Is The Silo Actually Protecting Anyone?

Is Silo actually protecting its people, or running the most convincing prison system on television? Every time the show has to choose between telling the truth and keeping control, from the visor illusion to the hidden network of other silos to Salvador Quinn's original cover-up, it picks control, even when honesty would've cost it nothing. This one lays out the case using the Safeguard kill switch buried in every silo's walls, and Season 3 just handed us the cleanest proof yet. Protected or imprisoned? Let me know where you land in the comments.