Prison Life – How to Bait Searches

This will be a short guide on baiting searches out of Guards, which is most important on the first day, before they complete their tasks, and towards late game when it is almost impossible to escape when there is always a Guard searching you and your storage.

How to use a Search

To understand how to bait a search, I think it’s important to learn how a Guard might use a search in the first place.

As a Guard, it is very important not to waste a search, as they cost 5 coins each. Dus, it is important to use them only when you think a Prisoner might have something illegal.
Dus, here are a few things that can give away a Prisoner’s inventory, onder andere:

• Deliberately turning away from a metal detector when a Guard is near
• Sprinting the second they see a Guard
• See a metal detector flashing red and the Prisoner nearby
• Staying in one place for a long time, either waiting for a Guard to leave to sneak away or to craft something
• Opening a trashcan and immediately running to place it in storage
• Casually walking by you and not checking any trashcans

This is a short (and not entirely inclusive) list of things a Guard might see as a sign you have something illegal, and if you are a Guard, some things to watch out for.

Fake it to Bait it

As mentioned in the previous section, there are plenty of things Guards might look out for to see if you have something illegal on you. Dus, all you need to do is repeat those behaviors, with nothing illegal in your inventory.

Not Working?

Let’s say you try all the suspicious things you can think of but they just won’t search you. Waarom?

There’s a few reasons why:

• You are being too obvious and they know you are faking it (unlikely, but possible)
• They don’t really care and are trying to do their tasks, likely because:
• They don’t have any searches, so they ignore you

While not every Guard will use all their searches whenever they can, most will try to catch anyone that looks suspicious, so don’t give up hope if all your efforts are missed. You can always try again in the next game.

Cut Your Losses, Don’t Get Caught

Let’s be honest, spending 25 seconds in Solitary is probably the most annoying part about being a Prisoner, not to mention if you are in there almost every day. You can also kiss a speedrun goodbye if you get caught.

My advice to you is simple: if you have a Guard you think is going to search you, delete your item. No matter what it is, it is more important that you can spend those 25 seconds outside of Solitary, looking for items. Especially when you have items you need for a different craft alongside your illegal item, it is better not to waste those as well as something illegal.

This advice may not hold up in all situations, but I believe that for the most part, it is better to get rid of anything illegal and eat the item loss, over losing all your inventory and your time.