The game takes inspiration from Theme Hospital, Dungeon Keeper, and Dwarf Fortress.

The player tells the prisoners what to do indirectly by setting their schedule. The player is also able to implement various reform and labour programmes that reduce the specific prisoner's recidivism rate. The player is also responsible for the finances of their prison, and for meeting the needs of their prisoners (e.g., sanitation). The player needs to recruit specific staff to unlock some aspects of the game (e.g., information about the prison's finances is unavailable without an accountant). The player's role is of both architect and governor with sandbox micromanagement themes, responsible for managing various aspects of the prison, including building facilities, connecting utilities, and managing staff. The game is a top-down 2D (with a partially 3D mode) construction and management simulation where the player has been hired by the CEO of a for-profit prison company to take control of building and running a prison. In 2019, Paradox Interactive acquired the rights to Prison Architect for an undisclosed sum.

The game was available on Steam's Early Access program, and was officially released on October 6, 2015. Prison Architect was an entrant in the 2012 Independent Games Festival. With over 2,000,000 copies sold, Prison Architect made over US$10.7 million in pre-order sales for the alpha version.

It was made available as a crowdfunded paid alpha pre-order on Septemwith updates scheduled every three to four weeks. Prison Architect is a private prison construction and management simulation video game developed and published by Introversion Software.

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