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Evasion of Service of Sentence
Evasion of Service of Sentence
Evasion means to escape or to avoid serving a penalty. Only prisoners who have been sentenced by final
judgment are liable for evasion. The penalty of the accused must be one of imprisonment or destierro.
There are three kinds of evasion:
II. In case of destierro, the penalty for the evasion is also destierro.
1. Question: Is there evasion if the prisoner enters the prohibited area due to an emergency? Such as
bringing a loved one to the hospital or attending a burial?
III. In case the prisoner voluntarily returns, his liability remains but the penalty maybe mitigated as this is
analogous to voluntary surrender
II. It is not the act of escaping which constitutes the evasion because it is normal for people to try to save
their lives during a catastrophe or calamity. What gives rise to the crime is the failure to return or to give
himself up return within 48 hours
III. If the prisoner returns within 48 hours, he is given a deduction of 1/5 of his original sentence for loyalty.
If he fails to return, his penalty is 1/5 of the remaining sentence but not to exceed 6 months. Those who
did not escape are not given any deduction.
IV. The term mutiny does not include prison riots but subordinate prison officials rising against their
superiors. If the escapee participated and escaped, he is liable for evasion under Article 157.Neither does
it include mass jail breaks.
V. QUESTIONS: (1) Will the foregoing provision apply to prisoners in the provincial or city jails? (2)
Suppose it was a death convict who, while awaiting his execution, escaped ?
II. Requirements:
2. The prisoner must first be convicted by final judgment of the other offense
3. The violation or commission of another offense must be during the remaining period of the sentence.
If the commission was after the lapse of the remaining unserved portion of his original penalty, he may be
required to continue serving his original penalty if the terms of the condition were such that the condition
will continue even after the lapse of the unserved portion of his penalty..
III. The liability therefore of the accused consists of: (1) Prosecution for the new offense and (2)
Prosecution for Violation of Conditional pardon and (3) Administrative, or to serve his sentence upon
order of the President (recommitment) . This is independent of his criminal liabilities.
IV. Illustration:
1. Convict served 5 years of his 12 years sentence for robbery. and then he accepted a conditional
pardon. He must comply with the conditions or he should not commit any offense during the 7 year
period. If within the 7 year period he committed physical injuries, then the consequences are as follows:
b) If found guilty then he will be prosecuted for Violation of Conditional Pardon
c) The President may order him to serve his original sentence. This is upon the discretion of the
President.
2. If the physical injury was committed after the lapse of 7 years, the convict is not liable for Violation of
Conditional Pardon. He will just be liable for the new offense he committed. However, the President may,
at his discretion, order that the convict go back to jail to serve the remaining 7 years of his original
sentence, if so provided in the pardon.
A. Prison correctional minimum if the remitted portion ( i.e the portion which was not served is up to 6
years). This is why it is said that Violation of Conditional Pardon is a substantive offense.
B.No new penalty if the unserved portion is more than 6 years. This is the reason for the view that
Violation n is not a substantive offense.
II. The first offense may be any crime but the second must always be a felony
III. The legal consequence is that the penalty for the new offense will be in its maximum period
irrespective of ordinary mitigating circumstances
IV. The new offense may be committed: (i) while the convict is being transported to prison (ii) while in
prison or (iii) during the period of time that he escaped from prison
V. If the new offense and old are both under the same title of the Revised Penal Code, it will be quasi-
recidivism which will be favored over recidivism in view of the intention of the Code to punish those who
commit an offense even after having been already convicted.