{{Lore}}
In the Mazes, the term ''prisoner'' specifically refers to a citizen who has broken local laws, for which they were arrested and are being detained by the [[Town Security ]] of a particular town, or by the [[Maze Police]]. From the perspective of a prisoner, the only thing that changes is whether they will be detained at a town's local jail, or one of the Police's correctional facilities.
In towns following Standard Law, prisoners are under the responsibility of the Maze Police, and rarely spend much time at the jail in the town they were arrested in; these jails instead function as temporary detainment facilities, while waiting for [[Police Officer|officers]] to arrive, restrain them and process them to their prison cell. The Police's treatment of prisoners is, on average, better than that of independent towns; however, Police correctional facilities have a long history of ignoring inmate-on-inmate conflicts, not providing adequate food or medical care, and generally concerning themselves only with keeping them inside, until the end of either their sentences or their lives, whichever comes first. The Police's official position on prison labor is summed up by a part of the Police Code of Conduct, under the principle called "''Detain, Don't Enslave" '' or ''DDE''. Officially, the Maze Police do not approve of using inmates as unpaid workers, considering it to be tantamount to slavery and therefore against the faction's core values. There is considerable debate on whether to repeal DDE; arguments in favor of repeal claim that locking criminals up without putting them to use is a waste of resources, while arguments against repealing DDE claim that the Police must maintain a standard of prisoner treatment and that prison labor is inherently unethical.
In other towns, prisoners are entirely under the responsibility of the local Town Security, and their treatment of prisoners can vary widely. Factors such as the prisoners' age, gender, species, the gravity of their crimes, as well as the authority, discipline, and goodwill of TownSec assigned to jail duties all affect the living conditions of a prisoner in an independent town, which can be anywhere between decent conditions and extreme abuse. Certain towns use their inmates for labor; usually difficult and menial tasks and almost always unpaid. Other towns intentionally abuse their prisoners as a form of intimidation, resorting to measures such as physical or sexual violence, deprivation of food or sleep, torture, up to and including public executions.