One thing that I noticed in both morrowind and oblivion is the lack of prisons. Sure, there are halls with 4 or 6 cells in some forts and towers, but I didn't see any actual prisons in the game. Well, maybe the one in the Imperial City could count, but then again it's only a hall with some cells and 1 prisoner (which you kill in a quest). There's also the Ministry of Justice in Vivec (I didn't finish morrowind so I didn't explore much that area), but are there any other prisons in TES lore? I picture prisons as a buildings with several cell halls and floors, maybe a courtyard and a workplace for the prisoners to do forced labour during the day, like a mine.

Same reason as why the IC only has about 80 inhabitants in the game, while in lore it's a huge metropolis. What you see is really just a representation of what it'd really be like. Your imagination is supposed to fill in the rest. Just because all you see of the Imperial City Prison is one corridor and a handful of cells doesn't mean it's really supposed to be like that, just that that's all it needs to make it work in the game.

Incarceration has not historically been a form of sentence in itself. Formerly they were just a place to hold a person until they were sentenced. Then again, you never really suffer any form of corporal punishment when you get caught doing something wrong, so it's still a valid concern. Even the http://www.imperial-library.info/dfbooks/b025_legalbasic.shtml book from Daggerfall, which includes the statement that "All are guilty until they have proven themselves innocent", has the harshest punishment as fine and/or incarceration for something as bad as murder.

No there aren't any other prisons, unless you count all those dungeons lying around the place at the bottom of ruined forts.

It's really an issue that can be shrugged off along with toilets, magistrates and children. Like cinema, games seek to restrict your vision to the essentials.

Yes I know the game can't include every single detail, I meant the lore. I was just reading trough the Imperial Library site a moment ago and learned about Blackrose Prison for example. is there any more info about it, or about any other large prison in general?

You seem to find prisons very, er, arresting.

No, I don't believe any prisons are discussed at any length, people being generally familiar their purpose and contents. But my memory isn't great and I http://search.freefind.com/find.html?oq=prison&id=72791987&pageid=r&_charset_=UTF-8&bcd=%C3%B7&scs=1&query=prison+OR+jail&Find=Search&mode=ALL&search=all

You'll also notice the way the guards handle crime when it's anyone put the PC. Stabby-stabby means they don't need many cells. Just dump 'em in the Rumare. (I realize that this is not lore).

In Two Sides of the Coin, the Jorundr had a pretty long sentence for simple murder. Heck, you could kill a guard, just like he supposedly did, and you still get out before he does. It would be interesting if when guards caught thieves, they'd spend a few days in the slammer. Sort of like part of the daily cycle if they try to steal something and get caught.

Tamrielic prisons are wrong and therefore wrong.

Cause guards kill on sight XD

Comparison's to cinema isn't a fair way to shrug things off, in this age of new media. But I still agree .