Tour of the Prisons of Skyrim

In this post, I would like to take you on a "tour" of Skyrim's prisons and share some little tricks that can help you get out of there.

Many will say that instead of escaping from prison, it's easier to pay a fine or scare the guard - and they would be right. Mostly, I write this post for players like me; players who don't like to pay fines and choose the option of going to prison or fighting. Or I simply write for those who want to try all aspects of the game, even ones like prisons. Sometimes, the fine can be quite high, and there's just no money for paying, and escaping is not an option, so all that remains is to go to prison. And there, as you know, your hard-earned skills can be lost. To avoid that, you need to escape!

Whiterun Prison

Whiterun is the center of the province Skyrim. The prison here is like an ordinary prison.

You can escape from here in two ways. The first (and very difficult) way is to get out through the door (lock difficulty "apprentice"), which leads directly to a chest with your belongings. The challenge is that you can't discreetly take the items since the chest is in a well-lit room, and a guard is sitting there.

But there is a second way - to sneak through the grate in the floor (lock difficulty "novice"), this method is much more realistic as you only need to open one grate.

After you pick the lock, you enter a small dungeon that will lead you to the next door, but you don't have to pick it, instead go up the stairs, and jump down the hole, finding yourself on the other side of the door.

To avoid going back to the barracks for your belongings, when you are going up the stairs, there will be a hole to your right where your chest will be. (Thanks, Magrat)

Next, you will have an exit to the barracks, and this is the hardest part of the escape.

There are two guards in the barracks: one walks on a fixed route, while the other sits at a table near the exit. In sneak mode, you must run as far away from the guard as possible to reach the exit.

You are outside, no points lost, and you are not being chased by the guards. This is what we aimed for.

After escaping, nobody will bother you even if you visit the place where you served your sentence.

Winterhold Prison

I read that it is considered difficult, but that's not true. Firstly, we don’t have to look for a chest with belongings, and secondly, there’s only one guard, yes he is an atronach, but it’s just one. And with due care, he is easy to bypass.

The next problem you may encounter is three atronachs outside. But they get distracted by the hawkers, so you can easily sidestep out of their line of sight. That’s it, you’ve escaped.

Riften Prison

Of all the prisons I’ve been to, this one is one of the most unusual, in my opinion. You can start with the fact that the cell looks more like a room in a 3-star hotel: it’s bright and quite pleasant.

The easiest way to escape from this "hotel" is to wait for the guard to come to your cell and steal the key from him. There are two guards in this prison, but the first one only walks on the lower floor. After you steal the key, don’t rush to escape but check the torture room, where your belongings are located.

After getting outside, don’t rush to leave sneak mode; a sentry stands by the entrance, you’ll need to sneak around him, or you’ll be sent back.

Solitude Prison

Solitude is the capital of the Empire. Therefore, the prison here should be serious and powerful. That’s what I thought until I got there. But everything turned out differently.

I thought I would have to sneak past the guards, pick locks, and such. But upon inspecting the cell, I stumbled upon a crumbling wall. Without thinking too long, I pressed the activation button, and the wall broke. It was a huge relief.

After going a little further, I noticed a side path and a chest with my belongings visible in it.

At the end hung a ladder leading outside.

Interestingly, it’s impossible to enter back from the street side.

Dunstar, Falkreath, and Morthal Prisons

The prisons in these cities are very similar: they are small and boring. In principle, you don’t even have to pick the lock, just wait for the guard to come to your cell, and simply steal the key we need.


The chest is located in the very first room, somewhere off to the side; take all your belongings from there and head into the first room.

There, you may encounter a guard (in this case, just calmly walk past). Otherwise, there might simply be no one there, or the guard will be napping.


Windhelm Prison

It seems to me one of the most difficult prisons for a stealth run. It’s worth noting that this is one of the few prisons that truly looks like a prison - a dark vault, a bit of light. A real dungeon!

Here, we have to steal the key from the jailer, and after that, run to the nearest cell by the exit. Once the jailer moves to the opposite end of the dungeon, you need to run.

You will exit to a corridor where a guard is on duty, so be careful.

Bypassing the guard, you’ll enter a large hall where to your right is your chest with belongings, and to your left is a lot of guards.

The best way is to wait until three out of four fall asleep, while one will go for a walk. You need to quickly grab your stuff and run into the dark corridor; there you won’t be noticed.

But that’s not the end; the door leads us to the royal castle, so don’t even think about exiting stealth mode. There is only one exit, and it’s guarded.

In this case, you need to be just brazen, in sneak mode, run to the door and quickly exit the castle. When leaving the castle, don’t get caught either.

Markarth Prison

Markarth, one of the most remote cities from the center, built on the ruins of an ancient Dwemer city. The prison here is fitting. It’s best not to end up there, and if you do, it should be for the quest "Outlaw Conspiracy."

During the quest, all your crimes are thrown at you and you are offered to take a stroll to the local prison.


We regain consciousness already in prison, greeted by a nasty orc who assures us that we will have to work here, not just sit around.

The rules here are indeed harsh: if you don’t work, you don’t eat, and everyone is busy sharpening something. Approaching the one sitting by the fire, Urzac, we learn that to get to Madanach we will somehow have to get past his guard - the completely insane Borkul the Beast. He says he will let us through if we give him some sharp weapon. Instead, I offered to fight him.


The fight was not a challenge, as both of you fight with fists, and with due care, you can easily take down your opponent.

The door leading to Madanach will be opened for you. In the conversation, it will turn out that there is a secret passage in the prison that leads to freedom. But first, we have to kill the unlucky guy who no longer matters to Madanach. After his death (by the way, with his own shivs) we go to Madanach and escape from the whole prison through the secret passage he told us about. Before going out, we are returned all our belongings + improved gear of the outlaws.

Outside, a real battle will break out, where it's best to stay hidden, so that nobody accidentally slits your throat. When everything calms down, all fines will be lifted off you, but it's best not to end up in that prison again, as getting out of it later without codes is impossible.

That’s all. I tried to describe all the prisons in detail so that someone might feel inspired to hide from the guards and feel like a true fugitive. I hope you liked it.