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San Pancho
San Pancho
A desert prison.
Details
Prison Type: Camp
Difficulty: Hard
Inmates 15
Guards 10
This is the notorious San Pancho, the roughest toughest and downright nastiest prison south of the border. The blistering heat and claustrophobic conditions here turns inmates angry and violent. Even the guards daren't enter.

~ Warden [name] on Prison arrival

San Pancho is the fifth map present in the main game, preceded by Jungle Compound and succeeded by HMP-Irongate. The prison holds 16 inmates (yourself included), has 10 Guards that never patrol in the compound except 3 for Routine, has an electric fence around the prison and a jeep patrolling the outside. It holds 4 inmates per cell. Most of the time there is an unoccupied desk in your cell. The prison is based off of the fictional Penetenciaría Federal de Sona from the American TV show Prison Break. It’s easy to get away with stuff guards won't like such as chipping walls because they don't patrol the area except in routines. San Pancho's security is very high, as it has a 2 block thick perimeter wall and landmines in between, making an escape above ground nigh-impossible. In the Mobile/Console editions with HMP-Irongate nerfed (Camera in only half of the cells and guards only use batons), both prisons can be found equally hard.

San Pancho also has its own unique free time music.

San Pancho Map

Characteristics

Lack of supervision

A brutal prison with unforgivingly hot weather, San Pancho makes the inmates so ferocious and bad-tempered to the point the guards are frightened of them. Guards do not patrol the inmate section of the prison whatsoever, allowing for the player to get away with a lot of illegal activities. Three guards will be present at meals, exercises, showers and roll calls.

In addition to that, the prison lacks any scanners to detect contraband, making foil useless. Cameras are also not present except for the Solitary, the kitchen, and the cargo job room.

Landmines

The prison features landmines (Marked as orange dots labeled 'M' on the map) at the perimeter of the prison beyond the Electric Fence, forcing the player to tunnel underground for their escape. Attempting to cross the perimeter beyond the fences on ground level will kill the player at all circumstances.


Landmines are invisible on ground level, however they can be seen underground and will take one block space, displacing a usual dirt block. Landmines will explode if a player approaches ~3 block radius on ground level. They will also explode if a player comes into contact underground while tunneling. They deal infinite damage, instantly knocking out the player and sending him to Infirmary or their cell depending on the time.

Jeeps

A jeep patrols the perimeter of the prison beyond the Electric Fence, further deterring escape attempts. If you are caught by the jeep while wearing POW Outfit or its variants, you will be immediately sent to Solitary. They can be avoided by wearing Guard Outfit at night or by using Stinger Strips to destroy the tires.

Schedule

08:00 - 09:00 Morning Rollcall
09:00 - 10:00 Breakfast
10:00 - 13:00 Leisure / Work Period
13:00 - 14:00 Exercise period
14:00 - 17:00 Free Period
17:00 - 18:00 Dinner
18:00 - 21:00 Leisure / Work Period
21:00 - 22:00 Shower
22:00 - 23:00 Evening Rollcall
23:00 - 08:00 Lights out

Guards will only be present to supervise at Roll calls, Meals, Exercise periods, and Showers.

You can stay out of your cell after Lights out (without a Bed Dummy) undetected for approximately ~1 hour in game time due to the guards very rarely patrolling the cells.

Jobs

  • Gardener (Default)
  • Tailor/ Outfit Making
  • Librarian
  • Kitchen
  • Unloading

Strategies to Escape

Common Meathod

1. Get 8 Plastic Forks.

2. Create 2 Posters.

3.Create a Bed Dummy

4. At the wall of the Tailor workshop, chip away the wall so you can get into the tailor station. (The station is located near to the Deliveries job workshop.) An optional way to do it is to get the Tailor job. Just distract them by ether knocking them out and stealing their clothes repeatedly, or hit them once and run around the courtyard until 13:00 when work ends. This will allow you to use work periods as a time to safely work instead of during other periods.

5. Chip the wall beyond the station, so you have access to the maintenance tunnel (the area with a black tile floor). You should see a ladder, and a prisoner stash. Cover the two holes with a Poster, or you'll be sent to Solitary.

6. Obtain a very good digging/chipping tool. Multitool is the best. You will also need a good cutting tool; Sturdy Cutters are the best. 3 Wires are also necessary in order to make a Fake Fence. However, likewise from my experience, there is no need to bring a Fake Fence like you will see in step 13.

7. Get your intellect up to 80+.

- You can escape prison without applying number; 8,9,10,12,13 (Through my mobile game experience).

8. Find a guard with a Utility Key. This may be an issue to even find a guard alone because they only patrol outside the prison unless conducting showers, meals, exercise periods, and roll calls. Take his outfit, the Utility Key, and Baton if needed.

9. Create a plastic version of it; you need a Wad of Putty and Molten Plastic. Combine the Utility Key with Wad of Putty. This'll give you a Utility Key Mold, and a Utility Key. Put the key back into the pocket of the guard. Combine the Utility Key Mold with Molten Plastic, and ta-da! You got yourself a Plastic Utility Key! Make sure to put the real key back on the guard!

10. Do the same with the guard with Cell Key ( or you can forget the cell key and chip some walls to navigate around the prison without it), or cut a hole in the cell's fence and hide it with a Fake Fence.

11. Go to the maintenance tunnel of the tailor station, then dig down. Dig straight until you meet a blue fence. Remember to brace the tunnel with Timber Braces! (Make sure you DO NOT dig under where the Prisoner stash or ladder is otherwise you will end up hitting a landmine later on! Although digging under a landmine doesn't do anything, so just dig past, or move to the left or right from your escape hole 1 block.)

12. At nighttime, put the Bed Dummy into your bed. Put your Guard Outfit on. Your inventory should look like this: Plastic Utility Key, Plastic Cell Key, your cutting tool, and Fake Fence. Go to the canteen (Eating place). If you did not make a plastic cell key, then you will need to chip through to either the garden supply room or the kitchen, and then to outside. connected to the canteen there should be a door with a orange lock (cyan on console) and beyond the door, a ladder. Go up to the ladder!

13. You should be on the roof. Go north, then you'll see the Generator. Cut the fence near the Generator, shut off (Left click), put the Fake Fence where you've cut it or just leave it. (Only from my experience). then run back to your tunnel as quick as you can, then cut off the electric fence as soon as you can. It'll no longer zap you because the Generator is off. If you are too slow the generator will turn back on and you will need to repeat this step.

14. Obtain 3 or 4 Stinger Strips (optional). You can craft them with 2 Nails, and 1 Roll of Duct Tape. ( 1 Nails + 1 Roll of Duct Tape on Mobile )

15. Whenever you have free time, go to your hole, and dig straight until you reach Reinforced Concrete. It's like a square-ish rock, but you cannot dig or even chip through like stones.

The Escape

1. At night, put the Bed Dummy into the bed and equip the Guard Outfit on. Your inventory should look like this: Your digging/chipping tool, 3 or 4 Stinger Strips, and extra food (optional)

2. At the very end of your tunnel, wait until you hear the perimeter jeep. After the jeep sound is gone, dig up!

3. Cover the tunnel with the Dirt you just obtained. Put one Stinger Strip one tile below you. That's the route for the jeep, and the Stinger Strip should flat-tire the jeep. If you did not get stinger strips, then follow the wall counter-clockwise to the entrance at the south end of the prison, where the wall is one layer thick instead of two, and chip through.

4. Put the next strip 4-6 blocks left to the first strip. But, don't walk around, or you'll be blown up immediately! If you want to walk around, hug the edge, as if you are stuck to the wall. Don't get out of the wall except if you place the strips!

5. Now, chip the wall where you want to chip. Careful of jeeps, but they'll be disabled with the strips. When they get flat-tired, you'll hear a shooting sound. There are two layers of walls, but if you get through them, you can say goodbye to San Pancho!

Another way to shut off the generator WITHOUT keys is to get a good cutting tool, a grappling hook, a sheet rope, and a fake fence.

After evening roll call, go up the ladder in the maintenance tunnel of the tailor shop. Go east and use the grappling hook on the wall. Keep going east and use the sheet rope.Go to the generator and cut the fence surrounding it, left click to shut it off, and replace the broken fence with the fake fence. Run as fast as you can back to the tunnel and cut the fence, since the generator is off and it won't shock you.

Other Methods

# From your cell, tunnel towards the main door (make sure to cover the hole with a desk) from which the guards enter the prison. Keep tunneling until you reach a rocky barrier that you can no longer tunnel through. (Note: a multitool is the fastest way to dig). At lights out, put on a guards outfit, and then head into your tunnel. Wait until you hear the jeep pass and then dig up. Then with the pickaxe, chip through both walls, and replace the bricks as you go and then your home free!!
# For this method, you’d want 5 posters in these locations: The middle of the bottom wall of your cell, The middle of the bottom of that cell, To the right wall of the job area where you can’t access normally (you should be in there now), One to the left of the door to the tailor job (you can skip this if you get the tailor job), and one on the north wall of the tailor job. At night, pit on a guard outfit and go up the ladder. Use a sheet rope to go down on the left side. You have to be precise to go on the wire. If you fall, you’ll need to get a red key to go back to the main campus. If you don’t fall, go down the ladder on the building. You’ll end up next to an infinite supply of timber and metal sheets. If you want, you can chip through to it and get it. But even if you do, you’ll have to dig. You can dig 4 spaces to reach the fence. On the mobile game, the fence isn’t electric. I can’t guarentee it won’t be electric on other systems. Get past the fence and dig until you can dig up. The guards won’t catch you because they never patrol this area. After you dig up, go to the outer wall. If you want, you can ambush the Jeep with stinger strips. In my escape, I was able to chip through the outer wall. If you can’t, just dig under it. Once you dig up from your hole, you have to escape on that run. If you don’t, your hole will be covered and you’ll lose all progress. 

This is by no means the most efficient solution, but it works. This all can’t be done on one night. In my attempt, I dug 3 spaces per night.

Trivia

  • Is unknown how the guards leave the prison to go home if there are landmines around. It is possible that they go home via a secret underground route with maximum security.
  • Somberos, burritos, ponchos, and chili peppers are exclusive to the prison.
  • You can not eat chili peppers.
  • Due to the landmines and staff door, it is not possible to do a regular Prison Takeover.
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