One of the most important aspects of the game is crafting, to have any chance of escaping from the prisons you will need to craft various items to help your escape. These items require a combination of components which you acquire by finding or buying sheets of paper called 'Crafting Recipes' which are then logged into your journal which enables you to refer to it when you need to craft the item.
Items are crafted by going to the 'Crafting' menu and placing items you want to use for crafting into the three 'input' slots at the top. If the ingredients for the recipe are correct the item you want to craft will then appear in the 'output' slot which is at the bottom.
When you have crafted your items make sure you conceal your efforts otherwise if you are discovered you will be sent off to solitary. Note: Some items require a certain amount of intelligence before you can craft them.