Escape, a term that often conjures images of dramatic prison breaks is a serious crime covered under California Penal Code 4532. The implications of this crime, particularly in LA County, are significant and should not be underestimated.

Some of the escape cases I see relate to people who get jail time and then are let out on some program. They don't follow through and do what they're supposed to on the program, or they leave the program when they're not supposed to.

The next thing you know, they're being charged with escape, which is crazy because it's a very serious crime with a negative connotation.  The person is now potentially looking at the prison, and it's probably not a good custody sense if they get hit with an escape conviction because the sheriffs will see that, and they're probably going to treat the person worse or more harshly because they're going to perceive that they escaped from one of their facilities.

Different Forms of Escape

So, if you're charged with escape and it's under one of these weird situations where you're doing some program instead of custody time or they've got some sort of an angle that they're using to try to claim that you escaped. Still, the reality is that you didn't escape from anything; you just had some issues completing what you were supposed to and didn't go about it the right way.

For example, it would be weird if, let's say, you've spent a year in the county jail and went in to surrender for your sentence, and then you got out on some sort of work release program that the sheriffs put on, and then you messed up and didn't do your work release program. The sheriffs will count that as an escape.

I mean, if you can't do it for some reason, then you probably want to either go back to the sheriffs and tell them, which you probably realized would subject you to going back into custody, or you would have to go back into court and let them know, but they would be all confused as to how to deal with you because they already sentenced you to a year in the county jail.

So, in my opinion, many of these escape cases are wrongfully filed. Still, many times, the sheriffs and authorities just don't know exactly how to handle them when somebody who's supposed to be serving a custody sentence somehow gets out on some program and then doesn't follow through on exactly what they're supposed to do.

There may be some defenses in these escape cases. For instance, the person may have yet to realize that failing to follow through on what they're supposed to could lead to an escape charge, raising potential intent issues. This lack of awareness could be a defense in some cases.

Sometimes, maybe when the sheriffs have you sign out to do a work release or other program, it says in the paperwork that if you leave, you're going to be eventually arrested.  There'll be an award out for your arrest, and you'll end up being charged with escape.  That might be a way to get that intent in there.

Retain a Criminal Defense Attorney

On the other hand, if you're looking at this website because you're really charged with escaping from a facility, obviously, you're going to want to get a criminal defense attorney immediately. Once they catch you, they're going to likely be looking at putting you in for a long time.

Whatever time you end up doing in that prison sentence is probably not going to be a pleasant time. Unfortunately, the authorities in these criminal cases can see what you were convicted of. If you're convicted of escape in Los Angeles County or any other county in the United States, you can expect the Department of Corrections or the Sheriff's Department to view you unfavorably. The time you serve is likely to be very unpleasant.

They may not be able to see all of the details of it. Still, suppose you're convicted of escape in Los Angeles county or any of the counties throughout the United States. In that case, you can bet your bottom dollar that the authorities — either the Department of Corrections or the Sheriff's Department are going to be looking at you with a bad eye, and the time that you're serving is not going to be pleasant times at all.

There are programs like the shoe program,  which is a form of solitary confinement.  There's also regular solitary confinement, and there are all different types of custody that you can serve. These conditions can make your time away from your family very unpleasant, underscoring the seriousness of an escape conviction.