My prisoners wont move from the holding to cell to the actual cell

I have a cell block with 25 cells but none of my prisoners will move there from the holding cell. I have working power and water beds and toilets they are separate from each other it has all the requirements why wont it work? Any ideas?

Solution 1:

This behavior is caused by cell quality : some prisoners do not diserve any cell based on cell quality and their behavior.

When you go to "Policy" tab you can choose to enable or disable the cell quality ratings.

This is the description on hoover :

Use Cell Quality

If enabled, Prisoners will only be assigned to a cell of a quality they deserve, based on their behavior. Poorly behaved prisoners will never be assigned to a high quality cell, even if there are no other cells available.
If disabled, prisoners will be assigned to any cell regardless of quality, but but prisoners in cells of lower quality than average will be more resentful. Prisoners will still be upgraded to higher quality cells if they behave well.

You have a few solutions :

• Disable the Cells Quality Ratings
• Build new low quality cells
• Downgrade you cells quality (remove windows, TV, bookshelves, chairs...)
• Wait until you prisoners behave better and deserve a better room (bad idea, they will fight a lot if they are unhappy in an holding cell).

Solution 2:

If you actually have defined cells, guards will eventually move prisoners into them from the holding cell. If this isn't happening, you may not have enough guards.

If you have free guards and they're still not moving, you can select each prisoner and manually order him into a cell.