The Panoptocon

In the eyes of the NWTC, some pirates are far too dangerous to have eyes taken off of them for even a moment. Other pirates have fallen so far into scum and villainy that only the harshest of lessons will make them change their ways. These pirates are put through an experience so hellish, that when they are released back into the world, not only are they 'reformed citizens', but they share horror stories that scare everyone else off of piracy altogether. For such cases, those pirates are sent to the Panopticon, a prison island on the New World that puts its inmates through a subtle, yet fiendish form of psychological torture.

Commissioned by The Board, the shape of the Panopticon is one that is highly unusual for a prison. The main building is shaped like a hollow cylinder, with high fortress walls on the outside and a single large courtyard with a tall observation tower in the center. The outer walls of the courtyard are lined with cells. Each cell wall that faces the courtyard is completely open, save for heavy steel bars. This design ensures that a watcher in the observation tower can theoretically see any inmate at any time - nowhere to hide.    Conversely, the watchtower in the center is so tall as to be angled in such a way that it is impossible to see into it from the cells, and even if you could, the tinted glass would give you no hints as to what was going on inside. Therein lies the devious trap of the Panopticon - although it is impossible for the warden to be watching every inmate at once, the design of the building is such that any inmate could potentially be watched at any time, with no way to know for certain. This circumstance forces inmates to operate as if they are being watched every minute of every day, knowing no privacy, no dignity, and no hope of escape, other than to act as perfectly as possible and hope for an early release.    This state of helplessness is further enhanced by the warden of the Panopticon - a beholder by the name of Dhoalbralx. With his many eyes, although he can't watch everywhere at once, he can still watch much more than any human could, and delights in the discomfort this knowledge causes his charges. His eye beams have an impressively far range as well, meaning that if he detects any apparently wrongdoings, the culprit will be smitten from on high via a death or disintegration beam.