D-District Prison



D-District Prison is an unrevisitable location in Final Fantasy VIII.

The prison is used to hold political prisoners. D-District Prison may be lowered into, or raised out of, the surrounding desert sands by controls located inside it. There are several Triple Triad card players imprisoned here. The player can find an issue of the Combat King magazine in the prison's first floor.

Story
Squall and his friends are imprisoned in D-District prison after their assassination attempt on Ultimecia (as Edea) in Deling City fails. Squall is being tortured by Seifer, who questions him about the true purpose of SeeD, under the orders of Ultimecia. Squall is unable to answer the questions and passes out due to the pain. A while later, Squall regains consciousness and is rescued by Moombas.

The rest of the party is thrown in a cell, their weapons confiscated. As Zell has no weapons to have confiscated, he is able to briefly escape their cell and succeeds in bringing back the confiscated weapons to Quistis, Selphie, and eventually Squall later on. Irvine Kinneas, on orders from General Caraway, comes to the prison to take Rinoa away, but she forces him to turn around and come back for the others. Irvine eventually complies and arrives to find a full jail-break going on. He helps the party to escape by telling them the way out and holding back the guards, and they barely escape before the prison sinks back into the sand.

Layout
The only known means of access between the three 'spires' of the prison. During the drilling phase where the three spires will drill into the ground the catwalks will withdraw into the spires.
 * Top-side Catwalks:

As the name implies this room is used for interrogating prisoners. Situated a level or two above the Cell levels one of this room's most notable possessions is a wall rack that, when a prisoner is tied to it, sends currents of electricity through the prisoner as a form of torture.
 * Interrogation Room:

The Cell Levels make up the majority of at least one of the three drilling spires that make up the prison. Some levels are devoted to General Population Cells are are accessible by numerous catwalks that spiral down through the spire. Other levels are devoted solely to Solitary Cells which are hung together in the lower levels of the spire where the only way to access them is to use a crane to move the box-like cells to a readily accessible level.
 * Cell Levels:

General population cells are for the general criminal of Galbadia that are not regarded as a high security risk if they were to mingle with the other prisoners. As such they are designed to accommodate more then one prisoner. There are up to twelve levels devoted entirely to general population cells. Each easily accessible by guards and janitors.
 * General Population Cells:

These cells are reserved for the more dangerous prisoners who can't be risked mingling with the general population. Each cell is an isolated box which is hung amongst others in a grid within the spire. These cells can only be accessed by moving them with a crane to one of the higher levels.
 * Solitary Cells:

Floors
The layout of the floors is always the same and every floor has two cells, although not both of them are visitable in every floor. A barricade may block the path meaning the player must circumvent the floor to get to the next one.

If Squall chooses "Let me die" during his interrogation, Zell's Moomba will be hailed by another Moomba and led upstairs, there will be a group of Moombas outside the interrogation room, and three floor shortcuts will be allowed to the party. Otherwise, if he chooses to lie, there will be no hint to go upstairs, no crowd outside the room, and only one floor shortcut will be allowed to the party.

Triple Triad Players
There are three Triple Triad players found in the prison. The one in floor 10 upgrades the Battle Report with Character Report letting the player view stats on characters' individual kills and KO's. The other two give prizes if the player wins.

Shop
There is a shop in Floor 8 where the player can buy items.

Musical Themes

 * "Jailed", the seventh track of the OST's disc 2, "is as monotonous as a jail theme can get", said a review.
 * "Rivals", the eighteenth track of the OST's disc 2, was played during Squall's interrogation in the Interrogation Room.

Dingo Desert Train Station
A train station, possibly used for cargo transfers, is within driving distance from the prison facility and is linked with the main rail system. Squall Leonhart and two other members of his group use the station to hijack a train to get to Balamb Garden.

Trivia

 * During the prison escape, it is explicitly mentioned (and shown) that magic does not work in the prison due to an anti-magic field. However, not long after, the party fights Biggs and Wedge, and all of the battle participants are capable of casting magic without any difficulty. Furthermore, directly after the battle, it is announced throughout the prison that the anti-magic field is being deactivated, dispelling the possibility it had been turned off prior to the fight.
 * Various signs in the D-District Prison spell "Galbadia" as "Garbadia".
 * As the Galbadian soldier runs after the player party as they hijack a train from the Dingo Desert station, the player characters make different comments on his attempt depending on who is in the party.

Prigione Distretto-D