2019 Connecticut General Statutes
Title 53a - Penal Code
Chapter 952 - Penal Code: Offenses
Section 53a-169 - Escape in the first degree: Class C felony.

(a) A person is guilty of escape in the first degree (1) if he escapes from a correctional institution or (2) if he escapes from any public or private, nonprofit halfway house, group home or mental health facility or community residence to which he was transferred pursuant to subsection (e) of section 18-100 or section 18-100c and he is in the custody of the Commissioner of Correction or is required to be returned to the custody of said commissioner upon his release from such facility or (3) if he escapes from a work detail or school on the premises of the correctional institution or (4) if he fails to return from a furlough authorized under section 18-101a or (5) if he fails to return from work release or education release as authorized under sections 18-90a and 18-100 or (6) if he escapes from a hospital for mental illness in which he has been confined under the provisions of section 17a-582, 17a-584, 17a-593, 17a-594 or 17a-596 or (7) if, while under the jurisdiction of the Psychiatric Security Review Board, but not confined to a hospital for mental illness, he leaves the state without authorization of the board.

(b) Escape in the first degree is a class C felony.

(1969, P.A. 828, S. 171; P.A. 73-639, S. 12; P.A. 74-338, S. 47, 94; P.A. 78-92, S. 2; P.A. 80-216, S. 2; P.A. 82-12; P.A. 84-236, S. 1; P.A. 85-506, S. 25, 32; P.A. 89-383, S. 2, 16; P.A. 98-39.)

History: P.A. 73-639 replaced offense of escape from a correctional institution with offense of escape in the first degree which includes escapes from correctional institutions and escapes from work details or schools on institution premises; P.A. 74-338 specified failure to return from furlough as first degree escape; P.A 78-92 specified escapes from halfway house, group home or mental health facility and failure to return from work-release or education release as first degree escape; P.A. 80-216 specified escape from halfway house, group home or mental health facility is first degree escape if escapee is in correction commissioner's custody or is to be returned to his custody upon release from the facility; P.A. 82-12 added Subsec. (a)(6) re person who escapes from a state hospital or treatment facility; P.A. 84-236 amended Subsec. (a)(2) to include escapes from community residences; P.A. 85-506 amended Subsec. (a)(6) to replace “state hospital or other treatment facility” with “hospital for mental illness” and replace reference to repealed Sec. 53a-47 with “section 17-257c, 17-257e, 17-257n, 17-257o or 17-257q”, and added Subdiv. (7) concerning a person under the jurisdiction of the psychiatric security review board who leaves the state; P.A. 89-383 amended Subsec. (a)(2) to include a person who escapes from his abode to which he was released pursuant to Sec. 18-100(f), effective July 5, 1989, to July 1, 1994 (Revisor's note: The amendment to this section contained in P.A. 89-393 was deleted by the Revisors following its expiration on July 1, 1994); P.A. 98-39 amended Subsec. (a)(2) to add reference to Sec. 18-100c.

See Sec. 18-101a re consideration of prisoner's failure to return from furlough as crime of escape.

Illegal confinement is no defense to escape from correctional institution. 169 C. 438. Cited. 184 C. 157. Held constitutional as to both due process and equal protection clauses of fourteenth amendment to U.S. Constitution. Id., 222. Defendant's acts did not constitute violation of statute as it was amended as of date of acts as he was not then under jurisdiction of Commissioner of Correction. 185 C. 517. Cited. 216 C. 402; 226 C. 497; 234 C. 301.

Cited. 36 CA 440; 39 CA 333; Id., 407; Id., 789.

Cited. 35 CS 544.

Subsec. (a):

Cited. 213 C. 38. Subdiv. (2): Proof of single failure to report insufficient to prove guilt of “escape”. 216 C. 402. Subdiv. (2): Decision of Appellate Court in 35 CA 1 overruled to the extent that it permits conviction for escape to rest solely on jury's finding that defendant repeatedly did not report to supervising officer as scheduled. 234 C. 301. Cited. 235 C. 748; 236 C. 209; Id., 266; 241 C. 322.

Cited. 29 CA 817; 35 CA 1; 36 CA 680; Id., 813, 815. Subdiv. (2) simply identifies another environment–a community residence–from which an unauthorized departure, or to which a failure to return, is possible and made culpable; escape is a general intent crime, and all that is necessary to prove the element of intent is that defendant have the general intent to perform the acts that constitute the offense. 121 CA 443.

Subdiv. (3): Equating failure to return from parole with escape held not violative of constitutional right to due process and equal protection. 36 CS 71.