Permitting escape is a serious felony in Wisconsin. Van Severen Law Office is an award-winning criminal defense law firm representing individuals throughout the state.
So long as humans are in charge of other humans in the jails and prisons throughout Wisconsin, permitting escape will be an issue. This criminal charge focuses on all of the facilities involved in detaining individuals throughout the state. This includes jails, prisons, houses of correction, detention centers, and all other facilities used to detain prisoners.
Permitting escape is a felony-level offense in Wisconsin. Generally speaking, the charge is a Class H felony, punishable by up to 6 years in prison and $10,000.00 in fines. The 6 year prison term breaks down into 3 years initial confinement followed by 3 years extended supervision. If the defendant committing the offense is a public officer or public employee, the charge is a higher level Class F felony, punishable by 12.5 years prison and $25,000.00 in fines. The 12.5 year prison term breaks down into 7.5 years initial confinement followed by 5 years extended supervision.
Hiring the right criminal defense attorney is important when facing criminal charges that could result in a prison sentence. This is especially the case for high-profile criminal cases, as permitting escape cases typically are. At Van Severen Law Office, S.C., our criminal defense attorneys are consistently recognized as some of the best. We regularly defend individuals facing serious charges, and we’re available to discuss your case. Contact us 24/7 at (414) 270-0202. Initial consultations with any of our criminal defense lawyers are free.
Section 946.44 of the Wisconsin Statutes – Assisting or permitting escape
Although section 946.44 of the Wisconsin Statutes describes numerous crimes, the purpose of this article is to describe only one part of the statute: permitting escape.
Section 946.44(1)(a) and the penalty modifier in section 946.44(1g) deal with permitting escape. The law says:
(1) Whoever does the following is guilty of a Class H felony:
(a) Any officer or employee of an institution where prisoners are detained who intentionally permits a prisoner in the officer’s or employee’s custody to escape; or
(b) [Excluded – not relevant to this page.]
(1g) Any public officer or public employee who violates sub. (1) (a) or (b) is guilty of a Class F felony.
You’ll notice a few different things off the bat. First of all, the penalties for this crime increase significantly (from 6 years to 12.5 years ) when the defendant is a public officer or public employee. Wisconsin Criminal Jury Instruction 1780 (which we’ll discuss more in the next section) provide us definitions for these two employees:
Firstly, a public employee is any person, not an officer, who performs any official function on behalf of the state or one of it subordinate governmental units and who is paid from the public treasury of the state or subordinate governmental unit.
Secondly, a public officer is any person appointed or elected according to law to discharge a public duty for the state or one of its subordinate governmental units.
Your job, by itself, is enough to qualify for a much higher level felony than the base offense. A “public officer” is someone like a correctional officer or a sheriff’s deputy working inside of the facility. One example of a “public employee” is a nurse or doctor serving in the facility. An example of someone who works in a jail, but is neither a public officer or a public employee would be someone working for the corporation handling food service within a facility. That individual is an employee of a separate corporation (assuming food service is handled by an outside organization).
Jury instructions are just that: instructions for juries. But they play a far more important and broad role in the criminal justice system. Jury instructions break crimes down into separate parts, or elements. These elements are important because they are the things the government must prove against the defendant, beyond a reasonable doubt. If the government cannot prove each of the elements beyond a reasonable doubt, they cannot prove the charge, and the defendant must be found not guilty.
Firstly, the defendant was an officer or employee of an institution where prisoners are detained.
Secondly, the defendant permitted a prisoner in his custody to escape.
“Escape” means to leave custody in any manner without lawful permission or authority.
Thirdly, the defendant intentionally permitted a prisoner in his custody to escape.
“Intentionally” means that the defendant acted with the mental purpose of permitting a prisoner to escape. It also requires that the defendant knew that the prisoner was a prison and knew that the prison was leaving custody without lawful permission or authority.
Fourthly (and only if we’re dealing with the Class F felony version of this charge), the defendant is a public officer or employee (defined last section).
The jury instructions bring up a good point. What about mistakenly releasing a prisoner? Paperwork mistakes happen, right? The third element, focused on intent, makes mistaken releases non-criminal. Specifically, the individual responsible for the release did not know that the prisoner wasn’t leaving custody without lawful permission or authority. The intent element fails.
Permitting escape is a felony in Wisconsin. If you’re facing this or any other criminal charge, contact some of Wisconsin’s best criminal defense attorneys at (414) 270-0202.
Why should I hire a criminal defense attorney from Van Severen Law Office, S.C. for my charge?
At Van Severen Law Office, S.C., we’ve successfully represented thousands of individuals facing criminal charges throughout Wisconsin. Not only are we familiar with the law behind your charges, we’re familiar with many local circuit courts throughout the state. Our offices saturate southeastern Wisconsin, but we frequently travel throughout the state to represent clients.
On top of all that, we offer free consultations to potential clients. So there’s no guessing about whether we’ll be on the same page or whether our fees are within your budget. During that consultation, you’ll have the opportunity to sit down with one of our criminal defense lawyers and figure out which direction we expect case is going to go. We’ll answer questions and can begin to plan basic parts of the strategy we’ll implement in your case.
We’re available 24/7 at (414) 270-0202. Contact us today regarding your criminal case, whether it be for permitting escape or any other criminal offense.
