X-Play's Time Stevens gave the game only one star out of five, concluding his review by writing that "Prisons aren't supposed to be fun, so maybe it shouldn't be a surprise that a game about prisons isn't either".
Prison Break | prison | New York State Prison Inspector | San Quentin State Prison | Fresnes Prison | Her Majesty's Prison Service | Spandau Prison | Prison | Portsmouth Naval Prison | Newgate Prison | HM Prison Pentridge | Changi Prison | The Last Tycoon | Prison warden | Folsom State Prison | Butyrka prison | Tennessee State Prison | Poems from Prison | Plötzensee Prison | Mountjoy Prison | Millbank Prison | Landsberg Prison | King's Bench Prison | Bastøy Prison | Yuma Territorial Prison | Transport Tycoon | The Last Tycoon (film) | Tadmor prison | Sugar House Prison (Utah) | RollerCoaster Tycoon |
There are three real game locations in Prison Tycoon 2, Angola (Louisiana State Penitentiary), Leavenworth, KS, and Steilacoom, WA (McNeil Island).