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 involve individuals who receive jail time and are subsequently released into a program. They don't follow through on the program's requirements or leave the program when they're not supposed to.

Next thing you know, they're being charged with escape, a very serious crime with a negative connotation.  The person is now potentially facing prison time, and it's an unfavorable situation if they are convicted of escape. The sheriffs are likely to treat the person more harshly, perceiving them as having 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 simply had some issues completing what you were supposed to and didn't approach 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. Still, they would be all confused as to how to deal with you because they had already sentenced you to a year in the county jail.

In my opinion, many of these escape cases are filed incorrectly. Often, sheriffs and authorities simply don't know exactly how to handle situations when someone who is supposed to be serving a custody sentence somehow escapes a program and then fails to follow through on their obligations.

There may be some defenses in these escape cases. For instance, the person may not yet realize that failing to follow through on what they're supposed to do could lead to an escape charge, raising potential intent issues. This lack of awareness may serve as a defense in some cases.

Sometimes, when sheriffs require you to sign out for a work release or other program, the paperwork may state that if you leave, you will be arrested eventually.  There will be an arrest warrant out for you, and you'll end up being charged with escape.  That might be a way to incorporate that intent.

Retain a Criminal Defense Attorney

If you're on this website because you're charged with escaping from a facility, it's crucial to get a criminal defense attorney immediately. Once they catch you, they're likely to 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. Suppose you're convicted of escape in Los Angeles County or any other county in the United States. In that case, 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.