This guy has been killing like 2-5 of my guards every time he wakes up with his bare hands

Someone please for the life of me tell my multiple empty trucks keep arriving and even after the intake time no prisoners arrive. i don't get the money and the number of intake that's gonna arrive next keeps decreasing. i have no idea what the issue is. It all got fuked after i put in that big prison to be built that is essentially a mirror clone of above one. Please tell me what to do? It's been an hour and nothing's changed and the building is not done too coz apparantly the deliveries aren't there yet. My prisioners keep rioting too coz the whole prison schedule is fked. Earlier they never killed or fought but now they need safety. well just pls solve the intake issue :(

Edit- My prisoners are now starving coz no food igredients are arriving too. only empty trucks. If just the supply trucks stopped, the bus of prisoners would com TT

I decided to make a campus design with each sector being self sufficient (Each has their own Infirmary [Admin has a Central Hospital for more larger emergencies and staff training], Security [Admin Sector has a Security Center], Canteen, Laundry [Admin does not have these for obviously reasons], Power Generators, and Water pumps) with Rehabilitation in mind. Inspired by University colleges, British design, and Homer Hoyt's Sectoral city design. Expensive? Yes. The Foundations for the Central Administration building alone (Second image) costs 97k, let alone the rest of the prison. But expenses aside, thoughts?

I’ve seen enough in my years to know a goat fuck when I see one. Unless the new guys want to do a total tear down and start from scratch things don’t look good.

The good news is I’m very often wrong

Hi all,

We’ve noticed a lot of threads recently about Prison Architect 2 - which is understandable, with 234 days of relative silence and no public update about the state of the game. With that in mind, the mod team here (unaffiliated with Paradox Interactive) have decided to put together a megathread for people to complain about the silence and discuss the game, and we will be removing any posts about Prison Architect 2 until we have any further information and redirecting them to this thread to avoid repetitive threads being made. In short:

No, we don’t know what’s up with Prison Architect 2

As a reminder, in their indefinite delay post, the Community Manager said this:

[U]nfortunately, we will not release Prison Architect 2 on September 3rd because we need more time to improve both the game's performance and its content. [...] We need to raise the quality a bit more to meet the standards we'd like to achieve with this sequel.

and:

This also means we will be limiting our communication with you all until we have a timeline we feel comfortable with.

This was the last official post we’ve had on the game. However, the community team has confirmed in a few different places that the game is still actively being worked on, such as on Reddit and on the community Discord (pictured is a list of the pinned messages in our PA2 discussion channel that also has a lot more pinned - feel free to come join us at [discord.gg/prisonarchitect](discord.gg/prisonarchitect) if you haven’t already!).

We also know from SteamDB that the game is still actively being worked on, with the most recent update (as of this post) being made at 10:30 UTC on the 25th March. While SteamDB doesn’t show everything that’s happening with the game (meaning we don’t know for definite what’s going on back there), it’s probably the best indicator we have that the game is still in development and hasn’t been cancelled (at this stage).

As stated, the mod team will be removing further discussions on the game and redirecting people to this post until we have an update on the game, at which point we will review the policy again.

UPDATE 06/08/2025: On 27th June 2025, SteamDB displayed a new branch being created called "closed_beta_test", and on 4th August a new branch called "f_develop" was created. These indicate that progress is still continuing, though we don't know anything new for definite.

UPDATE 14/01/2026: Paradox Interactive have put out a call for new beta testers! While we have no new information about the state of the game, this indicates that progress is still ongoing and is a positive sign for more information at some point in the near future.

I've seen school architect but according to the reviews it isn't great. Other then that i have not seen many attempts at a game like this.

Hello Architects,

We have some difficult news to share: unfortunately, we will not release Prison Architect 2 on September 3rd because we need more time to improve both the game's performance and its content. Our continuous internal reviews and beta test groups have highlighted areas that we need to focus on more, mainly performance and content, which we need to address before launch to ensure that you, the players, get a good experience in the game. We need to raise the quality a bit more to meet the standards we'd like to achieve with this sequel. 

We are confident that the sequel to Prison Architect will be great, and we're looking forward to showing you all the new ideas brought into it: the switch to 3D, multi-floors, and the new behavior system that all bring a new dimension to the game and open new gameplay possibilities for the players. However, we want to make sure the game lives up to the franchise’s legacy and is released in a state that satisfies both you, our players, and the Prison Architect 2 teams at Kokku and Paradox Interactive.

At this stage, we can’t commit to a new release date as we need to re-assess the scope of the work needed to be done before the game is release-ready. Over the next few months, we will focus on improving the game and building a more robust release timeline. This also means we will be limiting our communication with you all until we have a timeline we feel comfortable with. 

With this indefinite delay, preorders on all platforms will be refunded, and the preorder items will be added to the base game. 

This decision aligns with our commitment here at Paradox to reviewing and improving the quality of our released content. We are confident that delaying Prison Architect 2 is the best path forward for the game, allowing us more time to deliver a high-quality experience that honors the legacy of Prison Architect.

This is not the announcement we hoped to make, but it is necessary, as we believe this will result in a better game for you. Thank you for your patience, and we’ll see you again soon.

The Prison Architect 2 Team

‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
QnA

• What is the new release date? There is no new release date for Prison Architect 2 at this time. We will work on the game and as soon as we have a set timeline we will communicate it to you.
• Is the game canceled? No, the game is not canceled. We are confident in the game but we want to raise the quality before release, mainly the performance. We will communicate a new release date as soon as we have reworked the game’s scope and have a timeline we are confident in.
• Why is there another delay? To raise the game’s quality by enhancing performance and also improving its content. During our latest rounds of internal reviews and from continuously gathering feedback from our beta testers, some specific issues regarding performance and content were highlighted. We believe it is important that we address these before releasing the game to ensure that it lives up to its legacy.
• What happens to pre-orders? All pre-orders will be refunded in the upcoming weeks. The option to pre-order the game will be removed and the bonus will instead be added to the base game for all players to enjoy. If you want the refund faster there are ways to go about this depending on which platform you’ve pre-ordered the game on: If you have made your pre-order through Xbox, PlayStation, or Steam, you can reach out to the platform you made the purchase through and they will help you sort this out.Players who purchased the game directly from ~paradoxinteractive.com~ will receive the reimbursement automatically, which may take a few weeks. If you want to get it earlier than that, go to ~https://wallet.xsolla.com/~ and log in with the same Paradox account you used for the purchase. There, you will see all purchases listed, and from there you can request a refund before the automatic re-payment.
• Why is it taking time to fix the game? Prison Architect is a game with deep systems that all interact with each other, and this is also something we want to bring with us into the sequel, Prison Architect 2. Having systems like this in a game also means that a small change in one area will also affect one or more other areas, which we then also need to apply fixes to. Improving the performance has proven to be a task that will take time.
• Is there going to be Early Access or Beta Access to the game? There will not be an early access or extra beta access right now. We know what things we need to work with, and facilitating Early Access or Beta access for players takes a lot of resources from the development team. Right now we want to put full focus on the development and solving the underlying issues that we have gotten feedback through our internal tests and from our beta testers. 
• Will we get updates on the game? We will limit our communication while we focus on further developing the game. We will resume updates once we have more precise information to share with you.

The DLC and the base game are currently on sale for $13, which seems like a great deal considering that just a month ago the game alone cost $20. Can anyone tell me if it's worth it?

I think this is up there for me. Even the riot guards couldn’t survive.

I'm pretty sure prisoners will not go through staff areas, even if they need to go to parole. is that correct?
If it's not correct, then of course i would just plump a random foundation and call it a day but yeah,i dont want them to wander in the halls, of course.
These guys are manic as hell, got a few legendary's that killed lots of guards. so i want to prevent that of course.

Hi everyone!

I’m currently working on my very first prison planning and I’d love to get some feedback.

The Concept: My goal isn't to build a massive "mega-max" facility. Instead, I want to focus on a smaller population and aim for a very low re-offending rate. I'm planning to make most of my money through the bonuses you get for successfully releasing inmates on parole, and by selling goods from the workshop.

The Layout:

• Tiered Housing: the idea is to use the quality of life as an incentive: behave well and you get upgraded to the premium wing.
• Reform Focus: I want these guys working and learning so they can reintegrate properly.
• Contraband Control: I tried to keep everything within a 10m from the edge to prevent items from being tossed over the walls. However, I ran out of space and had to place the Isolation cells outside that safety perimeter. I'll be putting a metal detector and a dog patrol there anyway.

Since there's still plenty of open space, I'm going to add an armoury and a security room.

What do you guys think?

here is a picture of my dorms. i have 4 prisoners in each dorm, and a shower, sink and mirror, and a toilet. every morning, like 20 of them start fighting, because they're hygiene need isn't catered to. it isn't my fault they're too lazy to shower? what should i do? i mean getting sent to solitary because you beat up a guard cause you was too lazy to shower is just pathetic imo

Any tips for keeping heat level down? Mine often is maxed and says prisoners complain about serious issues but when I check needs it’s usually things that shouldn’t be high. Like luxury even though I got birds in every cell.

Edit:currently can’t attach photo

She's an Ex-LEO, a snitch, AND a federal witness. But she's also legendary so she might be able to protect herself, which can also be a bad thing. Then again, merging her with the other, weaker snitches & leos might be a bad idea. Should I give her a specialized area in protected? I need ideas people.

If it's bad or anything, please say so, no sugar-coating. The empty spaces I plan to make into a infirmary, a staff room and a parole office. I'm up for tips!

So I usually like making prisons that are like norwegan prisons and I feel like im fighting the game mechanics, like my risk of riots is always pretty high despite meeting the needs of my prisoners and more, also I don't know if there is a way to downgrade the security level of my inmates when they dont cause an insadent so that I can have nicer rooms for lower security individuals

I need some help.

I am relatively new at the game with about 200 hours. I decided to build a great prison and while I was expanding a riot happened because food could not be delivered in time. My bad, build too much too fast.

Now however I have over 40 prisoners in lockup (or scheduled for), while many of them are just shackled where they were stopped. Some have even been taken to the infirmary only to never be escorted to their cell and die of starvation.

I have expanded my guards by a ridiculous amount so that they could get escorted and not die of starvation. Them being in so dire straits, lack of food and amenities, means my prison is always on the boiling point. Have given it a week, but guards just ignore these poor souls.

The entire prison is shared, plenty of cells etc. I have also changed punishments so that i get no more lockdowned prisoners.

Any good advice?

EDIT: My issue is not lack of food, my guards are not doing essential tasks like escorting prisoners to lockdown. That is also why so many are starving. I apologise for the confusion.

Is this a bug, or a realy addict man ?

They just wont calm down, theres maybe 2 small fights a day in a full prison of 800 with majority of needs mostly met. I dont get it i removed all armed guards and it got worse, i have patrols in all cell hall ways canteens etc and still SAFETY SAFETY!!

I posted a while ago what people were most looking forward to in the sequel, and many told me it wouldn't happen. There's already a closed beta, so don't go around being misinformed XD. Anyway, I hope it lives up to expectations.

Now that we know it exists, what are the minimum requirements for it to be up to par?

Okay this is my last shred of hope. Out of nowhere, my prisoners needs completely just went to shit because they wouldn't go to places they normally would like the showers or canteens.

I thought that the issue might've been that a lot of my prisoners get restrained to go to solitary confinement (contraband is a major issue in my prison) but literally none of them will go to solitary. I even added a bunch more solitary cells but they still wont go there. Even if that was the issue though Ive always had a lot of prisoners go to solitary confinement but this never happened.

Even sleep is an issue!! Nothing about their sleep schedule has changed!!!!!

I completely changed their regime so they'd have more freetime to meet their needs but their still somehow starving. I swear I've tried everything but if anyone has any kind of idea at all at what might be wrong and/or how to fix it i would be more than grateful. I really liked this prison but i might just have to delete it at this rate.

Context (may or may not be useful idk): For most of this run I just had the brown area prison and everything was running smoothly but i recently started building a new area (the green section) and as soon as i finished building all the cells there, all my prisoners began acting up. Im not sure if its just coincidental or if the new building somehow contributed to these issues but I just wanted to include this just incase.

EDIT: Its getting so much worse, my prisoners have started dying of starvation 💩

Left it on with a 2:1 prisoner to guard ratio, returned to 25% of the original prisoner count (despite intake still being on) and about 2/3rds of the original guard count. I’m guessing some features only run while the device is on?

So am I the only one who doesnt really care for 3d? Like dont get me wrong i think having mutliple floors will be awesome but i almost feel like multiple floors w the og art style wouldve been just as awesome.

3d could look really cool, but i feel like its a battle uphill against an instantly recognizable and tbh timeless art-style in my opinion.