* Wanted Level 4: Life or execution.

• Wanted Level 3: A year or two.
• Wanted Level 2: Several months.
• Wanted Level 1: A month or two.
• Wanted Level 0: A few weeks. Or, the authorities beat you nearly to death to teach you a lesson (suffer level 3 harm, no resistance roll allowed—they keep going until you’re injured severely).

Incarceration is dehumanising and brutal. The renown of your crew is your only real defense inside. Prison is terrible: you gain criminal status, your forbidden augments are removed, and you probably end up in maximum security confinement. When you serve your time, make an incarceration roll using your crew’s reputation.

The only way to reduce your crew’s wanted level without losing reputation is through incarceration or extended periods away from the sprawls. When one of your crew members, friends, contacts—or a framed enemy—is convicted and incarcerated for crimes associated with your crew, your wanted level is reduced by 1 and you clear your heat.

Incarceration may result from investigation and arrest by the Cops (corporate if crimes occurred in extraterritorial jurisdiction, or police if not), or because someone turns themselves in and takes the fall for the crew’s crimes. The severity of the prison sentence depends on your wanted level: