Nothing to do with paying or not paying the fine. I thought that going to prison could be an interesting experience that could give you a different perspective on life.

If there are not major downsides, maybe a couple of days could be quite interesting.

According to this post, the limit is CHF5000

If you reckon you will get a new perspective sharing an overcrowded cell with 2 other crims , with potential violence on an houly basis, so you won`t sleep at all, then go for it.

I hope so

I had guided tours of two UK prisons as part of my job. One was a category B prison built in the 1850s, the other a Category C/D 'open' prison from the 1950s.

The few hours there were more than enough. Being 'banged up' in one of the cells for a few minutes is not at all like it is portrayed on Porridge.

not quiet true. in germany its depending on age and the sum you might have to pay. i think it applies for CH too.

A friend of mine went to prison for a couple of weeks a few years ago. He was let out at 6 am to go to his job and had to be back by seven in the evening and spend weekends there.

It depends on what you were convicted for and how high the fine is. There will definitely be a entry in the "Strafregister" for

- Convictions for crimes
- Convictions for misdemeanours, provided a fine or other punitive measures have been imposed
- Convictions for infringements of the law, provided a fine of more than 5,000 Swiss francs has been imposed or the person concerned has been sentenced to more than 180 hours of community service.
(Source: http://www.bj.admin.ch/content/dam/d...register-e.pdf)

In other words, not everything is serious enough for it to be registered. Also, the general rule of thumb for fines (not monetary penalties) is 1 day = CHF 100.

It's not really in the interest of the state to have you in prison instead of having you pay the fine, since a fine is revenue for the state and letting you stay in prison will cost them money.
Therefore, I suspect they will first try and collect the fine. The law (stgb) states that a fine can be transferred into a prison sentence if they have not succeeding in collecting the money (via betreibung!). Or they may convert the fine if it's very unlikely that they will be able to collect the money.

You could try and ask nicely whether they'd let you stay, I guess...

I don't know about this at all... being a foreigner, I would pay a very steep fine before going to prison. It's overconfident, in my view, to rely on the prison stay not showing on your record. But that's just me: non-EU, law-abiding to a fault.