I only fight Knilles when im one level above him and his crew.

Its not a mandatory fight so im not that concerned about that. I can come back to Knilles later. But, as i said in other thread, this reminds me of an early ea version where enemies were just too buffed to have any kind of normal gameplay.

I generally accept that enemies are much stronger then me in the prison, and i want it that way because i want to feel as if i am in a prison - which makes escape all that much more necessary.

Are you having those fights while your team is on the same level, or one bellow enemies? How does it feel if you are one level above enemy levels?