Brig emergency evacuation protocol
Burnham jumps from the brig through the vacuum of space
The brig emergency evacuation protocol was a Starfleet computer program governing the evacuation or release of prisoners in the brig in the event of life-threatening emergencies.
Implementing the evacuation protocol required convincing the main computer beyond speculation that release would offer a higher chance of survival than being kept in the brig, while remaining consistent with the computer's ethical protocols.
As the Battle of the Binary Stars was beginning in 2256, Commander Michael Burnham was being held in the brig aboard the USS Shenzhou. Under fire from Klingon ships, the Shenzhou suffered a hull breach which destroyed much of the section containing the Shenzhou brig, though Burnham's containment field remained active. Burnham instructed the Shenzhou computer to implement steps of brig emergency evacuation protocol, though was initially denied on the grounds that the protocol only applied in life-saving circumstances. Burnham engaged in back and forth with the computer, established beyond speculation that she would otherwise die in minutes, and eventually requested a meter-sized hole in her cell's containment field to use the rapid depressurization to shoot her through to the blast door, with the computer opening and closing the door at the right moment to ensure her survival. The computer analyzed her request and engaged ethical protocols to release her, noting the solution posed a forty-three percent chance of survival. (DIS: "Battle at the Binary Stars")