Planetary Case Study: Prison Worlds

Most interstellar powers find little use for dedicating what is otherwise a perfectly habitable planet for use as a prison. Transporting prisoners from all corners of a galactic empire to specific worlds is also a tremendous undertaking; those ships and fuel can be used elsewhere. Therefore, the regimes that do operate prison worlds not only have the capability to sacrifice entire planets and fleets for the sole purpose of incarceration, but they also have a reason to do so.

The most widespread user of prison worlds is the Third Galactic Empire. With about ten million habitable worlds under the Imperial banner, the Empire could well afford to have thousands of prison worlds all over the galaxy. Imperial prison worlds are often barely habitable, such as desert and ice worlds, and were only partially terraformed to assist in the reclamation of minerals or other raw materials on the planet. Naturally, the prisons are moved there for forced labor, with the Empire's leaders believing that every ounce of strength should be used for the Empire's good. Most Imperial prison worlds are run by, and for the benefit of, sector lords, and the defeated houses and armies of those who cross a sector lord can often find themselves living out the rest of their days on a prison world. Those who are guilty of crimes against the Throne itself, but have not committed crimes that are considered outright treasonous, are sent to designated Imperial prison worlds. Rather than working the spice mines, they are either abandoned to their own devices and set at the mercy of established barbarian groups, or sent into gladiatorial tournaments, fighting blood sports for the amusement of the Emperor and the House of Dondrukov. The Dondrukov Guard also "recruit" the most effective warriors, subjecting them to heavy duty imprinting to make them loyal.

The other galactic powers also use prison worlds. The Federation has a few prison worlds, but most Federal governors execute their criminals and reuse their biomass to create new redshirts. The Alliance manages a handful of prison worlds for their deserters, and the Consortium has a few prison worlds that the prison corporations rent out to anyone who is willing to pay. But the political entity that is most infamous for its prison worlds, and has the highest concentration of prison worlds, is the Duzhonev Imperium. The draconian nature of Duzhonevian law, and the panopticon surveillance the Duzhonevian state enjoys over its population, ensures that the Duzhonevian prison population is extremely high at all times. The Duzhonevians also have an interest in maintaining the myth that there is no widespread dissent or crime in any of their worlds, so it is of paramount importance that Duzhonevian criminals be separated from the normal population immediately. The Duzhonev Imperium's annexation of formerly-independent worlds also generates dissidents by the billions, and they need a place to be processed.

Almost every Duzhonevian system has a prison world, often an outer planet or moon with extremely rudimentary life support. An example would be Trell VI-B, the second largest moon of the sixth planet in the Trell system. Trell Prime is a major industrial world in the Duzhonev Imperium, producing death rays for the Duzhonevian Imperial Guard, so the Duzhonevian state considers it extra important to have a world for those who are not only actively dissenting against the Duzhonevian state, but are also "shy of work" and could not meet their production quotas. Rather than kill these individuals and waste their production entirely, the Duzhonevians established factories for dangerous aetheric munitions on Trell VI-B. There, they are overseen by Party officials, who normally defer to the mad scientists who design new and deadlier weapons for the Duzhonevian Imperium. These mad scientists often make ludicrous demands of the prisoners, such as requiring them to vivisect themselves, on the basis that this would somehow be essential to the Duzhonevian war effort. These mad scientists are right often enough that the Party considers it a good use of prisoners. Otherwise, prisoners can expect to be worked to death on production lines, dying of starvation, exhaustion, aetheric poisoning, or even because the combat automaton they were working on was activated too early and tore them to shreds. Prisoners are often used for active weapons tests, and in some instances, they are forced into live fire combat scenarios against one another or against whatever monstrosity the mad scientists have cooked up. These tests are conducted in outposts far from the rest of the prison population and overseen by Duzhonevian warships, which will destroy the outpost without hesitation should there be a revolt. Other times, prisoners are used as raw materials for a new weapon system, and unleashed on their fellow prisoners.

Trell VI-B attempts to be entirely self-sustaining. Prisoners are fed reconstituted rations made from their waste and the corpses of their fallen brothers and sisters. Loyal and hard-working prisoners are rewarded with fresh meat from the corpses of the dead, which is considered a delicacy among the prison population. The caloric and nutritional intake of every prisoner is calculated precisely with their metabolism and rate of energy expenditure, so they do not starve to death until the moment that the prison system considers it more cost-effective to let them starve. Disease is rampant among the prison population, which is fought to prevent this labor force from dying too quickly. Prisoners which are caught committing offenses within the system are placed into torment engines for a set period of time, and are then let back among the population so they can tell the others what they experienced.

Having fought against prison revolts before, the prisons on Trell VI-B are designed to ensure that any revolt will end swiftly and painfully for every prisoner. No Party officials are present on Trell VI-B's surface; instead, they govern from space stations. The prison facilities on Trell VI-B are compartmentalized, with panels designed to blast out onto the cold, airless surface of the moon should the prison wardens lose control of a sector. The Duzhonevian personnel on the planet are hardened Duzhonevian Party Guards, who would gladly sacrifice their own lives to prevent a prison revolt from succeeding. The Duzhonevian Navy maintains constant patrols in orbit, these ships bristling with anti-starfighter systems in case there is an unauthorized shuttle launch. They are also armed with transatomic warheads, and have orders to launch should a Party official deem the prison lost to a revolt.

Knowledge of prison worlds like Trell VI-B are widespread across the galaxy, and they are denounced constantly by the Duzhonev Imperium's enemies. The Duzhonevians, for their part, are proud of their efficient prison system, and wonder why the rest of the galaxy does not use a similar system to get every ounce of value from the "trash" portions of their population.