Trial and Prison
When the prison doors are opened, the real dragon will fly out. -Ho Chi Minh
Lawyer Selection
Once your Sim is busted, either by the cops or SWAT team, and released from their brief visit to jail you will see a notification pop up that you should select a lawyer to represent you in the upcoming trial.
Follow the instructions outlined in the notification and you will be able to choose from three different law firms. The top one is the most expensive choice, but also the best law firm. Choosing a good law firm will increase your chances of getting reduced sentencing.
You will have two days to select a law firm to represent you, if you choose to rather skip this step and represent yourself in court you have as good as no chances of reduced sentencing.
Trial
As soon as the two days are up your Sim will get a notification that the trial is starting and they will head to the trial rabbit hole event.
The sentence passed down by the judge is calculated through a few different factors. First of all, how serious the offense was to begin with. Secondly if your Sim is the leader of a gang or not and the police is currently investigating your Sim and their gang. And thirdly, which law firm you selected.
Example:
Eduardo got caught selling cocaine and got busted with various hard drugs in his inventory. He is charged with a felony which would dictate a long prison sentence. However, since he is the leader of a gang the charge got moved up to a serious felony, which equals a maximum prison sentence (more on sentences underneath).
Eduardo went with a good law firm, and they managed to reduce his sentence to a regular felony. However, since he is a gang leader he is ordered to pay a hefty fine.*
It is not a 100% guarantee that the best law firm is able to reduce sentencing, but they are way more likely to. There is even a low chance of them reducing your charge from a serious felony to a misdemeanor. All of the calculations are done percentage wise, and there is no static guarantee that you will get increased or reduced sentencing.
* Fines are calculated by a percentage of your Sims household funds.
Sentencing
There are three possible prison sentences for the final outcome of the trial. A short sentence, a long sentence and maximum sentence.
- Short Prison Sentence – 3 days in Prison
- Long Prison Sentence – 5 days in Prison
- Maximum Prison Sentence – Life in Prison (Game Over)
If you play a household with more than 1 Sim and you travel off lot with another family member than your incarcerated Sim the prison sentence will essentially be paused. So if they serve a sentence of 3 days, and you use a different Sim to travel off lot for an entire day those three days turn into four days.
Prison
After the trial has ended and the judge has put your Sim away, you can play your other household members as normal. You will however get a bunch of occasional dialog options for your incarcerated Sim in jail that you need to think through.
The outcomes of your actions will affect your Sims stay in prison, and dictate how the story progresses. The two most important factors here are that your actions can build or remove your Prison Reputation. Some of the actions can also give your Sim reduced or prolonged sentencing.
There are also other benefits you might pick up from some of the prison adventure moments, but I am not gonna spoil any of that. Rather pay attention to the text and you should be golden.
Prison Reputation
The amount of prison reputation your Sim racks up does more than affect how your Sim is treated behind bars. It will also give them a Trait when released from prison. There are three different traits your Sim can get from a stay in prison. Each one comes with various features that will affect their life on the outside.
The traits range from your Sim becoming paranoid/not very sociable to getting better deals from NPC dealers.
