PRISON

Social Class: Lower.

Power Center: Never.

Buildings: Prison (23%), guards’ barracks (10%), poor services (45%), poor residences (20%).

Description: Many cities group their prisons in one area, the better to enforce security. Imposing stone-walled buildings, their windows barred or exceedingly narrow, dominate this neighborhood. Only those who cannot afford to dwell elsewhere live nearby. Guards and wagons pass by at all hours, and the shouts and threats from within the prison walls subside only slightly at night. The area is fi lthy and poorly maintained, and if the city heats its prisons, the air is fi lled with smoke during the winter. Despite the presence of so many city patrols, the impoverished area is plagued by petty crime.

Plot Hook: Several criminals have been positively identifi ed as those carrying out a recent series of high-profile robberies and violent crimes. The problem is, those same criminals are currently languishing in prison cells. Someone is freeing them to commit crimes, or has assumed their forms. Whatever the case, investigating the crimes might require someone to go undercover inside the prison.