Basement
The second-floor basement of Dorley Hall—also referred to as the lower basement or, most commonly, simply as the basement—is a quarantined dormitory (or prison) for boys being put through the first year of the programme.
During Dorley Hall's initial incarnation as a hospital, the basement was used as either a morgue or a laundry.[ch. 3] It is unknown at present what purpose the lower basement served under Grandmother's custodianship of the Hall. However, following Grandmother's ouster, Beatrice and Elle had substantial parts of Dorley Hall remodelled to bring it into line with their vision for the reformed Dorley programme, the lower basement being perhaps the most extensively modified.
Layout
The basement consists of the following areas:
Stairs
The stairs lead up to the first floor basement and, ultimately, to the ground floor.
It’s possible to get to both basement floors without using stairs, though the route is out of the way.[LL]
Cells
A hallway south of the stairs leads to a row of nine cells, furnished with only a cot, with a reinforced glass wall and door facing the hallway. New intakes are kept in the cells for ther first few days before being integrated with the rest of the population. The cells are also used to isolate boys for bad behavior.
Dining hall
The dining hall contains a table which seats up to ten comfortably. Double doors open onto the main hallway to the north and the common room to the east.
Common room
The common room contains multiple couches, beanbag chairs, and cushions for sitting, as well as metal tables, cabinets, and a television controlled by the sponsors. Double doors open from the common room into the dining hall to the west, the main hallway to the north, the bathroom to the east, and a storage room in the southwest corner.
Bathroom
The communal bathroom includes six showers, six toilet stalls, four sinks, and cabinets for clean and dirty linens. Doors open from the bathroom into the common room to the west and the main hallway to the north.
Bedrooms
Ten bedrooms are arranged along a hallway running north from the end of the main hallway, five to a side. Each bedroom is identical, and contains a bed, a wardrobe with full-length mirrors, a set of shelves, a metal desk with a computer (bolted to the desk), a rolling chair, and a vanity and chest of drawers. A pair of handcuffs is secured to the underside of the bed with a heavy chain.
The computer serves as a media player (movies, television, and music), as well as providing a chat interface for the occupant to message his sponsor
Storage
The basement has multiple storage closets. These are used to store unused furniture, cushions, linens, toiletries, and various other items.
Doors
All doorways in the basement have biometric fingerprint-reader locks granting access to specific people. These locks also allow sponsors or staff to lock down the entirety of the basement as well as specific areas, such as the cells or the bedrooms.