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* In ''VideoGame/MetalGear1,'' Snake is thrown in a jail cell... from which the player can escape in seconds simply by punching the wall. The prison escape sequences of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' and ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'', however, were fun and memorable.
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* In ''VideoGame/MetalGear1,'' Snake is thrown in a jail cell... from which the player can escape in seconds simply by punching the wall. The prison escape sequences of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' and ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'', ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'', however, were fun and memorable.
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** In the ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' the Gerudo Thieves (especially those he fights and can deliver a special spin attack that delivers an [[OneHitKill instant KO]]) throw Link into some sort of cell, leaving him all of his equipment, and no matter how many times he escapes and gets caught again, they just throw him back in the same cell. With all of his equipment.
to:
** In the ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'', the Gerudo Thieves (especially those he fights and can deliver a special spin attack that delivers an [[OneHitKill instant KO]]) throw Link into some sort of cell, leaving him all of his equipment, and no matter how many times he escapes and gets caught again, they just throw him back in the same cell. With all of his equipment. It applies to both the patrolling guards and the ones he has to fight to free the imprisoned carpenters, who can perform a special spin attack that delivers an [[OneHitKill instant KO]], which lands him in the prison, and after he escapes, he has to fight that same guard all over again until he is successful.
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* Used a number of times in ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
** In the ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' the Gerudo throw Link into some sort of cell, leaving him all of his equipment, and no matter how many times he escapes and gets caught again, they just throw him back in the same cell. With all of his equipment.
** In the ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' the Gerudo throw Link into some sort of cell, leaving him all of his equipment, and no matter how many times he escapes and gets caught again, they just throw him back in the same cell. With all of his equipment.
to:
* Used a number of times in ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'', and there are some cases where TheGuardsMustBeCrazy since if Link is caught and imprisoned, they don't bother to take away his weapons:
** In the ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' the Gerudo Thieves (especially those he fights and can deliver a special spin attack that delivers an [[OneHitKill instant KO]]) throw Link into some sort of cell, leaving him all of his equipment, and no matter how many times he escapes and gets caught again, they just throw him back in the same cell. With all of his equipment.
** In the ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' the Gerudo Thieves (especially those he fights and can deliver a special spin attack that delivers an [[OneHitKill instant KO]]) throw Link into some sort of cell, leaving him all of his equipment, and no matter how many times he escapes and gets caught again, they just throw him back in the same cell. With all of his equipment.
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** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'' has a second prison episode as well - when you first enter Markarth you get to witness an innocent woman (potentially - you can stop it if you're quick) being murdered in the middle of a crowded city square. If you work with a local miner to investigate, the corrupt guards eventually pin the murder on you and throw you in prison. You're [[PlotTunnel stuck in there]] until you find a way to escape.
to:
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'' has a second prison episode as well - when Skyrim]]'': When you first enter Markarth you get to witness an innocent woman (potentially - you can stop it if you're quick) being murdered in the middle of a crowded city square. If you work with a local miner to investigate, the corrupt guards eventually pin the murder on you and throw you in prison. You're [[PlotTunnel stuck in there]] until you find a way to escape.
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** A similar sequence happens in the Spire in ''VideoGame/FableII'', but this time, you're actually hired as one of the guards, and you have to help break out one of the prisoners in a period lasting about ten years.
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* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3'': Near the end of Chapter 5, the gang infiltrates a prison in order to rescue Ghondor. They purposefully end up getting captured themselves until their escape plan is ready to be put into action. In the meantime, the gang are tasked with mundane chores such as collecting items and staying monsters (remember, this is a fantasy world), serving as a BreatherEpisode until their escape. When they gang are finally about to escape the prison, [[WhamEpisode they end up encountering M and N]].
to:
* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3'': Near the end of Chapter 5, the gang infiltrates a prison in order to rescue Ghondor. They purposefully end up getting captured themselves until their escape plan is ready to be put into action. In the meantime, the gang are tasked with mundane chores such as collecting items and staying slaying monsters (remember, this is a fantasy world), serving as a BreatherEpisode until their escape. When they gang are finally about to escape the prison, [[WhamEpisode they end up encountering M and N]].
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* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3'': Near the end of Chapter 5, the gang infiltrates a prison in order to rescue Ghondor. They purposefully end up getting captured themselves until their escape plan is ready to be put into action. In the meantime, the gang are tasked with mundane chores such as collecting items and staying monsters (remember, this is a fantasy world), serving as a BreatherEpisode until their escape. When they gang are finally about to escape the prison, [[WhamEpisode they end up encountering M and N]].
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* On the route to the GoldenEnding of ''VideoGame/AviaryAttorney,'' the protagonists tell the king that they'll defend him in court and the king, offended at the implication that he doesn't have a HundredPercentAdorationRating, throws them in jail. An allied prosecutor lets them out and says the charges are dropped.
to:
* On the route to the GoldenEnding of ''VideoGame/AviaryAttorney,'' the protagonists tell the king that they'll defend him in court and the king, offended at the implication that he doesn't have isn't a HundredPercentAdorationRating, UniversallyBelovedLeader, throws them in jail. An allied prosecutor lets them out and says the charges are dropped.
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{{Prison Episode}}s in VideoGames
* Case 2 of the second ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigations''. Notably [[spoiler: the victim here was the ''killer'' in the first case, and the murderer from [[ContinuityPorn the very first case in the series]] appears as a witness.]]
* Connor finds himself in a depressing recreation of Bridewell Prison in ''Videogame/AssassinsCreedIII'', after a violent altercation leads to a cross-city pursuit that gets him arrested and framed.
* On the route to the GoldenEnding of ''VideoGame/AviaryAttorney,'' the protagonists tell the king that they'll defend him in court and the king, offended at the implication that he doesn't have a HundredPercentAdorationRating, throws them in jail. An allied prosecutor lets them out and says the charges are dropped.
* In ''VideoGame/BravelyDefault'' the party is knocked unconscious trying to pass through the enemy stronghold and are thrown in prison, except for Edea, who very easily takes the cell keys and breaks into the prison to break the rest of the party out. Amusingly, when she enters the prison, a party chat can be viewed where the rest of the party comes to the conclusion that Edea is suffering a far worse fate than them and are planning a wacky escape scheme, only for Edea to come in and point out how loud they were yelling their plans (they're held in separate cells and were unsure of how far they were from each other.). It's even funnier when the random encounters reveal there most definitely ARE a lot of guards patrolling the cells.
* ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' has one sequence in a prison cell. However, it follows a very humorous scene and precedes a challenging boss, so it's better than most. It is especially interesting because the prison lets you keep your sword.
** There are two prison sequences in ''Chrono Trigger''. The second one strips the party of equipment, inventory, and cash after the party is distracted by a LookBehindYou. Ensues a StealthBasedMission unless [[BareFistedMonk Ayla]] is in the current party.
* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRenegade'' has you captured and stripped of your weapons.
* In ''VisualNovel/DaughterForDessert'', [[spoiler:the protagonist spends a few days in jail after breaking into Cecilia’s hotel room]].
* ''VideoGame/DeadToRights'' has an extremely long prison level early in the game, where the player has to compete in various minigames and do a lot of hand-to-hand combat to arrange a prison break.
* ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' features one of these after [[spoiler:you send a warning signal to the NSF and antagonize UNATCO]]. Getting out of the cell is easy, while escaping the whole prison complex can be nigh-impossible depending on the character build.
* ''VideoGame/DiscworldNoir'' has a brief prison-escape scene at the Patrician's Palace, which takes Lewton into [[spoiler: Leonard of Quirm's secret workshop]]. A subversion because, once he's broken out of his cell, Lewton has to repeatedly break back ''into'' the secret location he'd escaped through to close the case.
* ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSinII'' opens with the party being trapped in a concentration camp for [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividuals Sourcerers]], with the first act devoted to finding a way to remove their PowerLimiter collars and escape. There's also the main quest "Shadow Over Driftwood", where the party is captured by the mad Sourcerer Mordus following a HopelessBossFight with his [[EldritchAbomination Voidwoken]] minions who web them up and drop them into different cells. However, it's possible to bypass this part of the quest entirely by abusing the Teleport spell and Teleporter Pyramids.
* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' has an optional main quest called "Captured!", which sees your player character thrown into prison after either being defeated or turning themselves (and possibly their fellow Grey Warden) in; you can either break out alone (or with said companion) or select two of your party members to break in and rescue you. The latter option is probably the [[MoodWhiplash single biggest source of hilarity]] in an otherwise {{grimdark}} game.
** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' begins with a prison episode, as the player character is shackled and guarded by several soldiers with drawn swords, and they have no idea what's happened. Unlike most instances, however, they neither break out nor get rescued; rather, they accompany their captors to deal with the situation at hand.
* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls''
** Each game in the main series (except for ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIDaggerfall Daggerfall]]'') starts the PlayerCharacter off as a prisoner. Escaping or being released is usually part of the tutorial, before the game [[OpeningTheSandbox Opens The Sandbox]].
** If you commit a crime and then speak to a guard, you have the options of paying a fine, going to jail, or resisting arrest. Choosing to go to jail, depending on the game, either has an amount of time pass based on the size of your bounty or literally puts you in a jail cell with the options to try to escape or sleep in the bed to serve your sentence. In each case save for escape, one of your skills will randomly decrease as part of the punishment. (Simulating not using it due to being in jail.)
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'' has a mission during the main quest to break ''into'' the [[TheAlcatraz Ministry of Truth]], the [[CorruptChurch Tribunal Temple]]'s maximum security prison for blasphemers and heretics, in order to rescue a friend who is imprisoned there. The prison is built into a [[FloatingContinent hollowed-out moonlet]] which hovers over Vivec City, requiring levitation to reach. There, you must sneak past or fight through scores of the Temple's elite [[ChurchPolice Ordinators]] to bring your friend the [[WarpWhistle teleportation scroll]] needed to escape.
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'' has a second prison episode as well - when you first enter Markarth you get to witness an innocent woman (potentially - you can stop it if you're quick) being murdered in the middle of a crowded city square. If you work with a local miner to investigate, the corrupt guards eventually pin the murder on you and throw you in prison. You're [[PlotTunnel stuck in there]] until you find a way to escape.
* The 1982 ''VideoGame/EscapeFromRungistan'' game starts with "escape from a jail cell". You had to (a) ask a guard to bring you dinner (b) give a piece of cheese to a mouse (c) move your bed under a window (d) give a piece of candy to a child and (e) dig a hole in a wall to get out.
* In ''VideoGame/FableI'', the Hero is captured and sent to Jack's dungeon for at least a year. Part of escaping involves winning a race against the other inmates and being "rewarded" with a private recitation of the [[Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy warden's poetry]].
** A similar sequence happens in the Spire in ''VideoGame/FableII'', but this time, you're actually hired as one of the guards, and you have to help break out one of the prisoners in a period lasting about ten years.
* There are several examples of this is the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' series.
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'': You have to escape a prison in the middle of a desert.
** Ditto ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX''.
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', the desert ''is'' the prison.
** There's another in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'', surprisingly ''not'' in a desert.
** The characters of VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII have to survive the Nalbina Dungeons, which is full of people who are just left there to die of thirst or starvation. The [[OhNoNotAgain Dreadnought Leviathan]] can also be considered a prison episode. After the [[TempleOfDoom Tomb of Raithwall]] the characters are arrested a third time but they escape quickly thanks to [[spoiler:the nethicite blowing up the Ifrit]]
* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto2'' has a level where you specifically have to get arrested and then spend time in prison before escaping again.
* ''VideoGame/IllusionOfGaia'' throws Will into the castle dungeon near the beginning of the game.
* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', the first (and unplanned) visit to [[{{Film/Tron}} Space Paranoids]] revolves around the party being in a digital prison following an accident involving [[WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch a mysterious blue alien]]. With the help of a friendly program named Tron, they manage to escape their cell, and subsequently escape the computer that's imprisoned them.
* Used a number of times in ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
** In the ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' the Gerudo throw Link into some sort of cell, leaving him all of his equipment, and no matter how many times he escapes and gets caught again, they just throw him back in the same cell. With all of his equipment.
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'' begins with a prison sequence, but makes you break ''in'' to save the princess.
** The prison in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'' makes sense, but the one in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'' is absolutely a CardboardPrison. The way out of the cell is hidden behind a pot (though it would still work wonders at imprisoning moblins...or [[TopHeavyGuy any adult male]], for that matter).
* Kaim and company in ''VideoGame/LostOdyssey'' are at one point obliged to escape from the brig of a [[CoolShip royal yacht]], dodging security drones and pussy-footing across pressure-sensitive floor tiles. Hilariously, they begin their escape by [[LaserGuidedAmnesia wiping the memory]] of their guard and convincing him that they were jailed by accident, so even if the player makes a mistake and the party gets caught again, the guard will apologize and let them back out.
* Chapter six of ''VideoGame/MafiaII'', "Time well Spent," follows Vitto as he serves time inside Hartmann Federal Penitentiary.
* In ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'', Max is drugged, tied up, whacked with a baseball bat, and still manages to get out and continue his RoaringRampageOfRevenge.
* In ''VideoGame/MetalGear1,'' Snake is thrown in a jail cell... from which the player can escape in seconds simply by punching the wall. The prison escape sequences of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' and ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'', however, were fun and memorable.
* In ''VideoGame/PlanetAlcatraz'', although the whole planet is technically is a [[PenalColony prison]], the Industrial Area is the only place that most resembles a prison, or more precisely, a labor camp. You're stripped of all belongings and have to run errands for the bosses to get promoted, before having the opportunity to escape. One of the NonstandardGameOver screens implies you spend the rest of your life there working.
* In ''Webcomic/PennyArcade'''s parody RPG, ''[[VideoGame/PennyArcadeAdventures On The Rain Slick Precipice Of Darkness Episode 2]]'' the main characters are at one point placed in a sanitarium. While your two companions are locked up, tied down or what-have-you, your character is allowed to run completely free, albeit disarmed. On the other hand, when you rescue your friends, they haven't been disarmed.
* The last level of the 2005 ''[[VideoGame/ThePunisherTHQ Punisher]]'' game features Frank Castle in Ryker's Island during a prison riot led by Jigsaw. He starts out unarmed, but quickly gets guns from the mooks.
* In ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryII: Trial by Fire'', the titular hero gets his behind tossed in the prison of Raseir. This is the first time in the game where it's not an instant death and involves breaking out, but this was all a plan by the game's villain, who then proceeds to show up after your break, and have his evil ways with you.
** And again in ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryIV: Shadows of Darkness'' where the now-undead evil vizier Ad Avis from ''Trial by Fire'' traps you in his dungeon. Yet again part of a bigger plan, seeing as he ''hopes'' you figure out how to break out and kill the [[BigBad Master of Darkness]]. Too bad the Master of Darkness is someone you know and by hammering a stake trough the vampire's chest, you earn a Game over! Ad Avis... will you never learn.
* ''VideoGame/RandalsMonday'': [[spoiler:After Randal is wrongly accused of Matt's murder.]]
* At one point in ''[[VideoGame/{{Resistance}} Resistance 3]],'' you are captured by bandits who use a local prison as their base. They force you to fight in a [[GladiatorGames gladiatorial arena]], until one of their own has a change of heart and frees you, giving you The Mutator, a gun that [[BodyHorror essentially makes enemies puke themselves to death.]] Brutal revenge ensues.
* ''VideoGame/SaintsRow2'': The game begins in a prison; your character has to bust out after [[spoiler:awakening from a 5-year coma after the events of the previous game]]. They have to break in (and back out again) later, when a drugs specialist is required.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Shadowman}}'' the main character is tasked with tracking down and killing five serial killers and take away the dark souls that empower them. Three of them are in the same prison, and have started a riot. Because the lockdown prevents the player character from exploring the whole prison, he must use portals in Deadside to access different parts of the prison.
* ''VideoGame/SilentHill2'' has a level exploring a prison beneath the lake of the town.
** The main character of ''VideoGame/SilentHillDownpour'' is a convict who escaped after his prison transfer bus crashed in the town. The last level of the game has the town transporting him to a prison where he must finally confront his past.
* ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'' sees Sonic taken to Prison Island after being mistaken for Shadow. A handful of stages take place on the island, some within the prison complex itself.
* In ''VideoGame/SpaceRangers 2'' engaging in criminal activity may result in the character being sentenced to several months in jail. This triggers one of the game's many text-based minigames. Throughout his stay the character can join a fight club, race cockroaches, become a stool pigeon for the guards and, if he plays his cards right, ''come out much richer than he was going in.'' Granted, he may also die, but that's a minor detail.
* In ''VideoGame/SplinterCellDoubleAgent'', Sam goes undercover as a prisoner to infiltrate a domestic terror organization and earn their trust.
* ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' has Lloyd, the main character, tossed into a Desian prison in the middle of the desert. He busts out on his own, just before the party shows up... too late.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Temtem}}'', the PlayerCharacter is arrested upon entering the UndergroundCity of Quetzal as the result of a FrameUp, losing their {{Mons}} [[NoGearLevel and gear]]. You escape with the aid of your airship crewmates and have to fight your way through the mines surrounding the prison with a donated party.
* The last segment of ''VideoGame/TexMurphy'': Overseer takes place on the island prison of Alkatraz. Tex Murphy finds himself trapped a cell and must escape and make his way deep into the prison while avoiding deadly security droids.
* ''VideoGame/TombRaiderIII'' puts Lara in this.
* ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII: The Frozen Throne'' has a campaign mission where Lady Vashj and Kael'thas free the Blood Elves from the Dalaran dungeons, which are full of ultra horrifying monsters. It isn't a bad level, but at the end of the day it isn't as challenging as the normal base-building campaign missions.
** ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' has the Stockades, an instanced prison dungeon in the center of Stormwind serving prior to the Cataclysm as a continuation of the Defias questline and now updated to fit current miscreants.
* At one point in ''VideoGame/WatchDogs'', Aiden sneaks into a prison (by turning himself in, gun in hand) in order to frighten/save a witness.
* ''VideoGame/{{XIII}}'' features one (two?) levels inside Plain Rock Asylum, a mental institution.
* In ''VideoGame/YuGiOhMonsterCapsuleGB'', Seto Kaiba's RPG World starts with Yugi's imprisonment.
* Case 2 of the second ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigations''. Notably [[spoiler: the victim here was the ''killer'' in the first case, and the murderer from [[ContinuityPorn the very first case in the series]] appears as a witness.]]
* Connor finds himself in a depressing recreation of Bridewell Prison in ''Videogame/AssassinsCreedIII'', after a violent altercation leads to a cross-city pursuit that gets him arrested and framed.
* On the route to the GoldenEnding of ''VideoGame/AviaryAttorney,'' the protagonists tell the king that they'll defend him in court and the king, offended at the implication that he doesn't have a HundredPercentAdorationRating, throws them in jail. An allied prosecutor lets them out and says the charges are dropped.
* In ''VideoGame/BravelyDefault'' the party is knocked unconscious trying to pass through the enemy stronghold and are thrown in prison, except for Edea, who very easily takes the cell keys and breaks into the prison to break the rest of the party out. Amusingly, when she enters the prison, a party chat can be viewed where the rest of the party comes to the conclusion that Edea is suffering a far worse fate than them and are planning a wacky escape scheme, only for Edea to come in and point out how loud they were yelling their plans (they're held in separate cells and were unsure of how far they were from each other.). It's even funnier when the random encounters reveal there most definitely ARE a lot of guards patrolling the cells.
* ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' has one sequence in a prison cell. However, it follows a very humorous scene and precedes a challenging boss, so it's better than most. It is especially interesting because the prison lets you keep your sword.
** There are two prison sequences in ''Chrono Trigger''. The second one strips the party of equipment, inventory, and cash after the party is distracted by a LookBehindYou. Ensues a StealthBasedMission unless [[BareFistedMonk Ayla]] is in the current party.
* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRenegade'' has you captured and stripped of your weapons.
* In ''VisualNovel/DaughterForDessert'', [[spoiler:the protagonist spends a few days in jail after breaking into Cecilia’s hotel room]].
* ''VideoGame/DeadToRights'' has an extremely long prison level early in the game, where the player has to compete in various minigames and do a lot of hand-to-hand combat to arrange a prison break.
* ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' features one of these after [[spoiler:you send a warning signal to the NSF and antagonize UNATCO]]. Getting out of the cell is easy, while escaping the whole prison complex can be nigh-impossible depending on the character build.
* ''VideoGame/DiscworldNoir'' has a brief prison-escape scene at the Patrician's Palace, which takes Lewton into [[spoiler: Leonard of Quirm's secret workshop]]. A subversion because, once he's broken out of his cell, Lewton has to repeatedly break back ''into'' the secret location he'd escaped through to close the case.
* ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSinII'' opens with the party being trapped in a concentration camp for [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividuals Sourcerers]], with the first act devoted to finding a way to remove their PowerLimiter collars and escape. There's also the main quest "Shadow Over Driftwood", where the party is captured by the mad Sourcerer Mordus following a HopelessBossFight with his [[EldritchAbomination Voidwoken]] minions who web them up and drop them into different cells. However, it's possible to bypass this part of the quest entirely by abusing the Teleport spell and Teleporter Pyramids.
* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' has an optional main quest called "Captured!", which sees your player character thrown into prison after either being defeated or turning themselves (and possibly their fellow Grey Warden) in; you can either break out alone (or with said companion) or select two of your party members to break in and rescue you. The latter option is probably the [[MoodWhiplash single biggest source of hilarity]] in an otherwise {{grimdark}} game.
** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' begins with a prison episode, as the player character is shackled and guarded by several soldiers with drawn swords, and they have no idea what's happened. Unlike most instances, however, they neither break out nor get rescued; rather, they accompany their captors to deal with the situation at hand.
* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls''
** Each game in the main series (except for ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIDaggerfall Daggerfall]]'') starts the PlayerCharacter off as a prisoner. Escaping or being released is usually part of the tutorial, before the game [[OpeningTheSandbox Opens The Sandbox]].
** If you commit a crime and then speak to a guard, you have the options of paying a fine, going to jail, or resisting arrest. Choosing to go to jail, depending on the game, either has an amount of time pass based on the size of your bounty or literally puts you in a jail cell with the options to try to escape or sleep in the bed to serve your sentence. In each case save for escape, one of your skills will randomly decrease as part of the punishment. (Simulating not using it due to being in jail.)
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'' has a mission during the main quest to break ''into'' the [[TheAlcatraz Ministry of Truth]], the [[CorruptChurch Tribunal Temple]]'s maximum security prison for blasphemers and heretics, in order to rescue a friend who is imprisoned there. The prison is built into a [[FloatingContinent hollowed-out moonlet]] which hovers over Vivec City, requiring levitation to reach. There, you must sneak past or fight through scores of the Temple's elite [[ChurchPolice Ordinators]] to bring your friend the [[WarpWhistle teleportation scroll]] needed to escape.
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'' has a second prison episode as well - when you first enter Markarth you get to witness an innocent woman (potentially - you can stop it if you're quick) being murdered in the middle of a crowded city square. If you work with a local miner to investigate, the corrupt guards eventually pin the murder on you and throw you in prison. You're [[PlotTunnel stuck in there]] until you find a way to escape.
* The 1982 ''VideoGame/EscapeFromRungistan'' game starts with "escape from a jail cell". You had to (a) ask a guard to bring you dinner (b) give a piece of cheese to a mouse (c) move your bed under a window (d) give a piece of candy to a child and (e) dig a hole in a wall to get out.
* In ''VideoGame/FableI'', the Hero is captured and sent to Jack's dungeon for at least a year. Part of escaping involves winning a race against the other inmates and being "rewarded" with a private recitation of the [[Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy warden's poetry]].
** A similar sequence happens in the Spire in ''VideoGame/FableII'', but this time, you're actually hired as one of the guards, and you have to help break out one of the prisoners in a period lasting about ten years.
* There are several examples of this is the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' series.
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'': You have to escape a prison in the middle of a desert.
** Ditto ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX''.
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', the desert ''is'' the prison.
** There's another in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'', surprisingly ''not'' in a desert.
** The characters of VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII have to survive the Nalbina Dungeons, which is full of people who are just left there to die of thirst or starvation. The [[OhNoNotAgain Dreadnought Leviathan]] can also be considered a prison episode. After the [[TempleOfDoom Tomb of Raithwall]] the characters are arrested a third time but they escape quickly thanks to [[spoiler:the nethicite blowing up the Ifrit]]
* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto2'' has a level where you specifically have to get arrested and then spend time in prison before escaping again.
* ''VideoGame/IllusionOfGaia'' throws Will into the castle dungeon near the beginning of the game.
* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', the first (and unplanned) visit to [[{{Film/Tron}} Space Paranoids]] revolves around the party being in a digital prison following an accident involving [[WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch a mysterious blue alien]]. With the help of a friendly program named Tron, they manage to escape their cell, and subsequently escape the computer that's imprisoned them.
* Used a number of times in ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
** In the ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' the Gerudo throw Link into some sort of cell, leaving him all of his equipment, and no matter how many times he escapes and gets caught again, they just throw him back in the same cell. With all of his equipment.
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'' begins with a prison sequence, but makes you break ''in'' to save the princess.
** The prison in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'' makes sense, but the one in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'' is absolutely a CardboardPrison. The way out of the cell is hidden behind a pot (though it would still work wonders at imprisoning moblins...or [[TopHeavyGuy any adult male]], for that matter).
* Kaim and company in ''VideoGame/LostOdyssey'' are at one point obliged to escape from the brig of a [[CoolShip royal yacht]], dodging security drones and pussy-footing across pressure-sensitive floor tiles. Hilariously, they begin their escape by [[LaserGuidedAmnesia wiping the memory]] of their guard and convincing him that they were jailed by accident, so even if the player makes a mistake and the party gets caught again, the guard will apologize and let them back out.
* Chapter six of ''VideoGame/MafiaII'', "Time well Spent," follows Vitto as he serves time inside Hartmann Federal Penitentiary.
* In ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'', Max is drugged, tied up, whacked with a baseball bat, and still manages to get out and continue his RoaringRampageOfRevenge.
* In ''VideoGame/MetalGear1,'' Snake is thrown in a jail cell... from which the player can escape in seconds simply by punching the wall. The prison escape sequences of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' and ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'', however, were fun and memorable.
* In ''VideoGame/PlanetAlcatraz'', although the whole planet is technically is a [[PenalColony prison]], the Industrial Area is the only place that most resembles a prison, or more precisely, a labor camp. You're stripped of all belongings and have to run errands for the bosses to get promoted, before having the opportunity to escape. One of the NonstandardGameOver screens implies you spend the rest of your life there working.
* In ''Webcomic/PennyArcade'''s parody RPG, ''[[VideoGame/PennyArcadeAdventures On The Rain Slick Precipice Of Darkness Episode 2]]'' the main characters are at one point placed in a sanitarium. While your two companions are locked up, tied down or what-have-you, your character is allowed to run completely free, albeit disarmed. On the other hand, when you rescue your friends, they haven't been disarmed.
* The last level of the 2005 ''[[VideoGame/ThePunisherTHQ Punisher]]'' game features Frank Castle in Ryker's Island during a prison riot led by Jigsaw. He starts out unarmed, but quickly gets guns from the mooks.
* In ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryII: Trial by Fire'', the titular hero gets his behind tossed in the prison of Raseir. This is the first time in the game where it's not an instant death and involves breaking out, but this was all a plan by the game's villain, who then proceeds to show up after your break, and have his evil ways with you.
** And again in ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryIV: Shadows of Darkness'' where the now-undead evil vizier Ad Avis from ''Trial by Fire'' traps you in his dungeon. Yet again part of a bigger plan, seeing as he ''hopes'' you figure out how to break out and kill the [[BigBad Master of Darkness]]. Too bad the Master of Darkness is someone you know and by hammering a stake trough the vampire's chest, you earn a Game over! Ad Avis... will you never learn.
* ''VideoGame/RandalsMonday'': [[spoiler:After Randal is wrongly accused of Matt's murder.]]
* At one point in ''[[VideoGame/{{Resistance}} Resistance 3]],'' you are captured by bandits who use a local prison as their base. They force you to fight in a [[GladiatorGames gladiatorial arena]], until one of their own has a change of heart and frees you, giving you The Mutator, a gun that [[BodyHorror essentially makes enemies puke themselves to death.]] Brutal revenge ensues.
* ''VideoGame/SaintsRow2'': The game begins in a prison; your character has to bust out after [[spoiler:awakening from a 5-year coma after the events of the previous game]]. They have to break in (and back out again) later, when a drugs specialist is required.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Shadowman}}'' the main character is tasked with tracking down and killing five serial killers and take away the dark souls that empower them. Three of them are in the same prison, and have started a riot. Because the lockdown prevents the player character from exploring the whole prison, he must use portals in Deadside to access different parts of the prison.
* ''VideoGame/SilentHill2'' has a level exploring a prison beneath the lake of the town.
** The main character of ''VideoGame/SilentHillDownpour'' is a convict who escaped after his prison transfer bus crashed in the town. The last level of the game has the town transporting him to a prison where he must finally confront his past.
* ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'' sees Sonic taken to Prison Island after being mistaken for Shadow. A handful of stages take place on the island, some within the prison complex itself.
* In ''VideoGame/SpaceRangers 2'' engaging in criminal activity may result in the character being sentenced to several months in jail. This triggers one of the game's many text-based minigames. Throughout his stay the character can join a fight club, race cockroaches, become a stool pigeon for the guards and, if he plays his cards right, ''come out much richer than he was going in.'' Granted, he may also die, but that's a minor detail.
* In ''VideoGame/SplinterCellDoubleAgent'', Sam goes undercover as a prisoner to infiltrate a domestic terror organization and earn their trust.
* ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' has Lloyd, the main character, tossed into a Desian prison in the middle of the desert. He busts out on his own, just before the party shows up... too late.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Temtem}}'', the PlayerCharacter is arrested upon entering the UndergroundCity of Quetzal as the result of a FrameUp, losing their {{Mons}} [[NoGearLevel and gear]]. You escape with the aid of your airship crewmates and have to fight your way through the mines surrounding the prison with a donated party.
* The last segment of ''VideoGame/TexMurphy'': Overseer takes place on the island prison of Alkatraz. Tex Murphy finds himself trapped a cell and must escape and make his way deep into the prison while avoiding deadly security droids.
* ''VideoGame/TombRaiderIII'' puts Lara in this.
* ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII: The Frozen Throne'' has a campaign mission where Lady Vashj and Kael'thas free the Blood Elves from the Dalaran dungeons, which are full of ultra horrifying monsters. It isn't a bad level, but at the end of the day it isn't as challenging as the normal base-building campaign missions.
** ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' has the Stockades, an instanced prison dungeon in the center of Stormwind serving prior to the Cataclysm as a continuation of the Defias questline and now updated to fit current miscreants.
* At one point in ''VideoGame/WatchDogs'', Aiden sneaks into a prison (by turning himself in, gun in hand) in order to frighten/save a witness.
* ''VideoGame/{{XIII}}'' features one (two?) levels inside Plain Rock Asylum, a mental institution.
* In ''VideoGame/YuGiOhMonsterCapsuleGB'', Seto Kaiba's RPG World starts with Yugi's imprisonment.
