Final answer:
The statement is False. The maximum joint payoff for prisoners in a prisoner's dilemma occurs if both prisoners remain silent, not if they both confess.
Step-by-step explanation:
The statement is False. In the classic prisoner's dilemma, the maximum joint payoff for the prisoners comes if both prisoners remain silent and do not confess to the crime. This scenario is optimal because it minimizes the total jail time served by both prisoners combined. If they both confess, they each receive a moderate sentence, which leads to a higher combined sentence than if both had cooperated by remaining silent. The dilemma arises due to the lack of trust and the incentive to individually defect from the cooperative outcome (not confessing), leading to a situation where both prisoners end up confessing and therefore serve a total of 10 years of jail time between them instead of the lesser sentence they would get if they both remained silent.