fifth expansion, Second Chances, which will be releasing onto PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch (while hopefully remaining on its best behaviour) in June.
As its name implies, the focus of Second Chances is on successfully integrating inmates back in to society once their sentence is complete - which can be achieved by taking advantage of various new rehabilitation tools and programmes, each with their own benefits.
Successful rehabilitation is a bit of a multi-pronged endeavour, but one significant aspect comes in the form of work experience. Second Chances lets players assign inmates to different jobs around prison - catering to members of the public in the new bakery and restaurant rooms, for instance - with the goal being to give offenders a sense of purpose and increase their chances of getting work once released, in turn reducing their chances of reoffending.
It's also possible to adjust the wages inmates earn working around prison, further motivating them to engage in other beneficial programmes. Animal therapy, for instance, can help prisoners control their temper, lowering their chances of misconduct, while other programmes include conflict resolution, civilian meet-and-greets, and mentorship - which sees reformed prisoners returning to provide assistance to current inmates.
Ultimately, the chances of prisoners reoffending on the outside are determined by a number of factors, including a their general wellbeing, their behaviour in prison, how well they're looked after, and the programmes they take.
If things are going well, players can reduce an inmate's sentence to get them back out into society sooner (or increase a sentence if the opposite is true), but there are penalties for releasing too early. Prisoners successfully reintegrated into society will bring a cash bonus of around $1000, but reoffenders will result in substantial fines of $5000 for players, and see a swift re-entry into the prison system.
If any of that appeals, Prison Architect's Second Chances expansion will be making its way to Xbox, PlayStation, and PC on 16th June, with a Switch version due a little later on 29th June.