Humans aren't terribly skilled at dealing with supernatural crimes, but enough have happened over the years for them to take some precautions. Anytime a crime involves something supernatural, whether it be the criminal sacrifices cats before robbing a store, or witnesses insisting that the criminal could fly, or even the police doctor insisting that the accused is, in fact, dead (and that his ability to to walk and talk is beside the point) then once arrested the accused is sent to Bechley. If convicted, they'll serve their sentence there.
Most of the residents of Bechley are mundanes who've been the hosts of Shedim. Others are lunatics who think that they're magicians - or demons - or even Jesus Christ. However, about a third are either Symphonically Aware humans, or Remnants. There are also a handful of Celestials. They don't stand out; their willingness to pretend to be mundane makes them a lot easier for the guards to deal with.
Security at Bechley is very tight; The guards are incredibly strong Willed, and normally have the Blessed advantage - weak-Willed guards don't last long. They're also very difficult to bribe; those who can be bribed tend to have 'accidents', and they've learned that showing any favouritism results in the hostility of prisoners belonging to other factions. They do appreciate prisoners who keep their nose clean, however, and will occasionally go out of their way for a model prisoner.
Despite the efforts of the guards, different factions of prisoners have carved out territories where other prisoners rarely tread. These include:
The "Sleeper's Wing" - one entire level of one block is incredibly docile as the prisoners spend as much time as possible asleep. A deal has been struck between the Dream Soldiers of Blandine & Beleth to treat the prison as neutral territory and resolve their differences in the Marches. Most of them have come to terms with being in prison; all it means is that they can concentrate on their real job, after all. There are also a couple of Pagan Soldiers.
As neutral ground, it's a place where they can fraternise with the enemy, and it's possibly the best place in the world to learn Lucid Dreaming. The Prison Psychiatrist spends a lot of time here, learning the skill. As he's accepted the idea of Jung's collective unconsciousness, he's not terribly surprised that conversations held in his dreams will be referred to when awake. Some of the prisoners in this wing were framed, or even framed themselves; Dream Soldiers don't normally need to break the law.
The "Nutter's Wing" - the average Will of the prisoners held here is lower than one. Riddled with Anger, Berserk or Murderous, the prisoners are all psycho. They spend most of there time locked up, and when let out there will always be more guards present than prisoners. No actual Celestials are kept here; just Remnants and the dregs of humanity.
The "Reading Wing" - Sorcerers and Soldiers make up the bulk of the prisoners here. They are a mix of amoral opportunists and idealists who found that the law doesn't consider "an angel told me to" justification for murder, robbery or vandalism. Most have taken full advantage of the educational facilities of the prison. Not just the official ones, either - Helltongue is the language of choice here. They've taken the time to teach the Chaplain the basics of angelography, and would teach him more about demons but he insists that encouraging the prisoners to talk about demons would be wrong. given the number of inmates who know how to summon them, or think they do, he's probably right. Although relatively peaceful, the large number of Satanists, Anti-Christs and assorted lunatics who try to gravitate here provides the Sorcerers with a large contingent of assistants, allowing them to perform rituals on a scale unheard of in the outside world.
The Soldiers of God in the Reading Wing tend to be a unhappy lot; they dedicated their lives to making the world a better place and have got a prison sentence for their troubles. All but the most dedicated have learned at least a little Sorcery; those lacking the Will to become Sorcerers generally only learn the theory (although some learn Focus for ethereal combat). The price for learning is merely to assist in a ritual or three, or pay some essence; maybe teach a Song or reveal the names of some demons.
Celestial Inmates:
Garnet (Lilim of Lust) - you know a Lilim is really down on her luck if she's stuck in prison. Still Garnet has a nice racket going. Arrested for a crime committed in a male vessel, Garnet is the only contact for a 'nympho who smuggles herself in with the laundry' - Garnet's female Vessel. Any man whose been in the prison for more than few years probably owes Garnet multiple Geas/6's. (There are female prisoners, but they are kept in a separate cell block).
Edwin "Bruises" Franklin - a Calabite of The Media who made the mistake of beating the fan of a rival team to death on camera, he's on death row. Nybbas thinks the ratings for his execution will be excellent, as he's still famous as a football coach. Although his ability to mangle an opponent is impressive, other prisoners have learnt to fear his ability to tamper with security camera using he Balseraph of The Media attunement. He can be persuaded to use this ability for others - for a suitable fee.
Alf "Brick" Tanner - A Cherub of Stone who was convicted of murder for his part in a gang war. Rather than use his abilites to shoot through, he is obeying David's orders to 'tough it out' and to set an example for the other prisoners. He repeatedly asked to transfer to the Nutter's Wing to help keep things under control; as yet the Warden has refused.
Adventure seeds in prison:
The Ox
Prison food is even worse than army food. One of the Sorcerers in the Reading Wing has a plan: he'll Summon an Imp, order it into Limbo to form an Ox Vessel which can be slaughtered, cooked and eaten. Summoning the Imp won't be difficult, organising sending essence to Limbo will be fine; working out where in a prison to spit roast an ox will be more complicated. Whatever is decided, the night before the Imp is due to return, some Remnants who've discovered what's going on will sent the Imp essence so that it can leave Limbo early. Of course, they're not strong enough to control an Ox, so the Imp will bolt for it, running through the prison trying to escape. Can the PC's catch the Ox before the guards twig? If not, "Bruises" will fudge the camera records, kill the Imp with his resonance and keep the Ox for himself. The prison is likely to devolve into civil war; apart from trying to lynch the thieves who brought the Imp out early, there's the possibility of the madder inmates (many of whom have the Gluttony Discord) trying to storm "Bruises" cell. Preventing any fatalities (which cannot be hidden from the guards, as remnants cannot be zombified) should be a high priority for anyone who likes keeping their privileges.
Freedom of the Press
"Bruises" writes the prison newspaper and being a Servitor of the Media, does it well. Unfortunately, he lost his temper at his lawyer, and as part punishment for hospitalising him has been forbidden to work on the 'paper. General amusement at the thought of him earning Dissonance turned to horror when he revealed that he has a new project - taping the security cameras and smuggling the footage out via carrier gremlin. Any misdeeds of the characters are on film, and already out of the prison. "Bruises" doesn't want much; just find a way to get him his newspaper back. of course, if some else he's blackmailing finds a way to get him his newspaper back, then you'll need to find something else he wants. And a way to make sure he doesn't accept the bribe and then release the footage anyway!
Respecting The Dead
Some one is mummifying the more insane mundanes. Not a problem in itself, but a fair number are becoming vampires - the sight of prisoners catching fire and fleeing the sunlight when taken outside for daily exercise is probably the first the PC's know about the problem, which means that the guards know as well. Some careful investigation will reveal that they have been helping one of the Necromancers in his rituals for the last few years ad this is their pay off. Unfortunately, there's still over a hundred mundanes who have all 'earned' mummification; they're all crazy, and about half of them come out of the procedure as Vampires; the thought of an additional 50 blood suckers roaming the corridors should worry any inmate. And just rubbing out the Necromancer will tick off all 100 mundanes - a sizeable army.
Doppelgangers
Any escape attempts from Bechley attract the full attention of the police - and, much worse, attention from the other side. The simplest way to get around this is for a Sorcerer to Summon a demonling and have them trained in your mammerisms etc, and once they can play the part send them to Limbo to craft a duplicate Vessel. of course, this means house training a twerpy gremlin who has never been out of Hell before and hasn't a clue about how things are done on Earth; who almost certainly has a selection of disgusting habits; who will easily be conned by practical jokers into thinking/doing all sorts of stupid things; who after cottoning on will wreak havoc and then pretend that they were tricked into it by other inmates. And, of course, you need to keep the demonling secret from the guards - at least that won't be to difficult if the demonling has a rat or bird Vessel. Although if they see it they'll probably try to kill/capture it.
Still, if you want to get out....
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