How to Make a Prison in RimWorld (1.6.4633) | Prison Planner + Code Facts

Prison Architect Companion • Vanilla 1.6.4633 rev1266 • Quick build

The Ultimate RimWorld Prison Construction Tool (Ver 1.6)

Need it working now? Build a sealed room, flip one bed to prisoners, keep the door closed, give wardens a clean food route, and only scale into barracks when you can control breakouts. Vanilla rules stay first, with mod paths clearly separated.

30-second setup Vanilla 1.6.4633 rev1266 Door and breakout rules
Quick Solution

Build a Break-Proof Prison in 1.6

Quick solution: 30-second prison setup
  1. Seal a room with walls and a closed door.
  2. Place a bed or sleeping spot.
  3. Toggle that bed to For Prisoners.
  4. Give the room food access: meal delivery or paste route.
  5. Enable at least one colonist on Warden.
Fast rule: prison rooms classify as PrisonCell or PrisonBarracks, and wardens handle taking prisoners to bed, feeding, delivery, and chat in that order.
30-second setup panel for how to make prison rimworld
Prison room core: one secure bed, one door, one clean food route, one reachable warden.
Food & Care
food and care panel for how to make prison rimworld
Paste-through feeding works best when the colonist side stays outside the prison lane.

Fastest feeding options

  • Early cell: let wardens deliver simple meals into a tiny prison stockpile.
  • Stable wing: use a nutrient paste dispenser with adjacent hoppers.
  • Medical intake: split off a prison hospital and use real tending beds, not floor spots.
Paste research: 400 Dispenser draw: 200W Dispense cost: 0.3 nutrition
Biome Target Why
Tundra / ice 18-22C Humans stay comfortable from 16C to 26C, so this gives recovery headroom.
Temperate 18-22C Clean default target that keeps prison mood and hospital rest steady.
Arid / tropical 16-20C Push cooler if raids chain into infections or heat waves.
Layout & Comfort
layout comparison panel for how to make prison rimworld
Single cell first, barracks only when your corridor, doors, and response time are already solved.
Format Use it when Mood spread
Prison cell One captive, fragile mood, or high-value recruit Thought range runs from -2 to +8, so a good single cell pays back fast.
Prison barracks Mass captures, caravan cleanup, or temporary overflow Thought range runs from -4 to +6; worse floor, better density.
Ward block Three-plus cells on one corridor with shared paste and hospital split Best control per tile once you can afford double buffers.
Security
security panel for how to make prison rimworld
One door closes a room. Two doors buy response time.

Door rules that matter

  • Hold open is literal free passage in Building_Door.cs. Do not leave prison doors on hold-open.
  • ContainmentBreached flips after about 10 real seconds with the door open.
  • Manual doors use 850 work to build; autodoors need 1100 work, 50W, 40 steel, 2 components.
Slot Best use Vanilla note
Inner door Busy prison traffic Use steel or an autodoor when wardens path through constantly.
Outer door Stall time Stone works because manual door slowdown depends on material.
Guard lane Breakout response Sandbags and barricades both carry 300 HP, so either works for a short response lane.
Hybrid Designs
prison hospital panel for how to make prison rimworld
Prison hospital split for surgery, infection control, and rescue overflow.
cafeteria wing panel for how to make prison rimworld
Cafeteria wing with separate service approach and no shared traffic door.

Prison hospital

  • Hospital bed research costs 1200 and needs Microelectronics Basics plus a Hi-tech research bench.
  • Local bed stats: hospital bed gives +0.1 tend quality and 1.1x surgery success.

Cafeteria wing

  • Keep the dining room prisoner-side only, with the service route on the colony side.
  • Best midgame pattern: cells → inner door → corridor → outer door → service lane.
Troubleshooting & FAQs
Symptom Fix
Bedroom flips to prison Check for any prisoner bed or sleeping spot. The July 29, 2025 1.6.4535 update fixed the through-corners bed bug.
Prisoners will not eat Verify the food route, dispenser pathing, hopper fill, and that wardens can reach the prison bed.
Constant social fights Move from barracks to cells, add a table, keep light on, and stop stacking bad temperature.
Door stays open too long Turn off hold-open and use a second buffer door so one mistake does not expose the whole wing.
DLC & Mod Support

Vanilla first

  • Local Core defs expose prison handling through the Warden work type, not a prisoner labor work scheduler.
  • Use Prison Labor only if you want prisoner jobs; treat it as a separate route with stricter door control.

Optional path

Final Checklist
[ ] Sealed room with a closed door
[ ] At least one bed or sleeping spot set For Prisoners
[ ] Food route: meal stockpile or paste dispenser + hoppers
[ ] One reachable colonist on Warden
[ ] Double-door buffer if prison breaks matter
[ ] Target temperature inside the 16C-26C comfort band
[ ] Medical split if infections or surgery are likely
Wiki thing: Bed Wiki thing: Hospital Bed Wiki thing: Nutrient Paste Dispenser

Live Prison Planner

Set prisoner count, phase, feeding method, security, and medical intensity. The output gives you a practical build recipe with the prison rules that matter.

prison build overview for how to make prison rimworld
Vanilla room roles
PrisonCell + PrisonBarracks
Warden relevant skill
Social
Prisoner feeding jobs
Feed 80 • Deliver 70
Comfort band
16C to 26C
Planner Inputs
3
One captive favors cells. Four or more starts pushing you toward a guarded ward block.
Planner Output
Recommended setup
3-prisoner ward block with double buffer
Use a guarded ward block, paste-first feeding, and a small triage split so wardens do not walk meals through your only containment door.

Room Core

Expected room role: PrisonBarracks

    Food & Wardens

    Recommended wardens: 1

      Security Drill

      Close both doors unless a warden is actively moving through the lane.

        Medical & Climate

        Target 18C-22C for steady prison mood and treatment.

          Prison Rules That Matter

          These are the prison rules that change how a wing actually performs: room type, warden priorities, door behavior, bed quality, paste efficiency, and prison mood bands.

          Room roles

          • Prison rooms use PrisonCell and PrisonBarracks.
          • Both prison roles care about beauty, cleanliness, wealth, space, and impressiveness.
          • This is why tiny ugly cells feel bad and why decent prisoner bedrooms recruit faster.

          Warden stack

          Work giver Priority
          TakePrisonerToBed 90
          FeedPrisoner 80
          DeliverFoodToPrisoner 70
          ChatWithPrisoner 60

          Wardens manage, feed, chat with, and recruit prisoners, and their key skill is Social.

          Door behavior

          • Held-open prison doors count as free passage. That is never a harmless convenience in a prison lane.
          • ContainmentBreached triggers after 10 real seconds open.
          • Manual doors use 850 work to build; autodoors use 1100, need 50W, and cost components.

          Beds and hospital beds

          Bed Comfort Medical note
          Sleeping spot 0.4 Zero build cost, fast emergency capture.
          Bed 0.75 Base prison bed once the colony stabilizes.
          Hospital bed 0.8 +0.1 tend quality and 1.1 surgery success.

          Paste pipeline

          • NutrientPaste research costs 400 and requires Electricity.
          • NutrientPasteDispenser costs 125 steel + 3 industrial components, draws 200W, and wants adjacent hoppers.
          • nutritionCostPerDispense is 0.3; MealNutrientPaste gives 0.9 nutrition.
          • Hoppers hold FoodRaw and explicitly reject rough plant matter like hay.

          Prison mood ranges

          Room type Thought span
          Prison cell -2 to +8
          Prison barracks -4 to +6
          Hospital patient room -4 to +6

          Nice cells really do pay back in recruit speed and breakout control because mood is part of the prison equation.

          Further Reading

          Use these if you want more patch context or a broader guide to prison, room, and temperature behavior.

          Useful links
          1.6.4535 hotfix for prison room flips Wiki: Prisoner Wiki: Rooms Wiki: Temperature
          Current baseline
          Vanilla 1.6.4633 rev1266
          Everything on this page assumes current vanilla prison behavior first, with mod-only routes called out separately.