Is it okay to escape from prison?

March 19, 2005 7:49 PM

Is it true that absconding from prison is not a crime in the Netherlands?

This article from the bbc mentions that but I can't find confirmation of that statement. (I have, however, found info from Google that says it's not a crime in Mexico.)

posted by Jim Jones to Law & Government (5 answers total)

IANAL, but the 1898 UK-Netherlands extradition treaty says quite clearly it applies to people already convicted who have a prison sentence to serve:
If the requisition relates to a person already convicted, it must be accompanied by the sentence of condemnation passed against the convicted person

For reference, a newer 1988 Australia-Netherlands treaty says this:
Where the request for extradition relates to a person convicted on account of such an offence who is wanted for the enforcement of a sentence, extradition shall be granted only if a deprivation of liberty has been imposed and a period of at least six months of such deprivation of liberty remains to be served

Unless there's been a change in Dutch law since 1988, it doesn't seem to matter whether absconding itself is a crime. Sadly the Sun's archive is for-pay, but I'd love to read the original article to see what it actually said. He does appear to have served 26 months of a 4-year sentence, so he'd probably be close to parole anyway, so maybe they just can't be bothered.
posted by cillit bang at 10:08 PM on March 19, 2005

Well, according to the Research and Documentation Centre of the Dutch Ministry of Justice, in this PDF,

Absconding from prison does not constitute a criminal offence, unless criminal offences such as the kidnapping of warders or the use of violence, have been committed while absconding.

So, just going walkies by itself is OK, although I'm sure if he had a lot more time left to serve they'd extradite him on the basis of the original offense alone. It may well depend on whether Dutch law mandates shorter sentences for vehicular homicide, even though that isn't mentioned in the article.
posted by dhartung at 12:40 AM on March 20, 2005

It isn't a crime in Belgium, probably in the Netherlands and France either. The idea behind not making it punishable is to prevent desperado behaviour when police try to arrest the runaway prisoner: they know they just have to serve the rest of their time, not more time. Making other crimes (holding prison personnel hostage) is just a way of saying: go on and run if you can, just do it without harming anyone.

Also, any prison guard will tell you that it's necessary for the inmates to feel that they can escape if they want to. A prison that nobody can escape from is a time bomb.
posted by NekulturnY at 2:23 AM on March 20, 2005

It wasn't a crime in France until recently, where the law was changed. Escape without violence is now punished by three years’ imprisonment and a fine of € 45,000. This toughening of the law may have be cause by some high-profile cases involving dangerous escapees. It's still not a crime in Belgium, but some people would like to change that.
posted by elgilito at 3:06 AM on March 20, 2005

Response by poster: Thanks for the info everyone. Very enlightening. From my perspective, it seems so strange, almost like an incentive to escape from prison.
posted by Jim Jones at 11:26 AM on March 20, 2005