Virtual reality detention facilities were used by the Department to contain its prisoners. The cells consisted of a single seat, in which the prisoner would sit wearing VR goggles, experiencing virtual reality. The facilities were patrolled by CCPCs.
When Starkey was apprehended by CCPCs, he was sentenced to six months in a virtual reality detention facility. A Jixen tracked him to the facility and cornered him in his cell when a CCPC walked in. The Jixen punched it, allowing Starkey to escape. (TV: Regeneration [+]Loading...["Regeneration (TV story)"]) His sentence was reset to day one, plus an extra six months for escaping. (TV: Liberation [+]Loading...["Liberation (TV story)"]) However, Alistair Gryffen erased his criminal file. (TV: The Korven [+]Loading...["The Korven (TV story)"])
After the Time Blank experiment wasn't entirely successful, the Department imprisoned Taphony in a detention facility to keep it from being revealed. Gryffen hacked into virtual reality and unlocked her cell. She was met by two CCPC guards, but she turned them to dust. Gryffen then transported her via the Space-Time Manipulator. (TV: Taphony and the Time Loop [+]Loading...["Taphony and the Time Loop (TV story)"])
Thorne fabricated evidence via virtual reality to Darius Pike to gain K9's regeneration unit. When they put on VR goggles, Thorne showed him what was apparently his father suffering mental agony in a detention facility, as his cell was "nothing but white", with no detail to "draw the eye or distract the mind". June Turner said Darius' father was safely in a minimum security environment. (TV: Hound of the Korven [+]Loading...["Hound of the Korven (TV story)"])
Not every Department prison used virtual reality. Neither Dauntless Prison (TV: Liberation [+]Loading...["Liberation (TV story)"]) nor the prison the Medes were kept in did so. (TV: Alien Avatar [+]Loading...["Alien Avatar (TV story)"])