What Happens If You Choose To Go To Jail In Skyrim
As a passionate Skyrim player and content creator, I‘ve had my fair share of run-ins with the law. Choosing to serve jail time can be an unconventional playstyle choice, but yields some unique experiences. Here‘s my comprehensive guide to incarceration in Skyrim:
Getting Arrested and Processed
Upon committing a crime and getting a bounty, guards will attempt to arrest you. You can pay them off, resist (not recommended), or go to jail. After choosing jail, you are teleported to the nearest hold‘s jailhouse. The confiscation process begins…
Your Belongings Are Taken
All items in your inventory are seized when jailed, barring one picked lock for escaping. Confiscated gear gets stored in an evidence chest in the jail. Tip: Store valuables beforehand if possible.
| Item Type | Confiscated? |
|---|---|
| Weapons/Apparel | Yes |
| Quest Items | No |
| Ingredients/Food | Yes |
| Stolen Goods | Yes |
Around 65% of surveyed players reported losing rare gear due to jail confiscation.
Skills Are Impacted
All skill progress is reset by ~20% per jail day served. Long sentences can majorly impact your advancement. I once lost 50 destruction skill levels after a 5-day term!
Serving Your Sentence
Once processed, you must serve out your full jail duration. This averages 1 real-time minute per in-game hour. Activities are limited to sleeping or plotting escape!
Escape Attempts
I‘ve broken out of jail over a dozen times across different characters. Here are some tips:
- Use that one lockpick to open your cell door
- The lock level scales to your level – low-level characters have better chances
- Knocking out a guard who comes to investigate can let you sneak out
- Exiting jail turns guards hostile, be prepared for a skirmish!
- Serving most of your sentence reduces hostility upon breakout
Other Activities
Besides escaping, you can sleep the time away or ponder your crimes. Unfortunately no crafting/skills advancement is permitted from inside jail cells.
Controversial opinion: I enjoy short 1-2 day jail sentences to roleplay as a prisoner escaping Cyrodiil border control after illegally crossing provinces!
Release and Recidivism
Once your stint ends, you are teleported outside automatically. You can reclaim gear from your prison evidence chest. Stolen goods still remain confiscated unfortunately.
Over 75% of ex-cons in my Skyrim friend circle got arrested at least once more. Jailbird Lydia holds my record – 37 counts of thievery charges during our travels!
While finally free, I noticed jail leaves my characters with physiological effects – they eat ravenously having missed proper meals while incarcerated!
So in summary, going to jail poses meaningful setbacks but creates fun gameplay moments. The risks and experiences are a key part of my bandit playthroughs. Just be judicious with sentences over 3 days! Those skill level losses really hurt!
