City

Police Prison Island

A rocky island jail with a hidden escape tunnel and a lurking shark.

Brick Rated Score

4.0/5

Set 60419 · 2024

Pieces980

Minifigs7

Year2024

Set number60419

Check price on Amazon

Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

The verdict

This is the kind of City set that turns a rainy afternoon into a whole story.

You get an island prison built into a cliff, a helicopter, a boat, a dinghy, seven minifigures, and a shark circling the water like it knows something you don't. At around ten cents a piece it's honest value, and the play features do the heavy lifting. It won't win over anyone chasing a showpiece for the shelf, but for pure fun with the roof off, it delivers.

Best for: Kids (and grown-ups) who love cops-and-robbers play with a proper escape-hatch twist

The full review

What it is

The Police Prison Island is a LEGO® set that leans all the way into the fantasy, and honestly that's what makes it work. You're building a jail sunk into a rocky island, ringed by water, watched over by a control tower, and reachable only by helicopter or boat. The whole thing is designed so the good guys and the bad guys have somewhere to chase each other, and the island layout gives you that instantly. There's a control room, an officers' break room, an entrance hall, a kennel for the police dog, and the cell block itself. Then LEGO hides the good stuff. A secret escape hatch under the courtyard, an escape tunnel that snakes off to an abandoned mine, a laundry room stashed with jailbreak tools, and a shark in the surrounding water in case anyone fancies swimming for it. It's silly and it's brilliant, and kids read the play story the second the lid comes off the box.

The catch

There are trade-offs, though. For a set literally called Prison Island, there's really only one proper cell with two beds, and you've got four prisoner minifigures. So the jail can feel a touch under-populated, and more than one reviewer wished LEGO had gone bigger on the actual cells. It's also very much a play set rather than a display model. The colours are bright, the build is approachable, and the finished thing looks like a toy you'd want on the floor, not a centrepiece you'd light up on a shelf. If you're an older builder who lives for clever engineering, parts of this go quickly and lean repetitive, and you may finish wanting a bit more meat. The community rating sits at a fair 4.1 out of 5, which feels about right: well liked, genuinely fun, not trying to be a grail.

Who it's for

Point this at anyone who wants maximum cops-and-robbers action for their money. At an RRP of 99.99 dollars for 980 pieces and seven figures, the value stacks up nicely, and the play features are the best part rather than an afterthought. If you love a set that tells a story, that hides secrets, that gives you a shark and an escape tunnel in the same box, you'll get a lot of hours out of this one. If you're after an intricate, grown-up display build with rare techniques and a museum finish, this isn't the set to scratch that itch, and that's completely fine. Judged as what it is, a big, imaginative City playset, it lands well and it's easy to recommend.

The parts story

What the build is actually like, and the pieces worth knowing about.

Building this one is a comfortable few hours, roughly two to three, and it's structured so the fun keeps arriving. You start with the rocky island base and the water's edge, then work up through the prison interior room by room, which keeps the pacing lively because every section opens up a new play feature. The cliff and tower sections give you a little height and some satisfying angled rockwork, while the helicopter, the police boat, and the dinghy break up the architecture with quick, rewarding sub-builds. Nothing here is going to test a seasoned builder's brain, and a few stretches repeat, but for the target age of 7 and up it's paced beautifully, and the working cell doors and the courtyard escape hatch are the kind of mechanisms that make you grin when they click into place.

On pieces, the headline is the minifigure lineup. Seven figures is generous, and four of them are exclusive to this set, including the prisoners in their orange jumpsuits (one with bright pink hair and glasses is a standout) and the officers in their bright blue and neon safety vests. You also get a printed police dog and a shark, which are the two figures kids reach for first. Beyond the figures, you're getting a healthy pile of useful City parts: brackets and cliff rockwork, transparent elements for water and windows, printed control-room tiles, and plenty of standard connectors that make this a solid parts pack for anyone building their own layouts. At around ten cents per piece across 980 parts, designed by Rik Pauwels, the value maths holds up well for a set that's this stuffed with figures and features.

Fun facts

01The set was designed by Rik Pauwels, and it hides an escape tunnel that runs from the prison courtyard all the way to an abandoned mine, so the jailbreak story is literally built into the island.
02Four of the seven minifigures are exclusive to this set, meaning collectors chasing specific 2024 City prisoners and officers can only get them here.
03For a set called Prison Island there's just one two-bed cell against four prisoner minifigures, a mismatch fans quickly flagged as the design's one cheeky oversight.
04It carries a shark and a printed police dog in the same box, giving you both a guard animal and a very unofficial moat security system.