Persephone

* Connects From Fontaine_Futuristics_(game_level)
* See also Abyss
* See also The_Rapture_Family
* See also Sofia Lamb and Eleanor
* See also Laws_in_Rapture
== Persephone - Rapture Jail, Prison and Insane Asylum ==
In BioShock 2 there are 2 level maps for Persephone :
Outer_Persephone ( where you Enter )
Inner_Persephone ( where you Exit )
--- --- --- --- ---
Persephone Is a Place of Exile ( Amongst Other Things ) :
BS2 Game Writers ( To The 14-year-old Players ) : "OMG OMG, Ryan Has Locked Up People In A Prison - AIN'T HE EVIL !!!! DERRRRP !!!!!!" ( Some sent there "allegedly" for "Protesting against Ryan", when it wasn't made clear whether the destruction and disorder of the %27civil_war%27 was happening at that point. These same 'Protesters', who out of the other sides of their mouths were voicing THEIR support for Atlas ( the Terrorist ), and some Demanding the Overthrow of Rapture's government ). What needs to be understood id : Things are a bit different during Wartime and when WAR MEASURES are in force to allow Survival. (( Also understand that : the majority just want Stability for their Lives ... ))
Where else do you put dangerous deranged Splicers and other Serious Criminals ?? -- Since there's no Death Penalty ( for crimes other than 'Secrecy-threatening Smuggling' - likely mostly for the organizers ...) (( BTW, Notice a gamewriter's facilitated Execution, which the Player so easily 'metes out' on anyone in the game who gets near them ( ? !? !? ) -- Is revealing about any actual 'caring' about such things by the gamewriters . ))
Real World Social Mechanism Example : In Medieval Europe ( and probably many other places and times, like Hunter Gatherer groups ) when a person committed a sufficiently heineous crime ( or pattern of crime ) and was caught, as a punishment they would be declared 'Outlaw' - Someone who by their actions puts themselves outside of recognizing and following the Common Laws. The critical working aspect is : by putting yourself Outside the Law, you also negate your implied protection by that same ( system of ) Law. An Outlaw historically could be killed by any man without penalty, and anyone who helped the Outlaw was subject to severe penalties ( thus depriving the 'Outlaw' of the advantages the system of Laws which society makes possible, and which the Outlaw by their actions have rejected ). 
Exile in such societies was a logical repercussion/loose-punishment, particularly in a world where organized lawmen were far between ( and means of imprisonment generally impractical ). In Rapture there is no OUTSIDE to Exile the criminals to ( just as there isn't in OUR Society ). Rapture's security depends on Secrecy ( The writers skimped on properly explaining WHY that was really required - Cold Wars, etc ... outside of many current Players understanding/knowledge ). (( Explanation which BTW would have interfered with their 'evil old Ryan' misrepresenting narrative. )) 
So the Criminals can't be sent back to The Surface. SO a Prison Exile was Required for those who rejected and actively endangered Rapture's Philosophy and Society.
REQUIRED Doubly so for a Rapture in the middle of a 'war' for its Survival. ( Witness the scene of the isolation of Atlas supporters being 'bottled up' in the Apollo Square area in BS1. ) Ryan could have simply turned the Power and Heat and Air there to kill them all. But he did not.
--- --- ---
Cliche and Caricature :
Despite the game writers trying to imply that Persephone was a 'Gulag' ( equivalent to a Soviet style establishment ), Ryan's Objectivist Philosophy did not allow for simple political murder as a solution ( Objectivism is generally against a 'death penalty' ) , but rather an 'apart place' ( a place of Exile ) , where those who did not wish to follow Society's Laws would be sent into exile. It was also a place to safely put the Criminally Insane - Those driven mad by Fontaines ADAM poison.
Most of the killing/coercive activity seems more of Sofia Lamb's doing ( Remember you saw the place AFTER it had been run by her since Ryan's Death -- when SHE was in control of the place ). So the various Electro-Shock torture (implied) and Cannisters of Ashes were more the result of her delusional search for her 'Utopian', and creation/manipulation of NEW Little Sisters towards the same goal.
--- --- ---
Persephone Consolidated and expanded several previous city facilities - Economy Of Scale :
* Of Rapture's Original Psycho Hospital ( originally part of Ascepolis not Persephone )
* Consolidation from previous places of Jail/Prison/Exile
* City Detention Facilities ( Splicer Containment )
--- --- --- 
Persephone Created :
A complex in Rapture where society's inconvenient people are put. Built by Ryan/City Council as a secure/efficient place to house Criminals, the Dangerously Insane ( of increasing numbers due to ADAM ), and as a place of Exile.EXILE : Objectivism, which generally does NOT include 'The Death Penalty' in its system of Justice, still requires EFFECTIVE removal of destructive criminals from abusing the rest of Society. Exile : Separated from the Society they refused to follow the laws of -- AND for those who seek to destroy Rapture, and its Philosophy. 
Persephone was intended to consolidate various ad hoc facilities existing across Rapture. The Facility's construction was contracted to Sinclair -- Possibly instituted during the disturbances of the ~1952 Economic Distress, and later expanded significantly ( to handle the ADAM-caused issues starting after 1953 ).
It is likely that Persephone would be built to be as self-supporting as possible ( AS WERE Real World PRISONS OF THAT ERA - Even without having Ryan's Objectivist Philosophy in effect ).
SO who was sent to the Persephone Facility ? 'Dissidents' - or rather Seditious Dissidents and Conspirators and Anarchists ?? Terrorists ?? And a place for 'many other' crimes ( If it logically was used as Rapture main prison/jail complex ) ?? Persephone would be a place of "Exile" for non-repentant criminals first and foremost - For people who continually refused to live within Rapture's Societal Laws. 
-
PLEASE Don't listen to those who claim there were 'NO Laws' to run afoul of in Rapture. THAT is just an illogical conclusion derived from Ryan saying : "I" Will Make No Law - Meaning HE would not impose Laws. Rapture's Society would insist upon and set its own Laws. The environment the City existed within would demand there be others - Safety Laws and Regulations. Understand : You simply CANNOT have a Modern City's level of organization/society/commerce AND run under some assumed simplistic anarchistic system of 'No Law, No Order, No Enforcement' . (( It simply could not Exist outside of a Bad Writer's Fantasy. ))
--- --- --- --- ---
Also Rapture's Prison :
Persephone WAS a Prison in Rapture. Objectivism does NOT discard simple methods of handling criminals. Allegedly built ( supposedly 'in secret' by Sinclair for the Rapture City Council according to the writers ) as a political Gulag. "Kept Secret" is easy for gamewriters to assert, but pretty much impossible in a place as small as RaptureAbsurd "Persephone was Secret" - So did Ryan have the hundreds of workers and suppliers and employees living in the city put to death ??? - like some Pharaoh hiding the secret entrance to his Tomb ??? Only in sad bad fantasy are such dim things written. . Much of it actually looks more like a place to warehouse 'the criminally insane' Splicers ( an Asylum ), AND to jail common criminals. Objectivism generally does not support the Death Penalty, so Felons like Murderers would also be imprisoned there. Some kind of rehabilitation was seemingly to be offered. 
Sofia Lamb herself was sent to Persephone. Some number of Sofia Lamb's supporters - those who called-for/acted-for the overthrow of order and freedoms in Rapture ( the crime of sedition ), were sent to Persephone. 
In the game, the writers contrived to have Sofia Lamb easily manipulate many inmates incarcerated in Persephone into joining her (even the Warden) - Brainwashing them into her delusional collectivist philosophy. More likely, she told them 'what they wanted to hear', like she did many others, while instigating their joining her in treason and later murder. Many others no doubt were simply coerced when she had enough influence there.
--- --- ---
Coulda Used A Coat Of Paint :
Persephone's appearance in the game is when it is seen MANY (like 10) years after Ryan and/or Sinclair had anything to do with running the place. Rapture's Shithole Status in BS2 was much the result of the Chaos conditions, but also after the negligence of those others who ran the place after Ryan was long gone. 
Inside Persephone is also some kind of Little Sister facility ( which plays a part in the BS2 game's plot ). WHEN that part of the facility was added, that was never mentioned in-game. It likely was a 're-purposing' under Sofia Lamb who needed more Little Sisters for her plans.
--- --- ---
Persephone Was Hardly A "Gulag' :
Of course the 'Rapture Family' ( However many there were of them ... We aren't really told ) was only PART of the Inmate Population -- and we are never told what THEY all might have done to warrant arrest and incarceration ( from their later antics, it likely was fully justified ). In Persephone, there were the criminals and the insane, the dangerously insane, as well as those who had sought to destroy Raptures laws and society. 
It is not made clear WHY Sinclair didn't tell Ryan about the situation 'down there' ( about Sofia Lamb taking over ) so that the City could take control back ( could do what they eventually did to the criminals in 'Fontaine's Department Store' ) -- and clean-them-all-out/restore-order/secure-the-place. If Ryan's forces were too busy, then do simple Containment and possibly turning off the Air and Power until Sofia Lamb, and whatever other instigators, surrendered themselves or perished.
--- --- ---
Persephone - A Cell With A View ... :
The 'Glowey Shit' out the windows in Persephone, with the pretty swirly multicolored lightshow ...
Calming effects for those disturbed inmates ( at least that's what Sinclair 'sold' the idea on ).
It needs to be remembered that the Persephone facility/complex included the City's Insane Asylum ( particularly needed after the 'upswing' of insanity following ADAM products being introduced in Rapture - a fact that Ryan was likely made aware of ).
--- --- ---
Missing From Persephone - The Workhouse :
It would be Common Practice to have the Persephone Inmates do various kinds of work ( A historic reality, not to be skimped on in 'Pay As You Go' Rapture ) -- in attempt to pay for their upkeep by their Jailers ( Prisons cost significant money to run in the Real World too, which taxpayers prefer to pay the minimum cost out of taxes ).
Sinclair could see yet another advantage to pay 'cents-on-the-dollar' for work being done. And if he ran the place, then he ALSO likely had to largely fund the place beyond what little Ryan and the City Council would 'shell-out'.
NOTE - I have added the Agriculture and Fish pond section to at least have the Prison partially supply its own food.
--- --- ---
Visiting Hours :
Persephone Penal Facility - It also was Rapture's general Jail and Insane Asylum. It would have had many visiting lawyers/mental practitioners/relatives/etc... accessing the facility.
In any population you would have some number of those with criminal inclination, and Rapture would be like any other place. Some may even have thought that it would be a place of opportunity ( like Fontaine ).
Seriously, Ryan would NOT want to keep Persephone a Secret - First : to serve as a visible threat to those who might want to become 'outlaws' ( which included non-life-sentences for lesser crimes ), and Second : to be able to show the place where 'Exiles' went, instead of them being assumed 'disappeared' with some hidden execution of the major criminals incarcerated there. The legal process for many cases of sedition would be publicly done.
We are never told how many Prisoners there were serving short sentences who would eventually 'come back' from there ( just like prisons/jails usually work in Our Real World ). ELSE, Why bother to have 'Therapy' there, as shown in BS2 ?
--- --- ---
Splicer Pacification Project :
Extraction of ADAM from Living Splicers ( Those held in Persephone or even in detention jails while pending trials/etc ... ) to nullify their powers to make them less troublesome/dangerous.
A blood replacement system. Suchong had the idea that Little Sisters could 'recycle' ADAM from the blood obtained. After proving the concept, someone else suggested that dead Splicers likewise were a source of ADAM ( later desperately needed to fight against Atlas's Splicer Terrorists ).
This is one way to explain why Delta is shown to exist configured as a 'Big Daddy' so early, when Gatherers should really NOT exist yet ( no heaps of bodies in the streets yet ). Being escorts and armored 'attendants' to "hold down" the Splicers while they got "The Treatment". ( Something similar is done to recently captured Splicers in New Rapture, while 'The Cure' is administered to them. )
--- --- ---
Abyss :
The Abyss seen out the windows does look like an underground cavern ( or a big hole with very steep sides - like a volcanoes Magma Tube ). The stalactite formations are a bit weird - real ones form IN AIR. And to have that much huge rock hanging from the ceiling ... IT really doesn't work at that scale ( maybe it is just a big fake projection to 'mess' with the inmates minds - Sinclair might have come up with something like that to save expense ).
-
Looking at those buildings at Persephone ( Go out windows using the Console Cheats ), you will see a concrete monstrosity that would have made any Nazi proud to have as their secret base/fortification Nazi Concrete Monstrosity - See the "Nazi Mega-Weapons" TV documentary series..
--- --- ---
I have located Persephone on the Southern edge of Rapture (SEE MAP BELOW) , just at the point where the seabed drops off precipitously ( Note to gamemakers - HUGE caverns as you portray in the game DO NOT exist in the Real World, and despite it making a 'neat scene' for a game, it is about as real as the Easter Bunny - something contrived by lazy people making something illogical but to them is 'good enuf' )
--- --- ---
Persephone - Secret ?
But WAS it 'secret' ? It was seen on the Atlantic Express map, and even had an (unreachable) AE station indicated on the local map in Outer Persephone.
Combined Prison, Jail, Insane Asylum ( probably started when ADAM use started producing insanity and MORE violent uncontrollable citizens needed to be put some place ). Lawyers and family members (and such) would visit criminal inmates in preparation for their lesser criminal cases which didn't have 'full exile' as their penalty - and who would eventually return to Rapture. The psychiatrists and prison guards wouldn't LIVE at that facility, so had to be able to go home at night ... Most of the people in Rapture would know it was there, AND that it was a needed part of what kept their society in balance.
Consider that Objectivism generally doesn't allow a Death Penalty, so the problem for Ryan is what to do with the real miscreants ( many of the 'political' prisoners were caught at and had been proselytized violent rebellion ). He can't let them go back to the Surface to blab about "secret" Rapture.
A proper solution would be : To create a second habitable site -- for permanent EXILE. Where the people sent there ( who refused to live by Rapture's Laws and Society - being 'outlaws' ) could then live as they pleased and support themselves as they might without disrupting the society back in Rapture. ( Perhaps use some of the old construction facilities for this, like those mentioned in the Novel ... ) Whether they all eventually killed each other wouldn't be most people's concern, as the outlaws sent there would have already shown they did not have to follow societies laws and so no longer had its protection ( which is the original meaning of the word 'outlaw' ).
Unfortunately, that idea wasn't thought of (or understood) by the game writers -- We could have the same plot really with Sofia Lamb ruling THAT place - and no longer part of Rapture and follow the same story.
The Department Store Prison in the 3rd game was something like that. It was certainly NOT like any real Prison, and with inmates 'running a-muck', should have been far more chaotic ( and likely a place Atlas/Fontaine would have died the first moments he started to try to boss people around ).
-
Note : Also that 'experimentation' on prisoners had commonly happened in the USA in the 1940s/1950s (prisons/jails) - as VOLUNTARY -- With 'time off' their sentences largely as their reward. ( There is a poster suggesting this 'voluntary' thing to be seen in Persephone ).
So likely it wasn't a Soviet Style (or Nazi style) Operation, where the inmates INVOLUNTARILY were used for experiments ( unwilling people generally make for quite ineffective experiments ).
Note also that : ADAM addicts, with their minds destroyed ( and many with violently destructive behavior to others and themselves ) would exist more and more in Rapture. It might be seen that the converting them to Big Daddies to become useful in society might seem a good option. Note that Lobotomies where used on violently insane criminals in the USA also in the 1930s 40s 50s - with chemicals and electroshock taking over in the 1950s/1960s.
--- --- ---
Goin Outa Their Heads - Persephone As A City Asylum :
Real Statistic : Out of the US population, 1/248 were in State Mental Institutions (in US) ~1945
So ~40000 (1958) peeps in Rapture = ~161 patients ( if meeting the typical ratio )
This of course was not including the ADAM related cases.
Private asylums were very common ( go look at Picture Websites about 'ruined places' and see how many were mental hospitals ) and Rapture probably had a few. When the ADAM instabilities started happening in the mid 50s, then it is possible that the Persephone facility being built had a large section dedicated to that purpose, as well as being a consolidated Jail and Prison and Exile Place.
Consider it might have been a much better/understandable game if Columbia was ONE BIG INSANE ASYLUM.
--- --- ---
Persephone 'Volunteers' - Carrot Rather Than the Stick (or Club) :
I went back to look at all the posters on the walls ( it turned out there were fewer than I remember, the posters being advertisements for 'better treatment' ). They seemed like they were emulating a thing done in real prisons/jails during that era : When they offered early release ( and probably better treatment ) to inmates who volunteered for some medical experiments ( usually was some kind of drug testing, and not conversion into a soul-less zombie mechanoid or gene-twisted mutant ). The poster with the bag of money at the inmates feet looks like it is implying the inmate is being paid, not handing his money over to get some 'sooner' (or better) treatment.
I would figure with the ADAM-driven insanity, the early extreme cases would wind up in some facility ( probably an Insane Asylum at Persephone, or whatever other facilities predated its creation ) where they had to be 'warehoused' at public expense ( families no doubt paid when they could at 'private' facilities ). Criminally insane people would often have to be held in isolation, if not being completely restrained as well, so as not to hurt themselves. Look at the history of such places in that era, 'lobotomizing' of such patients was common - just like in the good ole USA back then, when a court would decide their disposition once someone was too insane (mentally incompetent) to decide for themselves their situation ( not euthanized though ). But someone would have to pay for it all, and in Rapture that would be a sticking point in such decisions. I suppose you could consider being 'pacified' and turned into a Big Daddy as equivalent to unending restraint, or mental obliteration via lobotomy ( with the benefit of the inmate being made useful in society/paying for their own upkeep ).
Some (mentally competent) inmates with Life Sentences ( remember this was also a general prison, not only an alleged 'gulag' for exiled Traitors and Seditionists, which the writers might have implied ) who might voluntarily 'opt out' and volunteer for 'Big Daddification' ( It is also not really clear how much personality still remains after that conversion ). Terminal patients ( particularly indigent ones ) might be further potential candidates.
One other piece of evidence - all the verbiage of Lamb's followers "sacrifice" - of subjecting themselves to become 'test subjects'. "Sacrifice" is not generally defined as involuntary. That, I think, implies that the subjects still had to "volunteer" - even though there may be some coercion with the offers of 'better treatment' (Carrot vs Stick), and whatever 'convincing' Sofia Lamb ( and her more true-believer sycophants ) were able to use on her followers to get THEM to volunteer ( earning HER advantages with the Prison authorities, apparently ).
A prison where it is KNOWN that many inmates are dragged off for experimentation and never return would be very difficult to operate, and would require too large a staff to physically manhandle all the fearful inmates through every part of its operation. Thus, have volunteer programs ... How many of the test programs did not really harm the candidates ? We are NOT told. Inmates coming back from the testing with little effect ( there would be many tests which only minimally affect the subject ... ) would encourage further 'volunteers'.
How many of Fontaine's test candidates in the early days were 'volunteers' ?? How many were unfortunates 'scooped up' from the poorer /more-noisome sections of Rapture ?? ( like the Paupers Drop slum before Sinclair redeveloped it ) ? Others may have been people who worked for him, who had complained about being cheated of their wages, or similar 'problem' people.
--- --- --- --- ---
.
.