[kirschkern]

I'm gonna do a run where my players have to break out an old PC of one of the players. He is stuck in a prison/labour camp in the lava flats of southern puyalupp. The prison was not meant to be a highly sophisticated / secure prison but other than that I'm open to ideas.
What I want to avoid is doing a boring run of the mill, blast the prison walls, get him out run. Any ideas to spice it up a little ?

My fallback plan is to make them do a completely different run that forces a guard to smuggle the prisoner outside (and therefor avoiding the whole prison run).

[GeLrIrToCrH]

Why don't they do something to get themselves sent there? Or sneak in at night disguised as prisoners? You did say it wasn't well organized. Maybe pay off the bus driver & a couple of guards that transport new prisoners to take on a few "extras"?

[farothel]

If the prison isn't the most secure, I would do one of two scenarios:
scenario one:
-get some uniforms (should be easy as no shopkeeper ever checks the 'it's for a costume party' lie)
-'borrow' one of the prisoner transport buses or cars.  Again, shouldn't be too hard as the lots they are stored on are probably not the most defended ones in the world.  Fake orders (the decker can shine here) definitely help.
-drive up to the prison and request the prisoner for transfer (here fake order will definitely be needed).
-if all goes well, you have the prisoner delivered in your vehicle without you ever having to go further into the prison then the main entrance

scenario two:
-pretend to be an inspector from a downtown division who wants to ask some questions to the prisoner for another case he is not involved with but might have some information on.
-another player can be the prisoner's lawyer (the face would do well here).
-you still need to get the prisoner out, but at least getting yourselves in is easy this way.

[kirschkern]

That are some excellent ideas so far, thank you guys
Fake "paperwork" and a prisoner transfer seems like it could be exciting for the players without having a massive shootout!

[Tecumseh]

Lava flats = lava tubes, which would be a pretty badass way of getting or and/or getting out. Have the team deal with less-traditional obstacles such as poison gases venting through the tubes, or cranky mud/lava spirits (either free spirits or summoned by a local toxic shaman), or smugglers using the tubes to get in and out of Salish-Shidhe who don't approve of the team trespassing. (See the Chulos gang of Carbonado, which is on the far eastern edge of Puyallup right on the border.) Alternatively, making a deal with any of the above (except the poison gases) could expedite the process and/or offer a diversion when it comes time to escape.

[Sphinx]

The prison in Puyallup is McMillan Correctional Facilities (Seattle 2072, p.129). It's a minimum security facility, out of date, understaffed, and badly maintained. Remember that Knight Errant has the law enforcement contract for the metroplex, but Lone Star still runs Seattle's prisons, and the two organizations do NOT get along. If you make Knight Errant a convenient scapegoat, Lone Star might not pursue as aggressively. And vice versa.

Some prison break strategies:

• Pose as UCAS federal marshals, escorting a prisoner to the Puyallup District Courthouse to give a deposition on a brutality charge against Knight Errant. Lone Star would practically fall over themselves handing over a witness who'll make Knight Errant look bad. Forge the transfer order, and have a hacker standing by to intercept in case they call in to check.
• Have a lawyer (or the team face acting as one) smuggle a dose of tetrodotoxin in to the prisoner to fake a cardiac arrest. Have the team standing by in DocWagon gear to to whisk him away for "emergency medical treatment."
• Hack the prison host and get the prisoner assigned to an outdoor work crew, cleaning up roads, parks, etc. Take out the relative handful of guards, grab your guy, and vanish. Work crews might be shackled and/or lowjacked; be ready to deal with that.
• Arrange a last-minute distraction for the prison security mage (food poisoning, fender bender, dream job interview), then take advantage of the hole in astral security to levitate invisibly into the exercise yard, grab your prisoner, and fly out again. Have an air spirit whip up a dust storm to cover your retreat.

Other prisons in the sprawl: Metroplex Prison downtown (a.k.a. "The Tower"), Bellevue Correctional Facility ("The Brickyard"), Silcox Island in Tacoma, Darrington in Everett, Shadow Lake in Renton, Wynaco in Auburn, Thrasher's in Snohomish, Fort Lewis Stockades, Hollywood in Redmond, and McNeil Island in Outremer.

[GloriousRuse]

Let the players figure out how they're going to handle it...but if they do go straight up blast the walls, you should remember that there are other prisoners in there. Prisoners who might respond violently and chaotically to an opportunity to escape, and who have all sorts of tangled allegiances and motivations. Plus you can expect a bit of a citywide manhunt if there is a mass escape...