I don't believe I ever said it was "awesome". Potentially more effective, sure...along the lines of the real Alcatraz out west, the Cayenne penal colony down in French Guiana, and other incarceration facilities where the terrain, flora, and fauna were leveraged to improve the security of a facility. For a facility wherein the main objective is to keep people there, additional barriers to escape (whether perceived or real) is good design. Given that it appears to be colocated with an airstrip, it's probably intended to be more of a short-stay facility anyhow.
But yeah, setting up a virtual merch tent and ginning up a media circus for it is dumb.