Step inside the gritty confines of a prison in “Behind Bars,” the gripping second chapter of Rise of the Golden Idol. Here, you’ll unravel a tangled web of escape plans, hidden identities, and secret messages, piecing together clues from cryptic dialogues, prisoner cells, and notice boards to solve a high-stakes breakout mystery. Ready your wits to decode who escaped, how they did it, and the dark events that led to the chaos behind the bars.
As with all of our Rise of the Golden Idol case guides, our goal here is to provide a hint-based experience that will lead you to the solution without automatically showing you how to solve it. We’ll start out with small hints for the puzzle, escalate to bigger ones, and eventually just spell out the answer if it’s still not clicking for you. We’ve separated our tiered hints and answers with in-game art, but be wary of scrolling farther than you intend.
In this Rise of the Golden Idol guide, we’ll walk you through the “Behind Bars” case, including hints and the full solution for the names, conference, victim, and events puzzles.
Behind Bars Names
In the “Behind Bars” case of Rise of the Golden Idol, uncovering the names of the characters is a crucial step. The scenario features several prisoners and police officers whose identities must be deduced through careful examination of dialogues, evidence found in the prisoners’ cells, and notice boards located in the prison office and hallway. Most prisoners’ surnames can be matched with their faces using the office noticeboard, although some guesswork may be required for obscured faces. Key clues include the handyman carrying identification, a note mentioning a guard by name, and interactions between guards and prisoners that hint at relationships and neighbors. The names include inmates like Jimmy Beswick, Robert Pakenham, Jason Kempton, Daniel Utley, and officers such as Patrick Kendal, Percy Sainsbury, and Jeremy Smith, as well as the maintenance guy Henry Wakefield. This thorough investigation of names lays the foundation for solving the rest of the case, including cell assignments and events.
There are eight names to discover in “Behind Bars.”
First hint
- There are four prisoners on the list, three guards, and one handyman.
- The prisoners are best deduced by simultaneously working out their cell numbers.
- There’s a room inside the prison that describes the crimes and first names of all prisoners.
- Outside of the cells but inside the prison, there’s an object that displays some prisoner last names.
- The young guard can tell you much about himself, his boss, and his fellow guard.

Second hint
- You can find the first name of the mustachioed guard on the outside wall of the prison.
- The young guard will tell you his first name, his boss’ first name, his boss’ last name, and the mustachioed guard’s last name.
- The young guard’s last name is hidden in a letter in one of the cells, as is the missing last name of the prisoner from the chalk board.
- Use the pictures in the downstairs office and process of elimination to name every prisoner except for the mystery one.
- The handyman has a name tag.

Solution
Listed left to right, top to bottom, here are the names of the “Behind Bars” characters:
- Patrick Kendal
- Percy Sainsbury
- Jimmy Beswick
- Robert Pakenham
- Jason Kempton
- Daniel Utley
- Jeremy Smith
- Henry Wakefield
Behind Bars Cells
In the “Behind Bars” case of Rise of the Golden Idol, the puzzle revolves around identifying the occupants of the prison cells and uncovering the events leading to a dramatic escape. Players must analyze clues such as prisoner dialogues, notice boards, and items found within cells to assign the correct names and roles. Key to solving the puzzle is discovering the missing prisoner and how he escaped by sawing through the bars, aided by contraband tools and assistance from other inmates. The cells hold critical evidence, including signs of cheating and personal belongings, which help piece together the story of the breakout and the tense prison dynamics.
There are five cells for the five prisoners, including the mystery one. You need to determine where they each reside.
First hint
- Consider the things you know about each prisoner’s hobbies and look for signifying items in their rooms.
- One prisoner calls another “neighbor,” meaning they need to be put next to each other.
- Use clues from their information sheet in the office below to realize where they go.

Second hint
- First place the escapee, which will narrow down your choices for the others.
- To place Jimmy Beswick, pay attention to how long his sentence is, and what he says. Then look for something in one of the cells to suggest how much longer that inmate has.
- Consider that the names on the chalkboard don’t list in the way they appear, with the far left cell appearing as #30 on the list.
- The inmate interested in poker has cards in his room.
- The two off-screen cells can be determined with the chalkboard and the dialogue of the inmates.

Solution
From left to right, the inmates display as:
- Escapee (question mark)
- Jimmy Beswick (think dark hair)
- Jason Kempton (scar)
- Daniel Utley (mustache)
- Robert Pakenham (red hair)
Behind Bars Message
The “Behind Bars” message puzzle in Rise of the Golden Idol is a key part of the Chapter 2 scenario, where players interact with a letter found inside the leftmost prison cell to uncover a secret coded message. This puzzle involves matching numbers to a date related to a character’s death and then decoding color-coded clues from a poster featuring numbered drawings and corresponding colored items. The solution reveals a sequence of words that tell the story of Arthur Blythe’s prison escape, detailing how he used various tools and assistance from other inmates to break out. This message puzzle enriches the narrative by connecting events and characters within the prison setting, offering a layered challenge beyond just identifying prisoners and their cells.
In the escapee’s cell, you’ll need to do some secret message decoding, which is mercifully much simpler than it initially seems.
First hint
- You only need two items in the escapee’s cell to solve the puzzle.
- Read the bolded pieces of the letter to figure out where you should focus your energy and your eyes.

Second hint
- Use the message to find the number you need to encode.
- Use the numbers to guide you along on the colorful poster.
- Think about how the numbers and how they correlate to the objects below.

Solution
The secret message was encoded with:
281973
And could be decoded as:
Inside flower book spine equals saw
Behind Bars Events
The “Behind Bars” events in Rise of the Golden Idol unfold within a prison setting, where players must unravel a complex and tense situation involving multiple prisoners and guards. Key events include the escape of Arthur Blythe, who uses a saw blade, wire cutters, and sheets to climb over the prison wall, aided by items obtained from other inmates. The scenario involves identifying prisoners, their cells, and roles through clues found on noticeboards, dialogues, and evidence in cells. The storyline is enriched by interactions such as a guard’s activities and a missing prisoner’s escape, making it a challenging puzzle that requires careful observation and deduction to solve.
The event is three sentences long, and can be solved mostly with visual ques once you get the rest of the puzzle down.
First hint
- The first sentence names the escapee, what they’ve done, how they got out of their cell, and who helped them cut the bars.
- The second sentence refers to how they reached the ground and who helped them get through the fence.
- The final sentence is about how he got over the fence, and who gave him the objects needed to do it.

Second hint
- Use the list on the first floor and the chalkboard to discover the escapee’s name.
- Follow his path out of the cell and click on all the hidden places to discover the tools he used.
- Read Percy’s letter and check the other cells to discover who gave him what.

Solution
Arthur Blythe, who was in prison for murder, got out of his cell through a window, using a saw blade he got from Steven Aria.
He entered the yard via a drainpipe, and breached the fence using wire cutters he got from Percy Sainsbury.
What hidden clues does the ’Behind Bars’ case reveal about the prisoners’ identities
The “Behind Bars” case in Rise of the Golden Idol reveals prisoners’ identities through a combination of hidden clues found in their dialogues, personal cells, and detailed notice boards within the prison. Key hints include:
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Dialogues that reveal personality traits, such as identifying the “big girl’s blouse.”
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The handyman prisoner carrying identification that can be taken at face value.
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Matching surnames to faces using the office noticeboard, though some faces are partially obscured by notes requiring deduction.
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A note mentioning a guard by name and his activities, which can be linked to the guard’s belongings.
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Evidence within cells, such as signs of cheating, which correspond to items prisoners carry.
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The presence of a missing prisoner, with strong clues indicating who escaped and how, helping to place other prisoners correctly.
These elements together allow players to piece together who each prisoner is and their respective cells, crucial for solving the case.
What specific clues link prisoners’ faces to their names in ’Behind Bars’
In the “Behind Bars” case of Rise of the Golden Idol, prisoners’ faces are linked to their names primarily through careful examination of the notice boards located in the prison office and interior hallway. These boards display surnames and other identifying details that correspond to the prisoners’ portraits, allowing most faces to be matched with names. However, some faces are partially obscured by notes, requiring players to use contextual clues and deduction to identify them. Additional confirmation comes from prisoner dialogues, which reveal personality traits or roles, and from items found in their cells that align with their known behaviors or crimes. For example, the handyman carries identification that can be trusted at face value, and a note mentioning a guard by name can be matched with that guard’s belongings. Together, these clues form a network of evidence linking faces to names to solve the puzzle of prisoner identities.
