There is the possibility that your opponents trust you important if one of your goals is dialogue, and absolutely vital if dialogue is your method. Democracy needs names and faces it cannot function with anonymity. You undermine the power of prison. Prison is far more for those outside than for those inside. By taking part in an action that carries the risk of prison, you have broken the power of the threat.
Open actions are more disobedient and undermining.
The state expects you to be frightened of its powers, to not take responsibility for resistance. Running, or crawling, away thus becomes a form of obedience. Taking responsibility is extremely subversive. I am not arguing that all nonviolent struggles must be totally open. It is very much a matter of political context and likely political consequence.