Table of Contents
Prison Architect “no canteens accessible by this cell” is usually caused by security risks and you need to address them at the earliest opportunity. Besides that, you should consider looking for cell block/canteen problems, connecting cell blocks to canteens and so on. Continue reading to be able to ensure that prisoners in your prison don’t starve to death.
Solutions
While playing Prison Architect, you have to deal with many issues to keep your prison running. Once it comes to Prison Architect “no canteens accessible by this cell”, solutions include:
- Take care of security risks: The canteens as well as the way connecting them to the cell blocks must be surrounded by walls, doors, … If there is an opening that prisoners could use to escape, “no canteens accessible by this cell” is the consequence.
- Determine whether there is an exclamation mark on top of the canteens and the cell blocks. If the mark is there, proceed to hover the mouse over it and see what is going on. The presence of exclamation marks indicates problems that you have to solve. After you finish, printers should have an easy time moving between their cell blocks and canteens.
- Select Logistics, choose Food Distribution and connect cell blocks to canteens. For ease of convenience, you may hold left Shift to create multiple connections.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Kind Of Game Is Prison Architect?
Prison Architect is a game that allows players to build and manage their own prisons. The goal of the game is to keep prisoners happy and safe while making a profit. Prisoners will attempt to escape so it is essential to have a sound security system in place. If prisoners escape, they should be sent back to prison eventually but you will lose money.
What Is The Role Of Canteens?
Run by the prison administration and staff, canteens are a type of food service facility where inmates can purchase food and other items. Inmates typically have to purchase canteen credits in order to shop there. The canteen is an integral part of the prison economy that permits inmates to buy items that they may not be able to get otherwise.
How Big Should My Kitchen Be?
It depends on a number of factors: the size of your prison population, the type of food you plan to serve, the amount of space you have available, … However, the general rule of thumb is that a kitchen should be allocated at least 1,200 square feet to accommodate all the necessary equipment and staff.
How Many Cooks Do I Need?
You will need a minimum of one cook in your prison and we recommend having two cooks on staff. More cooks may be necessary depending on the size and population of your prison.
Do I Have To Hire A Lot Of Guards?
The number of guards you need is determined by the number of prisoners as well as the security level of the prison. It’s best to have one guard for every ten prisoners at low security, two guards for every ten prisoners at medium security, and four guards for every ten prisoners at high security. Don’t hesitate to change the number of guards based on the characteristics of your own prison.
How Many Prisoners Can Use A Bench?
It depends on the dimensions of the bench and the weight of the prisoners. Let’s say that a prisoner weighs 80 kg. If the bench is 2 meters long, 1 meter wide, and 0.5 meters high, it can support six prisoners. If the bench is 1 meter long, 0.5 meters wide, and 0.5 meters high, four prisoners can sit on it.
Tips And Tricks
- Experiment with prison layouts to deduce what works best for you.
- Feel free to enable unlimited money if you want to let your imagination run wild.
- Don’t take in prisoners until your prison is ready and everything is in place.
- Instead of relying on choking points, build wide corridors and set up a series of security stations.
- You cannot have more than one power generator per circuit.
- Keep your inmates happy by focusing on what they need.
- Hire a Warden to unlock the Bureaucracy menu.
- Use Quick Build to quickly create rooms.

Chris started playing PC games in the 1980s, started writing about them in the early 2000s, and (finally) started getting paid to write about them in the late 2000s.
Following a few years as a regular freelancer, PC Gamer hired him in 2014, probably so he’d stop emailing them asking for more work. Since 2019, he started providing game reviews & tips for Grateful Dead Game. Chris has a love-hate relationship with survival games and an unhealthy fascination with the inner lives of NPCs. He’s also a fan of offbeat simulation games, mods, and ignoring storylines in RPGs so he can make up his own.