Sometimes I prefer the stockades over the deadmines due to the proximity of the exit.
Whenever you go to deadmines, you might begin to get wailed on those low level guys and everything, but 30+ on you will do some damage and kill you in practically no time.
Whenever you realize you are about to die, you realize the exit is too far away, then oops, your dead.
However, whenever you go back and gain 100+ more defense levels, then they can't hit you, so it is all dependent on what you like
