Let's dive into how arrest mechanics play out since timing and precise steps really matter here! When guards catch you the first crucial window is right before being jailed - that's when you can still hotkey important quest items to keep them accessible. Once inside you're stripped down to basic prison clothes and everything else goes into the evidence chest located near the guard quarters, they'll even take the skeleton key so don't count on that. The actual sentence timing works out to one day per 100 gold of bounty and during that time your skills take a temporary hit that'll recover through normal play (the effects are permanent but can be grinded out again.)

Here's where positioning gets interesting - if you're planning a jailbreak you need to watch the guard patrol patterns carefully, because each door you open adds another 50 gold to your bounty plus a flat 50 gold penalty. The evidence chest location varies by city but it's always in the guard quarters section, and anything left inside gets permanently marked as stolen. After serving time you can grab your gear right away but if you're breaking out timing that chest retrieval becomes way trickier since guards will be on high alert.

The core mechanics stay pretty consistent from the original version but the visuals and dlc content integration make the whole experience feel more polished - just remember your skill penalties are temporary so don't panic about long-term character damage.