And Then I Realised...

[Crazy Eddie]

I'd always thought the reason was that brig forcefields were 1) unilateral (meaning you can pass through in one direction but not in another) and 2) somewhat painful, such that if you throw yourself against the forcefield it will stun you or cause a certain degree of pain. The first is inconsistent with them turning the forcefield off to put people inside it--which is just dumb, since one-way forcefields have been used since TMP at least--but the second at least holds well enough if you squint at it really hard.

When have forcefields on ships been one way? It seems very rare cases to me.

Shuttlebays, for one. Plus the quarantine field in "Brothers."

 

[Myasishchev]

How about using stasis chambers for the brig? The inmate could not even attempt an escape. Considering how boring it must be to sit alone in a cell in the brig, I think that as an inmate I would like to be unaware of the passage of time. Win-win.

Well if you're punishing a crew member, you'd want them to experience the passage of time to think about whatever crime it was they commited, unless people in the 24th Century consider just the fact that some of their time 'dissappeared' bad enough, rather than being conciously aware of not doing anything.

If there's a shipwide power failure, I guess that there are systems that have some form of capacitor to keep vital systems going until main power if (hopefully) restored. Presumably brig force fields would be one of these systems.

It seems like Federation culture wouldn't find punishment a legitimate end for confinement, though.

I like the stasis idea. But if there's a total power failure, stasis is going to go down along with the forcefield.

I think a door would be a good idea.

Then again, maybe it arose from a lawsuit or something. Some 22d century ship experienced a critical failure and the power went off, so no one could open the heavy, physically-locked tritanium door, or the guy with the key died. The crew abandoned ship, leaving Commander Jerk to asphyxiate/freeze/starve to death. Commander Jerk's estate (or next friend if there is no private property) sued for an injunction requiring Starfleet have safeguards like forcefields that zap off when power goes down. This would elevate the safety of the individual accused well over the safety of the ship, but that seems like a pretty Starfleet way to operate.