House Bill No. 43

Introduced By bankhead, thomas

By Request of the Department of Corrections



A Bill for an Act entitled: An Act redefining the offense of escape; allowing a governmental entity to recover from an escapee its costs regarding the escape, the investigation of the escape, and the apprehension of the escapee; amending sections 45-7-306 and 46-18-243, MCA; and providing an immediate effective date and an applicability date.



Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Montana:



Section 1.  Section 45-7-306, MCA, is amended to read:

"45-7-306.   Escape. (1) (a) "Official detention" means imprisonment which resulted from placement of a person in the legal custody of a municipality, a county, or the state as a result of:

(i) a conviction for an offense, confinement for an offense, confinement of a person charged with or of having been charged with an offense, detention;

(ii) the actual or constructive restraint or custody of a person by a peace officer pursuant to arrest, transport, or court order;

(iii) detention for extradition or deportation,;

(iv) placement in a community corrections facility or program,;

(v) supervision while under a supervised release program,;

(vi) participation in a county jail work program under 7-32-2225 through 7-32-2227,; or

(vii) any lawful detention for the purpose of the protection of the welfare of the person detained or for the protection of society.

(b) "Official detention" Official detention does not include supervision of a person on probation or parole, constraint incidental to release on bail, or an unlawful arrest unless the person arrested employed physical force, a threat of physical force, or a weapon to escape.

(2)  A person subject to official detention commits the offense of escape if he the person knowingly or purposely removes himself from eludes official detention or fails to return to official detention following temporary leave granted for a specific purpose or limited time. A person also commits the offense of escape if he the person is participating in a county jail work program under 7-32-2225 through 7-32-2227 and he knowingly or purposely fails to appear for work at a time and place scheduled for participation in the program.

(3)  A person convicted of the offense of escape shall be:

(a)  imprisoned in the state prison for a term not to exceed 20 years if he the person escapes from or while in transit to or from a state prison, county jail, city jail, community corrections facility or program, or supervised release program by the use or threat of force, physical violence, a weapon, or a simulated weapon;

(b)  imprisoned in the state prison for a term not to exceed 10 years if he:

(i)  has the person escapes after having been charged with or convicted of a felony and escapes from or while in transit to or from a state prison, county jail, city jail, halfway house, life skills center, community corrections facility or program, or supervised release program; or

(ii) escapes from or while in transit to or from another official detention by the use or threat of force, physical violence, weapon, or simulated weapon; or

(c)  fined an amount not to exceed $500 or imprisoned in the county jail for a term not to exceed 6 months, or both, if he commits escape, including escape while in transit to or from official detention, the person escapes under circumstances other than those described in subsections (3)(a) and (3)(b)."



Section 2.  Section 46-18-243, MCA, is amended to read:

"46-18-243.   Definitions. For purposes of 46-18-241 through 46-18-249, the following definitions apply:

(1)  "Pecuniary loss" means:

(a)  all special damages, but not general damages, substantiated by evidence in the record, that a person could recover against the offender in a civil action arising out of the facts or events constituting the offender's criminal activities, including without limitation the money equivalent of loss resulting from property taken, destroyed, broken, or otherwise harmed and out-of-pocket losses, such as medical expenses, loss of income, expenses reasonably incurred in obtaining ordinary and necessary services that the victim would have performed if not injured, expenses reasonably incurred in attending court proceedings related to the commission of the offense, and reasonable expenses related to funeral and burial or crematory services; and

(b)  reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred by the victim in filing charges or in cooperating in the investigation and prosecution of the offense.

(2) (a)  "Victim" means:

(i)  a person who suffers loss of property, bodily injury, or death as a result of:

(A)  the commission of an offense;

(B) the good faith effort to prevent the commission of an offense; or

(C)  the good faith effort to apprehend a person reasonably suspected of committing an offense;

(ii) the estate of a deceased or incapacitated victim or a member of the immediate family of a homicide victim;

(iii) a governmental entity that suffers loss of property as a result of the commission of an offense in this state or that incurs costs or losses during the commission or investigation of an escape, as defined in 45-7-306, or during the apprehension or attempted apprehension of the escapee; or

(iv) an insurer or surety with a right of subrogation to the extent it has reimbursed the victim of the offense for pecuniary loss.

(b)  Victim does not include a person who is accountable for the crime or accountable for a crime arising from the same transaction."



Section 3.  Applicability. [This act] applies to escapes occurring after [the effective date of this act].



Section 4.  Effective date. [This act] is effective on passage and approval.

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